Hebrews 7; Hebrews 8; Hebrews 9; Hebrews 10

1 Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. He met Abraham and blessed him when Abraham was returning from defeating the kings.

2 Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had captured. In the first place, Melchizedek's name means king of righteousness. He is also called king of Salem (which means king of peace).

3 No one knows anything about Melchizedek's father, mother, or ancestors. No one knows when he was born or when he died. Like the Son of God, Melchizedek continues to be a priest forever.

4 You can see how important Melchizedek was. Abraham gave him a tenth of what he had captured, even though Abraham was the father of the chosen people.

5 Moses' Teachings say that members of the tribe of Levi who become priests must receive a tenth of everything from the people. The priests collect it from their own people, Abraham's descendants.

6 Although Melchizedek was not from the tribe of Levi, he received a tenth of everything from Abraham. Then Melchizedek blessed Abraham, who had God's promises.

7 No one can deny that the more important person blesses the less important person.

8 Priests receive a tenth of everything, but they die. Melchizedek received a tenth of everything, but we are told that he lives.

9 We could even say that when Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything, Levi was giving a tenth of everything. Levi gave, although later his descendants would receive a tenth of everything.

10 Even though Levi had not yet been born, he was in the body of Abraham when Melchizedek met him.

11 The people established the Levitical priesthood based on instructions they received. If the work of the Levitical priests had been perfect, we wouldn't need to speak about another kind of priest. However, we speak about another kind of priest, a priest like Melchizedek, not a Levitical priest like Aaron.

12 When a different kind of priesthood is established, the regulations for those priests are different.

13 The priest whom we are talking about was a member of a different tribe. No one from that tribe ever served as a priest at the altar.

14 Everyone knows that our Lord came from the tribe of Judah. Moses never said anything about priests coming from that tribe.

15 The regulations were different. This became clear when a different priest who is like Melchizedek appeared.

16 That person is a priest, not because he met human requirements, but because he has power that comes from a life that cannot be destroyed.

17 The Scriptures say the following about him: "You are a priest forever, in the way Melchizedek was a priest."

18 The former requirements are rejected because they are weak and useless.

19 Moses' Teachings couldn't accomplish everything that God required. But we have something else that gives us greater confidence and allows us to approach God.

20 None of this happened without an oath. The men from the tribe of Levi may have become priests without an oath,

21 but Jesus became a priest when God took an oath. God said about him, "The Lord has taken an oath and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever."

22 In this way Jesus has become the guarantee of a better promise.

23 There was a long succession of priests because when a priest died he could no longer serve.

24 But Jesus lives forever, so he serves as a priest forever.

25 That is why he is always able to save those who come to God through him. He can do this because he always lives and intercedes for them.

26 We need a chief priest who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, and who has the highest position in heaven.

27 We need a priest who doesn't have to bring daily sacrifices as those chief priests did. First they brought sacrifices for their own sins, and then they brought sacrifices for the sins of the people. Jesus brought the sacrifice for the sins of the people once and for all when he sacrificed himself.

28 Moses' Teachings designated mortals as chief priests even though they had weaknesses. But God's promise, which came after Moses' Teachings, designated the Son who forever accomplished everything that God required.

1 The main point we want to make is this: We do have this kind of chief priest. This chief priest has received the highest position, the throne of majesty in heaven.

2 He serves as priest of the holy place and of the true tent set up by the Lord and not by any human.

3 Every chief priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, this chief priest had to offer something.

4 If he were on earth, he would not even be a priest. On earth [other] priests offer gifts by following the instructions that Moses gave.

5 They serve at a place that is a pattern, a shadow, of what is in heaven. When Moses was about to make the tent, God warned him, "Be sure to make everything based on the plan I showed you on the mountain."

6 Jesus has been given a priestly work that is superior to the Levitical priests' work. He also brings a better promise from God that is based on better guarantees.

7 If nothing had been wrong with the first promise, no one would look for another one.

8 But God found something wrong with his people and said to them, "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah.

9 It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, so I ignored them, says the Lord.

10 But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

11 No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, 'Know the Lord.' All of them from the least important to the most important will all know me

12 because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them."

13 God made this new promise and showed that the first promise was outdated. What is outdated and aging will soon disappear.

1 The first promise had rules for the priests' service. It also had a holy place on earth.

2 A tent was set up. The first part of this tent was called the holy place. The lamp stand, the table, and the bread of the presence were in this part of the tent.

3 Behind the second curtain was the part of the tent called the most holy place.

4 It contained the gold incense burner and the ark of the Lord's promise. The ark was completely covered with gold. In the ark were the gold jar filled with manna, Aaron's staff that had blossomed, and the tablets on which the promise was written.

5 Above the ark were the angels of glory [with their wings] overshadowing the throne of mercy. (Discussing these things in detail isn't possible now.)

6 That is how these two parts of the tent were set up. The priests always went into the first part of the tent to perform their duties.

7 But only the chief priest went into the second part of the tent. Once a year he entered and brought blood that he offered for himself and for the things that the people did wrong unintentionally.

8 The Holy Spirit used this to show that the way into the most holy place was not open while the tent was still in use.

9 The first part of the tent is an example for the present time. The gifts and sacrifices that were brought there could not give the worshiper a clear conscience.

10 These gifts and sacrifices were meant to be food, drink, and items used in various purification ceremonies. These ceremonies were required for the body until God would establish a new way of doing things.

11 But Christ came as a chief priest of the good things that are now here. Christ went through a better, more perfect tent that was not made by human hands and that is not part of this created world.

12 He used his own blood, not the blood of goats and bulls, for the sacrifice. He went into the most holy place and offered this sacrifice once and for all to free us forever.

13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of cows sprinkled on unclean people made their bodies holy and clean.

14 The blood of Christ, who had no defect, does even more. Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God and cleansed our consciences from the useless things we had done. Now we can serve the living God.

15 Because Christ offered himself to God, he is able to bring a new promise from God. Through his death he paid the price to set people free from the sins they committed under the first promise. He did this so that those who are called can be guaranteed an inheritance that will last forever.

16 In order for a will to take effect, it must be shown that the one who made it has died.

17 A will is used only after a person is dead because it goes into effect only when a person dies.

18 That is why even the first promise was made with blood.

19 As Moses' Teachings tell us, Moses told all the people every commandment. Then he took the blood of calves and goats together with some water, red yarn, and hyssop and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.

20 He said, "Here is the blood that seals the promise God has made to you."

21 In the same way, Moses sprinkled blood on the tent and on everything used in worship.

22 As Moses' Teachings tell us, blood was used to cleanse almost everything, because if no blood is shed, no sins can be forgiven.

23 The copies of the things in heaven had to be cleansed by these sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves had to be cleansed by better sacrifices.

24 Christ didn't go into a holy place made by human hands. He didn't go into a model of the real thing. Instead, he went into heaven to appear in God's presence on our behalf.

25 Every year the chief priest went into the holy place to make a sacrifice with blood that isn't his own. However, Christ didn't go into heaven to sacrifice himself again and again.

26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the world was created. But now, at the end of the ages, he has appeared once to remove sin by his sacrifice.

27 People die once, and after that they are judged.

28 Likewise, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of humanity, and after that he will appear a second time. This time he will not deal with sin, but he will save those who eagerly wait for him.

1 Moses' Teachings with their yearly cycle of sacrifices are only a shadow of the good things in the future. They aren't an exact likeness of those things. They can never make those who worship perfect.

2 If these sacrifices could have made the worshipers perfect, the sacrifices would have stopped long ago. Those who worship would have been cleansed once and for all. Their consciences would have been free from sin.

3 Instead, this yearly cycle of sacrifices reminded people of their sins.

4 (The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.)

5 For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said, "'You did not want sacrifices and offerings, but you prepared a body for me.

6 You did not approve of burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.'

7 Then I said, 'I have come! (It is written about me in the scroll of the book.) I have come to do what you want, my God.'"

8 In this passage Christ first said, "You did not want sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin. You did not approve of them." (These are the sacrifices that Moses' Teachings require people to offer.)

9 Then Christ says, "I have come to do what you want." He did away with sacrifices in order to establish the obedience that God wants.

10 We have been set apart as holy because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do by sacrificing his body once and for all.

11 Every day each priest performed his religious duty. He offered the same type of sacrifice again and again. Yet, these sacrifices could never take away sins.

12 However, this chief priest made one sacrifice for sins, and this sacrifice lasts forever. Then he received the highest position in heaven.

13 Since that time, he has been waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool.

14 With one sacrifice he accomplished the work of setting them apart for God forever.

15 The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing:

16 "This is the promise that I will make to them after those days, says the Lord: 'I will put my teachings in their hearts and write them in their minds.'"

17 Then he adds, "I will no longer hold their sins and their disobedience against them."

18 When sins are forgiven, there is no longer any need to sacrifice for sins.

19 Brothers and sisters, because of the blood of Jesus we can now confidently go into the holy place.

20 Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to go through the curtain. (The curtain is his own body.)

21 We have a superior priest in charge of God's house.

22 We have been sprinkled [with his blood] to free us from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with clean water. So we must continue to come [to him] with a sincere heart and strong faith.

23 We must continue to hold firmly to our declaration of faith. The one who made the promise is faithful.

24 We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things.

25 We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming.

26 If we go on sinning after we have learned the truth, no sacrifice can take away our sins.

27 All that is left is a terrifying wait for judgment and a raging fire that will consume God's enemies.

28 If two or three witnesses accused someone of rejecting Moses' Teachings, that person was shown no mercy as he was executed.

29 What do you think a person who shows no respect for the Son of God deserves? That person looks at the blood of the promise (the blood that made him holy) as no different from other people's blood, and he insults the Spirit that God gave us out of his kindness. He deserves a much worse punishment.

30 We know the God who said, "I alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back." God also said, "The Lord will judge his people."

31 Falling into the hands of the living God is a terrifying thing.

32 Remember the past, when you first learned the truth. You endured a lot of hardship and pain.

33 At times you were publicly insulted and mistreated. At times you associated with people who were treated this way.

34 You suffered with prisoners. You were cheerful even though your possessions were stolen, since you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.

35 So don't lose your confidence. It will bring you a great reward.

36 You need endurance so that after you have done what God wants you to do, you can receive what he has promised.

37 "Yet, the one who is coming will come soon. He will not delay.

38 The person who has God's approval will live by faith. But if he turns back, I will not be pleased with him."

39 We don't belong with those who turn back and are destroyed. Instead, we belong with those who have faith and are saved.