Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 The Jewish Law is not a full and faithful model of the real things; it is only a faint outline of the good things to come. The same sacrifices are offered forever, year after year. How can the Law, then, by means of these sacrifices make perfect the people who come to God?
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For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.
2 If the people worshiping God had really been purified from their sins, they would not feel guilty of sin any more, and all sacrifices would stop.
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Or else wouldn't they have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?
3 As it is, however, the sacrifices serve year after year to remind people of their sins.
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But in those sacrifices there is a memory made of sins year by year.
4 For the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins.
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For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
5 For this reason, when Christ was about to come into the world, he said to God: "You do not want sacrifices and offerings, but you have prepared a body for me.
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Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, "Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, But a body did you prepare for me;
6 You are not pleased with animals burned whole on the altar or with sacrifices to take away sins.
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In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, "Here I am, to do your will, O God, just as it is written of me in the book of the Law.' "
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Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of me) To do your will, God.'"
8 First he said, "You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burned on the altar and the sacrifices to take away sins." He said this even though all these sacrifices are offered according to the Law.
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Saying above, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn't desire, neither had pleasure in them" (those which are offered according to the law),
9 Then he said, "Here I am, O God, to do your will." So God does away with all the old sacrifices and puts the sacrifice of Christ in their place.
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then has he said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,
10 Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do, we are all purified from sin by the offering that he made of his own body once and for all.
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by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Every Jewish priest performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times; but these sacrifices can never take away sins.
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Every priest indeed stands day by day ministering and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,
12 Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then he sat down at the right side of God.
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but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 There he now waits until God puts his enemies as a footstool under his feet.
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henceforth expecting until his enemies to be made the footstool of his feet.
14 With one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin.
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For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also gives us his witness. First he says,
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The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after he has said,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds."
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"This is the covenant that I will make with them: 'After those days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;'" then,
17 And then he says, "I will not remember their sins and evil deeds any longer."
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"I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more."
18 So when these have been forgiven, an offering to take away sins is no longer needed.
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Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19 We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus.
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Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20 He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain - that is, through his own body.
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by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 We have a great priest in charge of the house of God.
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and having a great priest over the house of God;
22 So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.
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let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,
23 Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise.
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let us hold fast the confession of our hope unyieldingly. For he who promised is faithful.
24 Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.
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Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,
25 Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer.
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not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.
26 For there is no longer any sacrifice that will take away sins if we purposely go on sinning after the truth has been made known to us.
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For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,
27 Instead, all that is left is to wait in fear for the coming Judgment and the fierce fire which will destroy those who oppose God!
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but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who disobeys the Law of Moses is put to death without any mercy when judged guilty from the evidence of two or more witnesses.
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A man who has set at nothing Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.
29 What, then, of those who despise the Son of God? who treat as a cheap thing the blood of God's covenant which purified them from sin? who insult the Spirit of grace? Just think how much worse is the punishment they will deserve!
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How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know who said, "I will take revenge, I will repay"; and who also said, "The Lord will judge his people."
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For we know him who said, "Vengeance belongs to me," says the Lord, "I will repay." Again, "The Lord will judge his people."
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
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It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Remember how it was with you in the past. In those days, after God's light had shone on you, you suffered many things, yet were not defeated by the struggle.
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But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;
33 You were at times publicly insulted and mistreated, and at other times you were ready to join those who were being treated in this way.
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partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so.
34 You shared the sufferings of prisoners, and when all your belongings were seized, you endured your loss gladly, because you knew that you still possessed something much better, which would last forever.
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For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
35 Do not lose your courage, then, because it brings with it a great reward.
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Therefore don't throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.
36 You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises.
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For you need patience, so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
37 For, as the scripture says, "Just a little while longer, and he who is coming will come; he will not delay.
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"For yet a very little while, He who comes will come, and will not wait.
38 My righteous people, however, will believe and live; but if any of them turns back, I will not be pleased with them."
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But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."
39 We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved.
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But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.