Hebrews 8
Christ Is Our High Priest
1 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.
2 There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,
[2] the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.
3 And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.
4 If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law.
5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: "Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain."
[5]
6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.
7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.
8 But when God found fault with the people, he said:
"The day is coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel and Judah.
9 This covenant will not be like the one
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
so I turned my back on them, says the LORD.
10 "But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."
11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
nor will they need to teach their relatives,
[11] saying, `You should know the LORD.'
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
will know me already.
12 "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins."
13 When God speaks of a "new" covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.
