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Hebrews 9

¹Now the first {covenant} had rules of service and an earthly sanctuary. ²For the first chamber was furnished, with the lampstand and the table and the presence of the bread in it. It is called the holy place. ³And after the second curtain another chamber called the holy of holies. ⁴It had the golden altar and the ark of the covenant (covered all around with gold), in which were the golden jar containing the manna and Aaron's rod that budded and the tables of the covenant. ⁵Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Concerning all this there is no time to speak now in full.

⁶With these all furnished in this way, the priests went into the first chamber all the time completing their ministry. ⁷But into the second chamber the High Priest alone went once a year, not without blood, which he offered on behalf of himself and of all the sins of the people. ⁸Thus the Holy Spirit made clear that the way of the most holy would not be revealed while the first chamber was in existence. ⁹This is a parable for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshipper whole with respect to conscience. ¹⁰It can only do so about food and drink and different kinds of washings, carnal regulations holding sway until a time of reformation.

¹¹And Christ has now become a high priest of the good things which have come by means of a better and more complete tabernacle which is not made with hands and is not of this creation. ¹²And he went once and for all into the most holy place, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, and he found eternal redemption. ¹³The blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of a heifer could make the partakers holy in terms of the cleanness of the flesh. ¹⁴How much more will the blood of Christ, which he offered blameless to God by means of an eternal spirit, cleanse our conscience from dead works so we can serve a living God!

¹⁵Now because of this he is the mediator of a new covenant so that having become dead for the redemption of those who transgressed under the first covenant, those who are called might receive the promise of an eternal inheritance. ¹⁶For where there is a will, it is necessary that the death of the one who made the will occur. ¹⁷For a covenant is firm when there is a death, as it is not firm while the testator lives. ¹⁸Whence even the first one was not renewed without blood. ¹⁹Since once the law had been spoken to all the people by Moses, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled the book and all the people, ²⁰saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you." [Exodus 24:8] ²¹And the tabernacle and all the vessels of the temple service were likewise sprinkled with blood. ²²Now pretty much everything was cleansed with blood under the law and without the spilling of blood there can not be forgiveness.

²³For seeing that it was necessary that the pattern of things in the heavens be cleansed in this way, the heavenly things need much greater sacrifices than these. ²⁴For it is not into a holy place made by hands that Christ has gone, a representation of the genuine things, but into the heaven itself, to be revealed now to the face of God on our behalf.

²⁵Neither will he offer himself multiple times, in the way that the high priests entered into the holy place once each year using the blood of another creature, ²⁶since then it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world. But now he has been revealed one time for eternal completeness, to set aside sin by means of his sacrifice. ²⁷And just as it is the nature of men to die one time, and after that the judgment, ²⁸so also Christ will appear again without sin, having offered himself to bear the sins of many, to those who wait for salvation.

Average revision: 4 (Draft # 2 by individual translator)