Animal Sacrifices Are Not Sufficient
10 In fact, the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual realization of those things. It will never be able to make perfect those who continually offer the same sacrifices year after year. 2 If it could do this, would they not have stopped bringing sacrifices, because the worshippers, once they were cleansed, would no longer have a bad conscience about sins? 3 Instead, these sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 The fact is that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.
5 Therefore when he entered the world, Christ said:
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but you prepared a body for me.
6 You were not pleased
with burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 Then I said, “Here I am.
I have come to do your will, God.
In the scroll of the book it is written about me.”[a]
8 First he said:
Sacrifices and offerings that were offered according to the law,
both burnt offerings and sin offerings,
you did not desire,
and you were not pleased with them.[b]
9 Then he said:
Here I am.
I have come to do your will.[c]
He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will, we have been sanctified once and for all, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.
Christ’s Sacrifice Is Sufficient
11 In the one case, every priest stood ministering day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which are never able to remove sin. 12 In the other case, this priest, after he offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since then he has been waiting until his enemies are made a footstool under his feet. 14 By only one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies in Scripture[d] to us, for first he said:
16 This is the covenant I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord.
I will put my laws on their hearts
and I will write them on their mind.[e]
17 Then he adds:
And I will not remember their sins and their lawlessness any longer.[f]
18 Now where these sins are forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Confidence Through Christ
19 Brothers,[g] we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus. 20 It is a new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh. 21 We also have a great priest over the house of God. 22 So let us approach with a sincere heart, in the full confidence of faith, because our hearts have been sprinkled to take away a bad conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold on firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.
Do Not Keep On Sinning
24 Let us also consider carefully how to spur each other on to love and good works. 25 Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day[h] approaching.
26 For if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins. 27 Instead, there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a raging fire that is going to consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without pity, on the basis of the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much greater punishment do you think will be deserved by the person who trampled the Son of God underfoot, who considered insignificant the blood of the covenant, by which he was sanctified, and who insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who said:
Vengeance is mine. I will repay.[i]
And again:
The Lord will judge his people.[j]
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Endure Suffering Patiently
32 Remember the former days when, after you were enlightened, you patiently endured a great struggle of sufferings. 33 Sometimes you were publicly shamed by insults and persecutions. At other times you became companions of those who were treated this way. 34 Indeed, you also sympathized with those in prison,[k] and when your possessions were seized, you accepted it with joy, because you knew that you yourselves had a better and lasting possession. 35 So do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 Certainly you need patient endurance so that, after you do God’s will, you may receive what was promised. 37 For in just a little while:
The one who is coming will come and will not delay.
38 And my[l] righteous one will live by faith,
but if he shrinks back,
my soul takes no pleasure in him.[m]
39 Now we are not part of those who shrink back, resulting in destruction, but of those who have faith, resulting in the soul’s salvation.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 10:7 Psalm 40:6-8
- Hebrews 10:8 A paraphrase of Psalm 40:6
- Hebrews 10:9 Psalm 40:7. Some witnesses to the text add O God.
- Hebrews 10:15 The Greek term for testifies appears six more times in this letter (Hebrews 7:8,17; 11:2,4,5,39). Each time it clearly implies by usage and context that it is referring to testimony in Scripture.
- Hebrews 10:16 Jeremiah 31:33
- Hebrews 10:17 Jeremiah 31:34
- Hebrews 10:19 When context indicates it, the Greek word for brothers may refer to all fellow believers, male and female.
- Hebrews 10:25 Judgment Day
- Hebrews 10:30 Deuteronomy 32:35. Some witnesses to the text add says the Lord.
- Hebrews 10:30 Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 135:14
- Hebrews 10:34 Some witnesses to the text read with my chains.
- Hebrews 10:38 Some witnesses to the text read the.
- Hebrews 10:38 Habakkuk 2:3-4