with its golden incense-altar and the chest for the covenant, completely covered with gold, and in it a golden jar which held the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets on which the covenant was written;

And this is why He is the Mediator of a new covenant, in order that, after He had suffered death for securing redemption from the offenses committed under the first covenant, those who had been invited to share it might obtain the eternal inheritance promised them.

He has qualified even me as a minister of the new covenant, which is not a written but a spiritual covenant. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

so much the more Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

But, as the case with Him now stands, He has entered upon a priestly service as much superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is the Mediator is superior to theirs, superior because it has been enacted upon superior promises.

For if the first covenant had been faultless, there could have been no room for a second one.

For, because He was dissatisfied with His people, He said: "'See; the time is coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

Unlike the one that I made with their forefathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt, for they did not abide by their covenant with me, so I did not care for them,' says the Lord.

'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel in those days,' says the Lord; 'I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And nevermore will each one need to teach his fellow-citizen,

In speaking of a new covenant He makes the first one obsolete; and whatever is obsolete and antiquated is on the verge of vanishing.

So indeed the first covenant had its regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

So not even the first covenant was ratified without the use of blood.

saying, "This is the blood that ratifies the covenant which God commanded me to make with you."

"'This is the covenant that I will make with them: In those last days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and write them on their minds,'"

How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks a better message than even Abel's did.

May God, who gives us peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, who through the blood by which He ratified the everlasting covenant, is now the Great Shepherd of the sheep,

Then the doors of God's temple in heaven were thrown open, and inside the temple was seen the chest containing God's covenant, and there followed flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and heavy hail.

for this is my blood which ratifies the covenant, the blood which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.

to show mercy to our forefathers, and carry out His sacred covenant,

Then He said to them, "This is my blood which ratifies the covenant, the blood which is to be poured out for many.

In like manner after supper He took a cup of wine, and said, "This cup of wine is the new covenant to be ratified by my blood, which is to be poured out for you.

And this my covenant I make with them, when I shall take away their sins."

In the same way, after supper, He took the cup of wine, saying, "This cup is the new covenant ratified by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do so in memory of me."

Besides, their minds were made dull; for to this day that same veil remains unlifted, whenever they read the Old Covenant; because it is only through union with Christ that it is removed.