Hebrews

Hebrews 8

The Main Point of What Is Being Said

1 Now the main point in what is being said: we have such a chief priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a public servant of the holy place and of the true tent, which the Lord pitched, not a human being. 3 For every chief priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; from which it is necessary that this one also have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are those who offer the gifts according to law —

5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was instructed when he was about to complete the tent: “See,” he says, “that you make everything by the pattern shown to you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, he has obtained a more excellent service, by as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which has been laid down as law on better promises.

Finding Fault with Them

7 For if that first one had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them he says:

“Look, days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will conclude a new covenant

over the house of Israel and over the house of Judah —

9 not like the covenant I made with their fathers

on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;

because they did not remain in my covenant,

and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord:

giving my laws into their mind,

I will also inscribe them on their hearts;

and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

11 And they will no longer teach, each one his fellow citizen

and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest;

12 for I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings

and remember their sins no more.”

13 In saying “new” he has made the first one old; and what is being made old and is growing aged is near vanishing away.