Hebrews 8

Hebrews 7 Hebrews 9

Hebrews 8 International Children’s Bible (ICB)

Jesus Is Our High Priest

8 Here is the point of what we are saying: We do have a high priest who sits on the right side of God’s throne in heaven. ²Our high priest serves in the Most Holy Place. He serves in the true place of worship that was made by God, not by men.

³Every high priest has the work of offering gifts and sacrifices to God. So our high priest must also offer something to God. ⁴If our high priest were now living on earth, he would not be a priest. I say this because there are already priests here who follow the law by offering gifts to God. ⁵The work that they do as priests is only a dim copy of what is in heaven. For when Moses was ready to build the Holy Tent, God warned him: “Be very careful to make everything by the plan I showed you on the mountain.”^[a] ⁶But the priestly work that has been given to Jesus is much greater than the work that was given to the other priests. In the same way, the new agreement that Jesus brought from God to his people is much greater than the old one. And the new agreement is based on promises of better things.

⁷If there was nothing wrong with the first agreement,^[b] there would be no need for a second agreement. ⁸But God found something wrong with his people. He says:^[c]

“The time is coming, says the Lord,
    when I will make a new agreement.
It will be with the people of Israel
    and the people of Judah.
⁹It will not be like the agreement
    I made with their ancestors.
That was when I took them by the hand
    to bring them out of Egypt.
But they broke that agreement,
    and I turned away from them, says the Lord.
¹⁰In the future I will make this agreement
    with the people of Israel, says the Lord.
I will put my teachings in their minds.
    And I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
¹¹People will no longer have to teach
    their neighbors and relatives to know the Lord.
This is because all will know me,
    from the least to the most important.
¹²I will forgive them for the wicked things they did.
    I will not remember their sins anymore.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

¹³God called this a new agreement, so he has made the first agreement old. And anything that is old and worn out is ready to disappear.

Footnotes:

8:5 “Be . . . mountain.” Quotation from Exodus 25:40.
8:7 first agreement The contract God gave the Jewish people when he gave them the law of Moses.
8:8 But . . . says Some Greek copies read “But God found something wrong and says to his people.”