Chapter 10

¹For while the Law foreshadowed the blessings that were to come, it did not fully express them, and so the priests by offering the same sacrifices endlessly year after year cannot wholly free those who come to worship from their sins. ²Otherwise, would they not have ceased to offer these sacrifices, because those who offered them, having once been purified, would have had no further consciousness of sin? ³They really only serve to remind the people annually of the sins they have committed, ⁴for bulls’ and goats’ blood is powerless to remove sin. ⁵That is why the Christ, when he was coming into the world, said,

“You have not wished sacrifice or offering, but you have provided a body for me.

⁶You never cared for burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin!

⁷So I said, ‘See, I have come! as the Book of the Law says of me,

O God, to do your will!’ ”

⁸At first he says, “You never wished or cared for sacrifices or offerings, or burnt-offerings or sacrifices for sin”—all of which the Law prescribes— ⁹and then he adds, “See, I have come to do your will!” He is taking away the old to put the new in its place. ¹⁰And it is through his doing of God’s will that we have been once for all purified from sin through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ in sacrifice. ¹¹Every other priest stands officiating day after day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices, though they were powerless ever to remove people’s sins. ¹²But Christ has offered for all time one sacrifice for sin, and has taken his seat at God’s right hand, ¹³from that time waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴For by that one sacrifice he has forever qualified those who are purified from sin to approach God. ¹⁵And we have the testimony of the holy Spirit to this, for after saying,

¹⁶“ ‘This is the agreement that I will make with them

In those later days,’ says the Lord,

‘I will put my laws into their minds,

And write them upon their hearts,’ ”

he goes on,

¹⁷“ ‘And their sins and their misdeeds I will no longer remember.’ ”

¹⁸But when these are forgiven, there is no more need of offerings for sin.

¹⁹Since then, brothers, we have free access to the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new, living way which he has opened for us, through the curtain, that is, his physical nature, ²¹and since in him we have a great priest set over the house of God, ²²let us draw near to God in sincerity of heart and with perfect faith, with our hearts cleansed from the sense of sin, and our bodies washed with clean water. ²³Let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we profess, for he who has given us his promise may be trusted. ²⁴By observing one another, let us arouse ourselves to rival one another’s love and good deeds. ²⁵Let 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.

²⁶For if we choose to go on sinning after we have so fully learned the truth, there is no sacrifice left to be offered for our sins, ²⁷but only the dreadful prospect of judgment and that blazing indignation which is to devour God’s enemies. ²⁸Anyone who breaks the Law of Moses is put to death without any show of pity, on the evidence of only two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much worse a punishment do you think will anyone deserve who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and treats as worthless the blood of the agreement by which he has been purified, and outrages God’s spirit of mercy? ³⁰For we know who it is that has said,

“Vengeance belongs to me! I will pay back!”

and in another place,

“The Lord will be the judge of his people!”

³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

³²But you must remember those early days when after you had received the light you had to go through a great struggle with persecution, ³³sometimes being actually exposed as a public spectacle to insults and violence, and sometimes showing yourselves ready to share the lot of those in that condition. ³⁴For you showed sympathy with those who were in prison, and you put up with it cheerfully when your property was taken from you, for you knew that you had in yourselves a greater possession that was lasting. ³⁵You must not lose your courage, for it will be richly rewarded, ³⁶but you will need endurance if you are to carry out God’s will and receive the blessing he has promised. ³⁷For

“In a very little while

He who is to come will come and not delay,

³⁸And he whom I accept as righteous will find life through his faith.

But if a man draws back, my heart can take no pleasure in him.”

³⁹But we will not draw back and perish, but we will have faith and save our souls.