New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.
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That first plan contained directions for worship, and a specially designed place of worship.
2 For a tent was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place.
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A large outer tent was set up. The lampstand, the table, and "the bread of presence" were placed in it. This was called "the Holy Place."
3 Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Holy of Holies.
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Then a curtain was stretched, and behind it a smaller, inside tent set up. This was called "the Holy of Holies."
4 In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
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In it were placed the gold incense altar and the gold-covered ark of the covenant containing the gold urn of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, the covenant tablets,
5 above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot speak now in detail.
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and the angel-wing-shadowed mercy seat. But we don't have time to comment on these now.
6 Such preparations having been made, the priests go continually into the first tent to carry out their ritual duties;
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After this was set up, the priests went about their duties in the large tent.
7 but only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year, and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.
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Only the high priest entered the smaller, inside tent, and then only once a year, offering a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people's accumulated sins.
8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been disclosed as long as the first tent is still standing.
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This was the Holy Spirit's way of showing with a visible parable that as long as the large tent stands, people can't just walk in on God.
9 This is a symbol of the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,
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Under this system, the gifts and sacrifices can't really get to the heart of the matter, can't assuage the conscience of the people,
10 but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right.
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but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior. It's essentially a temporary arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made.
11 But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),
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But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent" - the true Holy Place - once and for all.
12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
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He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified,
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If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior,
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
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think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out.
15 For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.
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Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.
16 Where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.
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Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus' death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.
17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.
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18 Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.
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Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion.
19 For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,
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After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law - God's "will" - he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries.
20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you."
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And then he attested its validity with the words, "This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God."
21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.
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He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture.
22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
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Moses said to the people, "This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you." Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That's why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.
23 Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these.
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That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren't needed anymore, having served their purpose.
24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
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For Christ didn't enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins.
25 Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own;
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He doesn't do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own;
26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.
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if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.
27 And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment,
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Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences.
28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
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Christ's death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.