Dual Panel1Now even the first [covenant] had regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary.
2For a tent was prepared, the first [one], in which [were] the lampstand and the table and the presentation of the loaves, which is called the holy place.
3And after the second curtain [was] a tent called the holy of holies,
4containing the golden incense altar and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which [were] a golden jar containing the manna and the rod of Aaron that budded and the tablets of the covenant.
5And above it [were] the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, about which it is not now [possible] to speak in detail.
6Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent _continually_ [as they] accomplish their service,
7but only the high priest [enters] into the second [tent] once a year, not without blood, which he offers on behalf of himself and the [sins] of the people committed in ignorance.
8The Holy Spirit [was] making this clear, [that] the way [into] the holy place [was] not yet revealed, [while] the first tent was still in existence,
9which [was] a symbol for the present time, in which both the gifts and sacrifices which were offered were not able to perfect the worshiper with respect to the conscience,
10concerning [instead] only food and drink and different washings, regulations of outward things imposed until the time of setting [things] right.
11But Christ has arrived [as] a high priest of the good [things] to come. Through the greater and more perfect tent not made by hands, that is, not of this creation,
12and not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the [most] holy place, obtaining eternal redemption.
13For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify [them] for the ritual purity of the flesh,
14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve [the] living God?
15And because of this, he is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that, [because] a death has taken place for the redemption of transgressions [committed] during the first covenant, those who are the called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16For where [there is] a will, [it is] a necessity [for] the death of the one who made the will to be established.
17For a will [is] in force concerning those who are dead, since [it is] never in force when the one who made the will is alive.
18Therefore not even the first [covenant] was ratified without blood.
19For [when] every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, [he] took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop [and] sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,
20saying, "This [is] the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you."
21And likewise he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the utensils of service with the blood.
22Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23Therefore [it was] necessary [for] the sketches of the [things] in heaven to be purified with these [sacrifices], but the heavenly [things] themselves [to be purified] with better sacrifices than these.
24For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a [mere] copy of the true [one], but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf,
25and not in order that he can offer himself many times, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary _year by year_ with blood not his own,
26since it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27And _just as_ it is destined for people to die once, and after this, judgment,
28thus also Christ, having been offered once in order to bear the sins of many, will appear for the second time without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him for salvation.