Bible Time

¹THEN assuredly the first contract also had ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. ²For the first tabernacle which was made had in it the candlestick and the table and the shewbread; and it was called the sanctuary. ³But the inner tabernacle, which is inside the veil of the 2nd door, was called the Holy of Holies. ⁴And there was in it the golden censer and the ark of the contract all overlaid with gold, and in it was the golden pot containing the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded and the tablets of the contract; ⁵And over it the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat; now is not the time to describe how these things were made. ⁶The priests always entered into the outer tabernacle and performed their service of worship; ⁷But into the inner tabernacle, the high priest entered alone, once every year, with the blood which he offered for himself and for the faults of the people.

⁸By this the Holy Spirit revealed that the way of the saints would not yet be made known so long as the old tabernacle remained, ⁹Which was the symbol for that time, now past, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices which could not make perfect the conscience of him who offered them, ¹⁰But which served only for food and drink, and in various washings which are ordinances of the flesh and were imposed until the time of reformation. ¹¹But Messiah, who had come, became the high priest of the good things which he worked; and he entered into a greater and more perfect tabernacle which was not made by hands and was not of this world; ¹²And he did not enter with the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, and obtained for us everlasting salvation. ¹³For if the blood of goats and calves and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who were defiled sanctified them even to the cleansing of their flesh, ¹⁴How much more will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works so that we may serve the living God?

¹⁵For this cause he became the mediator of the new contract and by his death he became salvation for those who transgressed the old contract, that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. ¹⁶For where a will is presented, it shows the death of its maker. ¹⁷For a will is of force only after men are dead, otherwise it is useless so long as its maker lives. ¹⁸For this reason not even the first contract was confirmed without blood. ¹⁹For when Moses had given every precept to all the people according to the law, Moses took the blood of a heifer with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled it on the books and on all the people, ²⁰Saying, This is the blood of the contract which has been ordained for you by God. ²¹That very blood he also sprinkled on the tabernacle and on all the vessels used for worship, ²²Because nearly everything, according to the law, is purified with the blood; and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³It is necessary, therefore, that the patterns of things which are heavenly should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves, with sacrifices better than these. ²⁴For Messiah has not entered into the holy place made with hands, which is the symbol of the true one; but he entered into heaven itself to appear before the presence of God for our sakes. ²⁵Not so that he should offer himself many times, as does the high priest who enters into the holy place every year with blood which is not his own; ²⁶And if not so, then he would have been obliged to suffer many times from the very beginning of the world; but now at the end of the world, only once by his sacrifice did he offer himself to abolish sin. ²⁷And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after their death, the judgment; ²⁸So Messiah was once offered to bear the sins of many; so that at his 2nd coming he will appear without our sins for the salvation of those who look for him.