who was not a priest after the law of an external commandment, but after the power of imperishable life.

For they [the gifts, sacrifices, and ceremonies] deal only with [clean and unclean] food and drink and various ritual washings, [mere] external regulations for the body imposed [to help the worshipers] until the time of reformation [that is, the time of the new order when Christ will establish the reality of what these things foreshadow—a better covenant].

For if the blood of goats and of bulls, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkled on the unclean, can cleanse them from external impurities;