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So let me sum up what we’ve covered so far, for there is much we have said: we have a High Priest, a perfect Priest who sits in the place of honor in the highest heavens, at the right hand of the throne of the Majestic One, a Minister within the heavenly sanctuary set up by the Lord, not by human hands.

As I have said, it is the role of every high priest to offer gifts and sacrifices to God, so clearly this Priest of ours must have something to offer as well. If He were on earth, then He would not be a priest at all because there are already priests who can offer gifts according to the law of Moses in a sanctuary that is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary. We know this because God admonished Moses as he set up the tent for the Lord’s sanctuary: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I showed you on the mountain.”[a] But now Jesus has taken on a new and improved priestly ministry; and in that respect, He has been made the Mediator of a better covenant established on better promises. Remember, if the first covenant had been able to reconcile everyone to God, there would be no reason for a second covenant. God found fault with the priests when He said through the prophet Jeremiah,

“Look! The time is coming,” the Eternal Lord says,
    “when I will bring about a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors
    when I took them by the hand
    and led them out of slavery in the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to that covenant,
    so,” the Eternal One says, “I turned away from them.
10 But when those days are over,” the Eternal One says, “I will make
    this kind of covenant with the people of Israel:
I will put My laws on their minds
    and write them upon their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be My people.
11 In those days, they won’t need to teach each other My ways
    or to say to each other, ‘Know the Eternal.’
In those days, all will know Me,
    from the least to the greatest.
12 I will be merciful when they fail,
    and I will erase their sins and wicked acts out of My memory
    as though they had never existed.”[b]

13 With the words “a new covenant,” God made the first covenant old, and what is old and no longer effective will soon fade away completely.

The High Priest of a New Covenant

Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest,(A) who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,(B) and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle(C) set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

Every high priest(D) is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices,(E) and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.(F) If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.(G) They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy(H) and shadow(I) of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned(J) when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a](K) But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant(L) of which he is mediator(M) is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.(N) But God found fault with the people and said[b]:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant(O)
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors(P)
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant(Q) I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.(R)
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.(S)
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,(T)
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.(U)[c](V)

13 By calling this covenant “new,”(W) he has made the first one obsolete;(X) and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 8:5 Exodus 25:40
  2. Hebrews 8:8 Some manuscripts may be translated fault and said to the people.
  3. Hebrews 8:12 Jer. 31:31-34