Hebrews 10

1 For the law having a shadow of the good [things] to come, not the very image of the things, they can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.

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 Else would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more conscience of sins?

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 those [sacrifices] there is a remembrance made of sins year by year.

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

4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

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

5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare 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 In whole burnt offerings and [sacrifices] for sin thou hadst no pleasure:

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

7 Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God.

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

8 Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and [sacrifices] for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law),

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 hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish 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 By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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

11 And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away 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 he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

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 from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet.

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

14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

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

15 And the Holy Ghost also beareth witness to us: for after he hath said,

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

16 This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws on their heart, And upon their mind also will I write them; [then saith he],

‘“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 And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

then we have – ‘And their sins and their iniquities I will no longer remember.’

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

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

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the 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 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

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 and [having] a great priest over the house of God;

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

22 let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our body washed with 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 let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised:

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

24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works;

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

25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting [one another]; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.

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 sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,

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

27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.

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

28 A man that hath set at nought Moses’ law dieth without compassion on [the word 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 of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto 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 For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall 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 is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

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

32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of sufferings;

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

33 partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used.

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 For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one.

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 Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward.

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

36 For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

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

37 For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.

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

38 But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.

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

39 But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.

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.