The Perfect Sacrifice
1Since the law has only a shadow of the good things10:1 Col 2:17; Heb 8:5; 9:11 to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.
2Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
3But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.
4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said:
You did not desire sacrifice and offering,
but you prepared a body for me.
6
You did not delight
in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7
Then I said, “See —
it is written about me
in the scroll —
8After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law10:8 Mk 12:33; Heb 10:5–6),
9he then says, See, I have come to do your will.10:9 Other mss add God He takes away the first to establish the second.
11Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins.10:11 Nm 28:3; Heb 5:1
12But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.10:12 Or offering one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever at the right hand of God10:12 Rm 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 12:2; 1Pt 3:22
13He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.10:13 Ps 110:1; Mt 22:44; Mk 12:36; Lk 20:43; Ac 2:34–35; 1Co 15:25; Heb 1:13
14For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says:
16
This is the covenant I will make with them
after those days,
the Lord says,
I will put my laws on their hearts
and write them on their minds,
17andI will never again remember
18Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Exhortations to Godliness
19Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus10:19 Eph 2:18; Heb 9:25 —
20he has inaugurated10:20 Or opened for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh10:20 Jn 10:9; Heb 9:3,8) —
22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.10:22 Ezk 36:25; Heb 9:14
23Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.10:23 1Co 1:9; Heb 3:6
24And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,
Warning against Deliberate Sin
26For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,10:26 Nm 15:30; Dt 17:12; Heb 6:4; 2Pt 2:20–21; 1Jn 5:16
27but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.10:27 Is 26:11; Zph 1:18; 2Th 1:8
28Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.10:28 Dt 17:6; Heb 2:2
29How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane10:29 Or ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?10:29 Mt 12:31–32; Eph 4:30; Heb 6:6
30For we know the one who has said,
Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,
10:30
Other mss add says the Lord
10:30
Dt 32:35
and again,
32Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.10:32 Php 1:29–30; Heb 6:4
33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way.10:33 1Co 4:9; Php 4:14; 1Th 2:14
37For yet in a very little while,
the Coming One will come and not delay.
and if he draws back,
I have no pleasure
10:38
Lit my soul has no pleasure
in him.10:37–38Is 26:20 LXX; Hab 2:3–410:37–38 Hab 2:3–4; Lk 18:8; Rm 1:17; Gl 3:11; Rv 22:20
39But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.
Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard
Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.