Hebrews 10 - International Standard Version (ISV)

The Law is a Reflection

10 For the Law, being only[a] a reflection[b] of the blessings to come and not their substance, can never make perfect those who come near by the same sacrifices repeatedly offered year after year. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped offering them, because the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer be aware of any sins? 3 Instead, through those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year, 4 for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The Messiah Offered One Sacrifice

5 For this reason, the Scriptures[c] say, when the Messiah[d] was about to come into the world:

“You did not want sacrifices and offerings,
but you prepared a body for me.
6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings
you never took delight.
7 Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God’
In the volume of the scroll this is written about me.”[e]

8 In this passage he says, “You never wanted or took delight in sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings,”[f] which are offered according to the Law. 9 Then he says, “See, I have come to do your will.”[g] He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By God’s will we have been sanctified once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah.[h]

11 Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest[i] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God.”[j] 13 Since that time, he has been waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 The Holy Spirit also assures us of this, for he said:

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:[k]
I will put my laws in their hearts
and will write them on their minds,
17 and I will never again remember their sins
and their lawless deeds.”[l]

18 Now where there is forgiveness of these sins,[m] there is no longer any offering for sin.

How We Should Live

19 Therefore, my brothers, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21 and since we have a great high priest over the household of God, 22 let us continue to come near with sincere hearts in the full assurance that faith provides, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us continue to hold firmly to the hope that we confess without wavering, for the one who made the promise is faithful. 24 And let us continue to consider how to motivate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another even more as you see the day of the Lord[n] coming nearer.

26 For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.[o] 28 Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”[p] 29 How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God’s Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it[q] was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back,”[r] and again, “The Lord[s] will judge his people.”[t] 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

32 But you must continue to remember those earlier days, how after you were enlightened you endured a hard and painful struggle. 33 At times you were made a public spectacle by means of insults and persecutions, while at other times you associated with people who were treated this way. 34 For you sympathized[u] with the prisoners and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, because you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.

35 So don’t lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will you can receive what he has promised. 37 For

“in a very little while
the one who is coming will return—
he will not delay;
38 but my righteous one will live by faith,
and if he turns back,
my soul will take no pleasure in him.”[v]

39 Now, we do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 10:1 The Gk. lacks only
  2. Hebrews 10:1 Or shadow
  3. Hebrews 10:5 The Gk. lacks the Scriptures
  4. Hebrews 10:5 Lit. when he
  5. Hebrews 10:7 Cf. Ps 40:6-8
  6. Hebrews 10:8 Cf. Ps 40:6
  7. Hebrews 10:9 Cf. Ps 40:7
  8. Hebrews 10:10 Or Christ
  9. Hebrews 10:12 Lit. this one
  10. Hebrews 10:12 Cf. Ps 110:1
  11. Hebrews 10:16 MT source citation reads Lord
  12. Hebrews 10:17 Jer 31:34
  13. Hebrews 10:18 Lit. of these things
  14. Hebrews 10:25 The Gk. lacks of the Lord
  15. Hebrews 10:27 The Gk. lacks of God
  16. Hebrews 10:28 Cf. Deut 17:6
  17. Hebrews 10:29 Or he
  18. Hebrews 10:30 Cf. Deut 32:35
  19. Hebrews 10:30 MT source citation reads Lord
  20. Hebrews 10:30 Cf. Deut 32:36; Ps 135:14
  21. Hebrews 10:34 Or suffered
  22. Hebrews 10:38 Cf. Isa 26:20 (LXX); Hab 2:3-4 (LXX)

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10 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not that image of things, may never make men approaching perfect by those same sacrifices, which they offer without ceasing by all years; [Forsooth the law having shadow of goods to come, not that image of things, by all years by those same host...
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Hebrews 10 - Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

10 The law can show only a little about the good things that are coming. It cannot show the good things themselves. People come to worship God. But the law can never make them all right by the same sacrifices that are brought every year. 2 If the law could make people all right, they would stop maki...
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Hebrews 10 - The Voice (VOICE)

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Hebrews 10 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

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Hebrews 10 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near.[a] 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceas...
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Hebrews 10 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased ...
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Hebrews 10 - Revised Geneva Translation (RGT)

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Hebrews 10 - New Testament for Everyone (NTE)

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Hebrews 10 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All10 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it[a] can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased being...
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Hebrews 10 - New Matthew Bible (NMB)

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