10 1 He proveth that the sacrifices of the Law were imperfect, 2 because they were yearly renewed. 5 But that the sacrifice of Christ is one, and perpetual, 6 he proveth by David’s testimony: 19 Then he addeth an exhortation, 29 and severely threateneth them that reject the grace of Christ. 36 In the end he praiseth patience, 38 that cometh of faith.

For [a]the law having the shadow of good things to [b]come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offer year by year continually, sanctify the comers thereunto.

For would they not then have ceased to have been offered, because that the offerers once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins?

But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year.

For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

[c]Wherefore when he [d]cometh into the world, he saith, (A)Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not: but a [e]body hast thou ordained me.

In burnt offerings, and sin offerings thou hast had no pleasure.

Then I said, Lo, I come (in the beginning of the book it is written of me) that I should do thy will, O God.

Above, when he said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and sin offerings, thou wouldest not have, neither hadst pleasure therein (which are offered by the Law.)

Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the [f]first, that he may stablish the second.

10 By the which will we are sanctified, even by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once made.

11 [g]And every Priest [h]standeth daily ministering, and ofttimes offereth one manner of offering, which can never take away sins:

12 But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, (B)sitteth forever at the right hand of God,

13 [i]And from henceforth tarrieth, (C)till his enemies be made his footstool.

14 For with one offering hath he consecrated forever them that are sanctified.

15 [j]For the holy Ghost also beareth us record: for after that he had said before,

16 (D)This is the Testament that I will make unto them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my Laws in their heart, and in their minds I will write them.

17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember [k]no more.

18 Now where remission of these things is, there is no more offering for [l]sin.

19 [m]Seeing therefore, brethren, that by the blood of Jesus we may be bold to enter into the Holy place,

20 By the new and living way, which he hath prepared for us, through the veil, that is, his [n]flesh:

21 And seeing we have an high Priest, which is over the house of God,

22 [o]Let us draw near with a [p]true heart in assurance of faith, our [q]hearts being pure from an evil conscience,

23 And washed in our bodies with [r]pure water, let us keep the profession of our hope, without wavering, (for he is faithful that promised.)

24 And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works,

25 Not forsaking the fellowship that we have among ourselves, as the manner of some is: but let us exhort one another, [s]and that so much the more, because ye see that the day draweth near.

26 (E)For if we sin [t]willingly after that we have received and acknowledged that truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

27 But a fearful looking for of judgment, and violent fire, which shall devour the [u]adversaries.

28 [v]He that despiseth Moses’ Law, dieth without mercy (F)under two, or three witnesses:

29 Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be worthy, which treadeth under foot the Son of God, and counteth the blood of the Testament as an unholy thing, wherewith he was sanctified, and doeth despite the Spirit of grace?

30 [w]For we know him that hath said, (G)Vengeance belongeth unto me: I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall [x]judge his people.

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 [y]Now call to remembrance the days that are passed, in the which, after ye had received light ye endured a great fight in afflictions,

33 Partly while ye were made a [z]gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while ye became [aa]companions of them which were so tossed to and fro.

34 For both ye sorrowed with me for my bonds, and suffered with joy the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves how that ye have in heaven a better, and an enduring [ab]substance.

35 Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward.

36 For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

37 For yet a very [ac]little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.

38 (H)[ad]Now the just shall live by faith: but if any withdraw himself, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

39 But we are not they which withdraw ourselves unto perdition, but follow faith unto the conservation of the soul.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 10:1 He preventeth a privy objection. Why then were those sacrifices offered? The Apostle answereth first touching that yearly sacrifice which was the solemnest of all, wherein (saith he) there was made every year a remembrance again of all former sins. Therefore that sacrifice had no power to sanctify: for to what purpose should those sins which are purged be repeated again, and wherefore should new sins come to be repeated every year, if those sacrifices did abolish sin?
  2. Hebrews 10:1 Of things which are everlasting, which were promised to the Fathers, and exhibited in Christ.
  3. Hebrews 10:5 A conclusion following of those things that went before, and comprehending also the other sacrifices. Seeing that the sacrifices of the Law could not do it, therefore Christ speaking of himself as of our high Priest manifested in the flesh, witnesseseth evidently that God resteth not in the sacrifices, but in the obedience of his Son our high Priest, in which obedience he offered up himself once to his Father for us.
  4. Hebrews 10:5 The Son of God is said to come into the world, when he was made man.
  5. Hebrews 10:5 It is word for word in the Hebrew text, Thou hast pierced mine ears through, that is, thou hast made me obedient, and willing to hear.
  6. Hebrews 10:9 That is the sacrifices, to establish the second, that is, the will of God.
  7. Hebrews 10:11 A conclusion, with the other part of the comparison. The Levitical high Priest repeateth the same sacrifices daily in his sanctuary: whereupon which it followeth that neither those sacrifices, neither those offerings, neither those high Priests could take away sins. But Christ, having offered one sacrifice once for the sins of all men, and having sanctified his own forever, sitteth at the right hand of the Father, having all power in his hands.
  8. Hebrews 10:11 At the altar.
  9. Hebrews 10:13 He preventeth a privy objection, to wit, that yet notwithstanding we are subject to sin and death, whereunto the Apostle answereth, that the full efficacy of Christ’s virtue hath not yet showed itself, but shall at length appear when he will at once put to flight all his enemies, with whom as yet we strive.
  10. Hebrews 10:15 Although there do yet remain in us relics of sin, yet the work of our sanctification which is to be perfected, hangeth upon the selfsame sacrifice which never shall be repeated: and that the Apostle proveth by alledging again the testimonies of Jeremiah, thus, Sin is taken away by the new Testament, seeing the Lord saith that it shall come to pass, that according to the form of it, he will no more remember our sins: Therefore we need now no purging sacrifice to take away that which is already taken away, but we must rather take pains, that we may now through faith be partakers of that sacrifice.
  11. Hebrews 10:17 Why then, where is the fire of Purgatory, and that Popish distinction of the fault and the punishment?
  12. Hebrews 10:18 He said well, for sin: for there remaineth another offering, to wit, of thanksgiving.
  13. Hebrews 10:19 The sum of the former treatise: We are not shut out now of the holy place, as the Fathers were, but we have an entrance into the true holy place (that is, into heaven) seeing that we are purged with the blood not of beasts, but of Jesus. Neither as in times past, doth the high Priest shut us out by setting the veil against us, but through the veil, which is his flesh, he hath brought us into heaven itself, being present with us, so that we have now truly an high Priest, which is over the house of God.
  14. Hebrews 10:20 So Christ’s flesh showeth us the Godhead as it were under a veil, for otherwise we were not able to abide the brightness of it.
  15. Hebrews 10:22 A most grave exhortation, wherein which he showeth how that sacrifice of Christ may be applied to us: to wit, by faith, which also he describeth, by the consequence, to wit, by sanctification of the Spirit, which causeth us surely to hope in God, and to procure by all means possible one another’s salvation, through the love that is in us one toward another.
  16. Hebrews 10:22 With no double and counterfeit heart, but with such an heart as is truly and indeed given to God.
  17. Hebrews 10:22 This is it which the Lord saith, Be ye holy, for I am holy.
  18. Hebrews 10:23 With the grace of the holy Ghost.
  19. Hebrews 10:25 Having mentioned the last coming of Christ, he stirreth up the godly to the meditation of an holy life, and cites the faithless fallers from God, to the fearful judgment seat of the judge, because they wickedly rejected him in whom only salvation consisteth.
  20. Hebrews 10:26 Without any cause or occasion, or show of occasion.
  21. Hebrews 10:27 For it is another matter to sin through the frailty of man’s nature, and another thing to proclaim war as it were to God as to an enemy.
  22. Hebrews 10:28 If the breach of the Law of Moses was punished by death, how much more worthy death is it to fall away from Christ?
  23. Hebrews 10:30 The reason of all these things is, because God is a revenger of such as despise him: otherwise he should not rightly govern his Church. Now there is nothing more horrible then the wrath of the living God.
  24. Hebrews 10:30 Rule or govern.
  25. Hebrews 10:32 As he terrified the fallers away from God so doth he now comfort them that are constant and stand strongly setting before them the success of their former fights, so stirring them up to a sure hope of a full and ready victory.
  26. Hebrews 10:33 You were brought forth to be ashamed.
  27. Hebrews 10:33 In taking their miseries, to be your miseries.
  28. Hebrews 10:34 Goods and riches.
  29. Hebrews 10:37 He will come within this very little while.
  30. Hebrews 10:38 He commendeth the excellency of a sure faith by the effect, because it is the only way to life, which sentence he setteth forth and amplifieth by setting the contrary against it.

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10 The law is only a shadow(A) of the good things(B) that are coming—not the realities themselves.(C) For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect(D) those who draw near to worship.(E) Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.(F) But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.(G) It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats(H) to take away sins.(I)

Therefore, when Christ came into the world,(J) he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;(K)
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll(L)
    I have come to do your will, my God.’”[a](M)

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”(N)—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.”(O) He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy(P) through the sacrifice of the body(Q) of Jesus Christ once for all.(R)

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices,(S) which can never take away sins.(T) 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins,(U) he sat down at the right hand of God,(V) 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.(W) 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect(X) forever those who are being made holy.(Y)

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies(Z) to us about this. First he says:

16 “This is the covenant I will make with them
    after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
    and I will write them on their minds.”[b](AA)

17 Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
    I will remember no more.”[c](AB)

18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

A Call to Persevere in Faith

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence(AC) to enter the Most Holy Place(AD) by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way(AE) opened for us through the curtain,(AF) that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest(AG) over the house of God,(AH) 22 let us draw near to God(AI) with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,(AJ) having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience(AK) and having our bodies washed with pure water.(AL) 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope(AM) we profess,(AN) for he who promised is faithful.(AO) 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,(AP) 25 not giving up meeting together,(AQ) as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another(AR)—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.(AS)

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning(AT) after we have received the knowledge of the truth,(AU) no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire(AV) that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.(AW) 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God(AX) underfoot,(AY) who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant(AZ) that sanctified them,(BA) and who has insulted the Spirit(BB) of grace?(BC) 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d](BD) and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[e](BE) 31 It is a dreadful thing(BF) to fall into the hands(BG) of the living God.(BH)

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light,(BI) when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering.(BJ) 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution;(BK) at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.(BL) 34 You suffered along with those in prison(BM) and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.(BN) 35 So do not throw away your confidence;(BO) it will be richly rewarded.

36 You need to persevere(BP) so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.(BQ) 37 For,

“In just a little while,
    he who is coming(BR) will come
    and will not delay.”[f](BS)

38 And,

“But my righteous[g] one will live by faith.(BT)
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.”[h](BU)

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 10:7 Psalm 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
  2. Hebrews 10:16 Jer. 31:33
  3. Hebrews 10:17 Jer. 31:34
  4. Hebrews 10:30 Deut. 32:35
  5. Hebrews 10:30 Deut. 32:36; Psalm 135:14
  6. Hebrews 10:37 Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3
  7. Hebrews 10:38 Some early manuscripts But the righteous
  8. Hebrews 10:38 Hab. 2:4 (see Septuagint)