Hebrews 10

10:1 The law of Moses provides only a poor copy of the good things that are coming, not the real things themselves. Year after year the priests had to offer the same sacrifices for sin. These sacrifices could never make people fit to approach God. 10:2 If they could have done so, the priests would have stopped offering them. Such sacrifices would have made the people clean once for all from their sins. Then people would no longer have felt guilty about their sins. 10:3 As it is, those sacrifices reminded people year after year that they still had their sins. 10:4 But it is not possible for the blood of goats or young cows to take away sins.

10:5 So when Jesus Christ came into the world, he said to God his Father, “You did not want sacrifices and gifts. Instead, you prepared a body for me. 10:6 The burnt animals and the offerings for sins did not please you’. 10:7 Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do what you, God, want me to do. This is what the book of the law says about me’ ” (Psalm 40:6-8). 10:8 First Jesus Christ said, ‘You did not want sacrifices and offerings for sins. The law of Moses required them, but they did not please you’. 10:9 Then he said, ‘Here I am, and I have come to do what you want’. He takes away the first, so that he may bring in the second. 10:10 God wants to make us holy. Jesus Christ has done this for us. He did it by giving his body, once for all time, as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf.

10:11 Day after day the priests stand and do their duty. Again and again they offer the same gifts that can never take away sins. 10:12 But this priest, Jesus Christ, offered one sacrifice, and it is good for all time. When Jesus had made it, he sat down at God’s right hand. 10:13 Since that time he waits for God to put all his enemies under him. 10:14 By his one sacrifice Jesus has made perfect for always those whom God is making holy. 10:15 The Holy Spirit tells us about this as well. First he says: 10:16 ‘This is the agreement that 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’ (Jeremiah 31:33). 10:17 Then he says: ‘I will never again remember their sins and the times when they did not obey my law’ (Jeremiah 31:34). 10:18 Where God has forgiven sins, there is no more need for a sacrifice for sins.

10:19 So, my Christian brothers and sisters, we can be bold and go into the most holy place. This is because of the blood of Jesus. 10:20 His blood has opened a new and living way, through the curtain, that is, through his own body. 10:21 This is because we have a great chief priest who is over the house of God. 10:22 So, let us come near to God with a sincere heart. Let us come because we have a sure trust in Jesus. He has made our hearts clean and taken away our shame. He has washed our bodies with pure water. 10:23 Let us hold on to the hope in God that we say that we have, and never let it go. God who gave us that promise is true, so we can trust him. 10:24 Let us think how we can help each other to love and to do good actions. 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some have done. Encourage each other, and do it even more as you see the day coming near.

10:26 After we have received and known the truth, we could still choose to continue to sin. If we do so, there is no longer any sacrifice for our sins. 10:27 God will then be our judge and that is something to make us afraid. The anger of God will be like a fierce fire that will burn away all his enemies. 10:28 Any who did not respect and obey the law of Moses died. There was no pity for them, if two or three witnesses proved that they were guilty. 10:29 How much worse punishment does a human being deserve, if that person turns back from the Son of God? It is as if that person walked upon and hated the Son of God. It is as if that person refused to accept the blood of the new agreement that had made that person clean. That person has insulted the Holy Spirit who has been so kind to him or her. 10:30 For we know him who said, ‘I am the one who will punish people; I will pay them for all their sin’ (Deuteronomy 31:35). Again he said, ‘The Lord will be the judge of his people’ (Deuteronomy 31:36). 10:31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the God who is alive.

10:32 Remember the early days when you first received the light of God’s truth. Then you were strong, even when you had a hard struggle and suffered much. 10:33 People laughed at you, put you to shame and beat you. At other times, you stood side by side with those who suffered like this. 10:34 You had pity for them who were in prison. You were full of joy, even when people took your things away from you. You knew that you had better things in heaven that will last and always be yours. 10:35 So do not stop having your confidence in the truth for this will bring you a great reward. Your trust in it will bring you a great reward. 10:36 You need to continue, so that when you have done what God wants, you will receive what he has promised. 10:37 For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. 10:38 The person who does what is right because he trusts in God, will live. If he holds back from doing right, he will not please me’ (Habakkuk 2:3-4). 10:39 We are not people who turn back. God will destroy them. We trust God, and so we will gain true life.