Hebrews 10

1 The law is just a shadow of the good that was to come, and not the actual reality. So it can never through the repeated sacrifices offered year after year make right those who come to worship God.

The Law, though able to foreshadow the better system which was coming, never had its actual substance. Its priests, with those sacrifices which they offer continuously year after year, can never make those who come to worship perfect.

2 Otherwise wouldn't the sacrifices have stopped being offered? If the worshipers had been made clean once and for all, they wouldn't have had guilty consciences any longer.

Otherwise, would not the offering of these sacrifices have been abandoned, as the worshipers, having been once purified, would have had their consciences clear from sins?

3 But in fact those sacrifices remind people of sins year after year,

But, on the contrary, these sacrifices recall their sins to mind year after year.

4 because it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to remove sins.

For the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to remove sins.

5 That's why when Christ came into the world he said, “You didn't want sacrifices or offerings, but you did prepare a body for me.

That is why, when he was coming into the world, the Christ declared – “Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you provide for me a body;

6 Burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin gave you no pleasure.

You take no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.

7 Then I said, ‘God, see I've come to do what you want me to do, just as it says about me in the book.’”

So I said, ‘See, I have come’ (as is written of me in the pages of the book), ‘To do your will, God.’”

8 As mentioned above, “You didn't want sacrifices or offerings, and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin gave you no pleasure,” (even though they are offered in accordance with the law's requirements).

First come the words – “You do not desire, nor do you take pleasure in, sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin” (offerings regularly made under the Law),

9 Then he said, “See, I've come to do what you want.” He gets rid of the first agreement so he can set up the second,

and then there is added – “See, I have come to do your will.” The former sacrifices are set aside to be replaced by the latter.

10 through which we all are made holy through Jesus Christ offering his body once and for all time.

And it is in the fulfilment of the will of God that we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, of the body of Jesus Christ.

11 Every priest officiates in the services day after day, again and again offering the same sacrifices that can never remove sins.

Every other priest stands day after day at his ministrations, and offers the same sacrifices over and over again – sacrifices that can never take sins away.

12 But this Priest, after he had offered for sins a single sacrifice that lasts forever, sat down at God's right hand.

But, this priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, which should serve for all time, “took his seat at the right hand of God,”

13 Now he waits until all his enemies are conquered, becoming like a footstool for him.

and has since then been waiting “for his enemies to be put as a stool for his feet.”

14 For by a single sacrifice he has set right forever those who are being made holy.

By a single offering he has made perfect for all time those who are being purified.

15 As the Holy Spirit also tells us, for having said,

We have also the testimony of the Holy Spirit. For, after saying –

16 “This is the agreement that I will make with them later on, says the Lord. I will put my laws inside them, and I will write them in their minds.” Then he adds,

“‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,’ says the Lord; ‘I will impress my laws on their hearts, and will inscribe them on their minds,’”

17 “I won't remember their sins and lawlessness anymore.”

then we have – “And their sins and their iniquities I will no longer remember.”

18 Once free from such things, sin offerings are no longer needed.

And, when these are forgiven, there is no further need of an offering for sin.

19 Now we have the confidence, brothers and sisters, to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.

Therefore, friends, since we may enter the sanctuary with confidence, in virtue of the blood of Jesus,

20 Through his life and death, he opened up a brand-new, living way through the veil to God.

by the way which he inaugurated for us – a new and living way, a way through the sanctuary curtain (that is, his human nature);

21 Since we have such a great priest placed in charge over the house of God,

and, since we have in him “a great priest set over the house of God,”

22 let us come close to God with sincere minds, totally trusting in him. Our minds have been sprinkled to purify them from our evil way of thinking, and our bodies have been washed clean by pure water.

let us draw near to God in all sincerity of heart and in perfect faith, with our hearts purified by the sprinkled blood from all consciousness of wrong, and with our bodies washed with pure water.

23 So let us hold onto the hope we're telling others about, never hesitating, for God who promised is trustworthy.

Let us maintain the confession of our hope unshaken, for he who has given us his promise will not fail us.

24 Let's think about how we can motivate one another to love and to do what is good.

Let us vie with one another in a rivalry of love and noble actions.

25 We should not give up meeting together, as some have done. In fact we should be encouraging one another, especially as you see the End approaching.

And let us not, as some do, cease to meet together; but, on the contrary, let us encourage one another, and all the more, now that you see the day drawing near.

26 For if we deliberately go on sinning after we've understood the truth, there's no longer any sacrifice for sins.

Remember, if we sin wilfully after we have gained a full knowledge of the truth, there can be no further sacrifice for sin;

27 All that's left is fear, expecting the impending judgment and the terrible fire that destroys those who are hostile to God.

there is only a fearful anticipation of judgment, and a burning indignation which will destroy all opponents.

28 Someone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

When someone disregarded the Law of Moses, they were, on the evidence of two or three witnesses, put to death without pity.

29 How much worse do you think someone will deserve their punishment if they have trampled underfoot the Son of God, if they have disregarded the blood that sealed the agreement and makes us holy, treating it as ordinary and trivial, and have abused the Spirit of grace?

How much worse then, think you, will be the punishment deserved by those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have treated the blood that rendered the covenant valid – the blood by which they were purified – as if it were not holy, and who have outraged the Spirit of love?

30 We know God, and he said, “I will make sure that justice is done; I will give people what they deserve.” He also said, “The Lord will judge his people.”

We know who it was that said – “It is for me to avenge, I will requite”; and again – “The Lord will judge his people.”

31 It's terrifying to come under the power of the living God.

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

32 Just remember the past when, after you understood the truth, you experienced a great deal of suffering.

Call to mind those early days in which, after you had received the light, you patiently underwent a long and painful conflict.

33 Sometimes you were made a spectacle of, being insulted and attacked; at other times you stood in solidarity with those who were suffering.

Sometimes, in consequence of the taunts and injuries heaped on you, you became a public spectacle; and sometimes you suffered through having shown yourselves to be the friends of people who were in the same position in which you had been.

34 You showed your sympathy for those in prison, and took it cheerfully when your possessions were confiscated, knowing that you have something better coming that will truly last.

For you not only sympathised with those who were in prison, but you even took the confiscation of your possessions joyfully, knowing, as you did, that you had in yourselves a greater possession and a lasting one.

35 So don't lose your confidence in God—it will be richly rewarded.

Do not, therefore, abandon the confidence that you have gained, for it has a great reward awaiting it.

36 You need to be patient so that having done what God wants, you'll receive what he has promised.

You still have need of patient endurance, in order that, when you have done God’s will, you may obtain the fulfilment of his promise.

37 “In just a little while he will come, as he said—he won't delay.

“For there is indeed but a very little while before he who is coming will have come, without delay;

38 Those who do what is right will live by trusting in God, and if they draw back from their commitment, I won't be pleased with them.”

and through faith the righteous will find life, but, if anyone draws back, my heart can find no pleasure in them.”

39 But we're not the kind of people who draw back and end up being lost. We are those who trust in God to save us.

But we do not belong to those who draw back, to their ruin, but to those who have faith, to the saving of their souls.