Then the commandment that went afore, is disannulled, because of her weakness and unprofitableness.

And for this cause it is a better hope, that it was not promised without an oath.

(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him, "The Lord swore and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever.'"

And for that cause was Jesus an establisher of a better testament.

And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing:

but this person, because he abideth for ever, hath a priesthood that passeth not over to another.

Therefore he is also able to save completely those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

and indeed we wanted an high priest of such a character, one that is holy, innocent, undefiled, one that is separated from sinful men, and exalted above the heavens; one who was under no necessity,

Which needeth not daily - as yonder high priests - to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's sins. For that did he at once for all, when he offered up himself:

The law makes high priests of men who are feeble; but the word of the oath, which was made after the law, gives that position to a Son, in whom all good is for ever complete.

The pith of all that we have been saying is this; we do have such a High Priest; and he has taken his seat on the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens,

to officiate as priest in the sanctuary and in that true tent of worship which not man but the Lord himself set up.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.

Now were he on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law??5 those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle. "See", he says, "that you make everything on the pattern showed you on the mountain."

who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, "See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain."

But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them," says the Lord.

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

In that he says, "A New Covenant," he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

Even the first agreement provided regulations for worship, and a sanctuary that was fully equipped.

for the disposition of the tabernacle was such, that in the first part named the sanctuary, were placed the candlestick, the table, and the shew-bread;

But behind the second curtain is the tent that is called the holy of holies,

having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

but into the inner tent the high priest only goes alone, once a year, and that not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the ignorances of the people.

The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place was not yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing;

which is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshipper perfect;

since they deal only with food and drink and various washings, that is, with mere material regulations which are in force only until the time of setting things straight.

But Christ having come as a high priest of the good things that have come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

not made with hands, that is, not of this building, And not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh:

how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, by the eternal Spirit, offered up himself in sacrifice without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, that we may perform divine service to the living God?

For this reason he is the mediator of a New Covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it.

For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth.

Wherefore also that first testament was not consecrated without blood.

For of every commandment according to law that was spoken by Moses to all the people, after taking the blood of the calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, he sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

saying, This is the blood of that testament which God commanded in regard to you.

And in the same way he also sprinkled with the blood the Tabernacle and all the things that were used in public worship.

In fact, one might almost say that by Law everything is cleansed with blood. No blood shed, no remission of sins!

It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For it was not into a Sanctuary made by hands, a mere type of the reality, that Christ entered, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the very presence of God on our behalf.

nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own,

(for in that case he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world:) but now once for all at the consummation of the ages hath he been manifested for the abolishing sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And since it is appointed to men once to die, and after that the judgment;

so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.

For would not then those sacrifices have ceased to have been offered? Because that the offerers, once purged, should have had no more consciences of sins.

For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

It is for this reason that the Christ, on coming into the world, declared. Sacrifice and offerings thou dost not desire, But a body didst thou prepare for me;

Then I said, 'Lo I come.' In the chiefest of the book it is written of me, that I should do thy will, o God."

Having said before that sacrifice, and oblation, and whole burnt-offerings and sin-offerings thou hast not chosen, nor takest pleasure in, (which are offered according to the law,)

then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,

And it is by this will that we have been sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

whereas Christ, having offered the one sacrifice [the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself] for sins for all time, sat down [signifying the completion of atonement for sin] at the right hand of God [the position of honor],

from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

"This is the covenant that I will make with them: 'After those days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;'" then he says,

Having therefore, brethren, entire liberty of entrance into the holies by the blood of Jesus??20 a way, which he hath consecrated for us, newly opened, and giving life, through the vail, that is, his flesh;

by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

And seeing also that we have a high priest which is ruler over the house of God,

let us continue to come near with sincere hearts in the full assurance that faith provides, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised:

and let us consider one another that we may excite to love and good works,

Let us not neglect meeting together as some do, but let us encourage one another, all the more as you can see that the great Day is coming nearer.

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,

but only the dreadful prospect of judgment and that blazing indignation which is to devour God's enemies.

A man that hath set at nought Moses law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses:

How much surer, think you, will be the punishment of one who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has profaned that covenant blood with which he was sanctified, and has done despite to the spirit of grace?

For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Call to remembrance the days that are passed in the which, after ye had received light, ye endured a great fight in adversities,

partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used.

For you both had compassion on them that were in chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an enduring one.

don't therefore quit that resolution you have, which will be attended with so great a reward.

For you need patient endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

For yet a little, very little while, and he that is coming will come, and will not delay.

But it is by faith that my Righteous One will live, And if he draws back, my soul takes no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.

Faith means the assurance of what we hope for; it is our conviction about things that we cannot see.

For it was by it that the men of old gained God's approval.

By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he would not see death, and he was not found, because God took him away. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God.

Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

Faith led Noah, when he was warned by God of things no one then saw, in obedience to the warning to build an ark in which to save his family, and by such faith he condemned the world, and came to possess that uprightness which faith produces.

By faith Abraham, on being called, obeyed in starting off for a country which he was to receive as his own, and he did it in spite of the fact that he did not know where he was going.

It was by faith that he sojourned in the promised land as an alien, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, his fellow heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to that city with the sure foundations, designed and built by God.

By faith also that very Sarah, who was barren, received ability for the conception of seed, and past the usual time of life brought forth a child, because she accounted that he who promised it, would be true to his promise.

So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.

But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten'son ;

unto whom it had been said, "That by Isaac shall there be a seed bearing thy name:"

concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.