Hebrews 9
1Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary. 2For a tent was prepared—the outer one—in which were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation of the loaves; this is called the Holy Place. 3Behind the second curtain was the tent called the Holy of Holies, 4which contained a golden incense-altar and the ark of the covenant, covered on all sides with gold. Inside the ark were the golden jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5Above it were the Cherubim of Glory overshadowing the place of atonement. We cannot speak of these things in detail right now.
6With these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter the outer tent continually to perform their acts of worship. 7But only the high priest enters the inner tent, and only once a year—never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance. 8By this the Holy Spirit makes it clear that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been revealed as long as the outer tent was still standing. 9This is a parable for the present time: the gifts and sacrifices being offered are not able to bring the worshiper to the goal of a cleared conscience. 10They deal only with food, drink, and various ceremonial washings—regulations for the flesh imposed only until the time of setting things right.
11But when Christ arrived as High Priest of the good things that have come, he passed through the greater and more complete tent—one not made by hands, which is to say, not of this created order. 12He entered the sanctuary once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having secured an eternal release. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, when sprinkled on those who are ritually defiled, can set them apart as holy so that their flesh is clean, 14how much more will the blood of Christ—who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God—purify our conscience from dead works so that we may worship the living God?
15For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant-will, so that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, now that a death has occurred to provide release from the violations committed under the first covenant. 16For where there is a covenant-will, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17A will is valid only after a death; it has no legal force as long as the one who made it is still alive. 18This is why even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19For when every commandment of the law had been spoken by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, 20saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded for you." 21In the same way, he sprinkled the tent and all the vessels used in the liturgy with blood. 22Indeed, according to the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, no release occurs.
23It was necessary, then, for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified by these means, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by hands—a mere representation of the true one—but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God on our behalf. 25Nor did he enter to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own. 26For then he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now, he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to annul sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And just as it is appointed for human beings to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time—not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.