Hebrews 8
The High Priest of a Better Covenant
1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this:t We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,s2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer.4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offert the gifts prescribed by the law.5 The place where they serve ist a sketchtst and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the designtsshown to you on the mountain.”s
6 Buts now Jesust has obtained a superior ministry, sincet the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enactedt on better promises.s
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.t
8 Butt showing its fault,s Godt says to them,s
“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
9 “It will not be like the covenanttthat I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.
10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will puttmy laws in their mindstand I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people.t
11 “And there will be no need at alltfor each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.t
12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.”s
13 When he speaks of a new covenant,t he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.t
HEBREWS 8
A Better Promise
1 t What I mean is we have a high priest who sits at the right sidet of God's great throne in heaven.
2 He also serves as the priest in the most holy placet inside the real tent there in heaven. This tent of worship was set up by the Lord, not by humans.
3 Since all priests must offer gifts and sacrifices, Christ also needed to have something to offer. 4 If he were here on earth, he would not be a priest at all, because here the Law appoints other priests to offer sacrifices. 5 t But the tent where they serve is just a copy and a shadow of the real one in heaven. Before Moses made the tent, he was told, “Be sure to make it exactly like the pattern you were shown on the mountain!”
6 Now Christ has been appointed to serve as a priest in a much better way, and he has given us much assurance of a better agreement.
7 If the first agreement with God had been all right, there would not have been any need for another one.
8 t But the Lord found fault with it and said,
“I tell you the time will come,
when I will make
a new agreement
with the people of Israel
and the people of Judah.
9 It won't be like the agreement
that I made
with their ancestors,
when I took them by the hand
and led them out of Egypt.
They broke their agreement
with me,
and I stopped caring
about them!
10 “But now I tell the people
of Israel
this is my new agreement:
‘The time will come
when I, the Lord,
will write my laws
on their minds and hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be
my people.
11 Not one of them
will have to teach another
to know me, their Lord.’
“All of them will know me,
no matter who they are.
12 I will treat them with kindness,
even though they are wicked.
I will forget their sins.”
13 When the Lord talks about a new agreement, he means that the first one is out of date. And anything that is old and useless will soon disappear.