< Hebrews 9 >
1 Now, indeed, the first institution had both ordinances of service, and a worldly holy place.
2 For the first tabernacle, which is called holy, was set in order; in which were both the candlestick and the table, and the showbread;
3 and behind the second vail, the tabernacle which is called most holy--
4 having the golden censer, and the ark of the institution, covered everywhere with gold, in which were the golden pot having the manna, and the rod of Aaron, which budded, and the tables of the institution;
5 and above it, the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy-seat; concerning which things we can not at present speak particularly.
6 Now, these things being this set in order, the priests go at all times indeed into the first tabernacle, performing the services;
7 but into the second tabernacle--the high priest alone--once every year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people.
8 The Holy Spirit signifying this, that the way of the holy places was not yet laid open, while the first tabernacle was yet standing;
9 which was a figurative representation for the time being, during which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which can not, with respect to the conscience, make him who does the service perfect--
10 only with meats and drinks, and divers immersions-- ordinances concerning the flesh, imposed till the time of reformation.
11 But Christ being come--a High Priest of the good things to come--has, through a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, (that is to say, not of this building, )
12 entered once into the holy places, having obtained eternal redemption; not indeed, by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. (aiōnios )
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the polluted, sanctified to the cleansing of the flesh,
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through an Eternal Spirit, offered himself without fault, to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (aiōnios )
15 And, for this reason, he is mediator of the new institution, that, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first institution, those who had been called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (aiōnios )
16 Now, where there is such an institution, the death of the instituted sacrifice must necessarily intervene:
17 for since the institution is ratified over the dead, it has no force while the instituted sacrifice lives.
18 Hence, neither was the first introduced without blood;
19 for "when Moses had spoken every precept in the law to all the people, taking the blood of calves, and of goats, with water and scarlet wool, and hyssop, he sprinkled both the book itself, and the people:"
20 saying, "This is the blood of the institution, which God has enjoined on you."
21 Moreover, he in like manner sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
22 And almost all thing, according to the law, were cleansed with blood; and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.
23 It was necessary, then, indeed, that the representations of the things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves, with better sacrifices than these.
24 Therefore, Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, the antitypes of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God, on our account.
25 Not, however, that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy places every year with other blood;
26 for then he must have often sufferance since the foundation of the world: but now, once, at the conclusion of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (aiōn )
27 And, forasmuch as it is appointed to men once to die, and after that, the judgment;
28 even so Christ, being once offered, to bear away the sins of many, will, to them who look for him, appear a second time, without a sin-offering, in order to salvation.
