Add parallel Print Page Options

Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: that we have such a High Priest Who sits at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven,

and is a Minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true Tabernacle (which the Lord pitched, and not man).

For every High Priest is ordained to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it was necessary that this Man also have something to offer.

For if He were on the earth, He would not be a priest, seeing there are priests that offer gifts according to the Law,

who serve the pattern and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was instructed by God when he was about to finish the Tabernacle. “See,” said He, “that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”

But now, our High Priest has obtained a more excellent office, inasmuch as He is the Mediator of a better Testament, which is established upon better promises.

For if that first Testament had been blameless, no place would have been sought for the second.

For in rebuking them He said, “‘Behold, the days will come,’ says the Lord, ‘when I shall make a new Testament with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah -

‘unlike the Testament that I made with their fathers on 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 Testament. And I disregarded them,’ says the Lord.

10 “For this is the Testament that I will make with the House of Israel, ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put My Laws in their mind, And I will write them on their heart. And I will be their God. And they shall be my people.

11 ‘And no one shall teach his neighbor, or every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord.” For all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

12 ‘For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. And I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.’”

13 In saying, “a New Testament”, He has rendered the first obsolete. Now that which has aged and grown old is ready to vanish.

The High Priest of a New Covenant

Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest,(A) who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,(B) and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle(C) set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

Every high priest(D) is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices,(E) and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.(F) If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.(G) They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy(H) and shadow(I) of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned(J) when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a](K) But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant(L) of which he is mediator(M) is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.(N) But God found fault with the people and said[b]:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant(O)
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors(P)
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant(Q) I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.(R)
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.(S)
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,(T)
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.(U)[c](V)

13 By calling this covenant “new,”(W) he has made the first one obsolete;(X) and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 8:5 Exodus 25:40
  2. Hebrews 8:8 Some manuscripts may be translated fault and said to the people.
  3. Hebrews 8:12 Jer. 31:31-34