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of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, as a minister 2 of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed 3 to offer both gifts and sacrifices; whence it is necessary that this man have somewhat also to offer. If then he 4 were on earth, he would not be a priest, seeing that there are those who offer the gifts according to law; who 5 serve the example and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was divinely instructed when about to complete the tabernacle; for, See, says he, thou make all things according to the type shewed to thee in the mount; but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by 6 so much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which has been established upon better promises. For if 7 that first covenant had been faultless, place would not have been sought for a second. For finding fault with 8 them he says, Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will finish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I 9 made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will 10 establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind, and I will write them upon their heart, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not have to 11 teach every man his fellow-citizen, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; because all shall know me from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to 12 their unrighteousness, and their sins will I remember no more. In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the 13 first old; now that which becomes old and wears out with age is ready to vanish away.

THE first covenant then had also ordinances of service and the worldly sanctuary. For the first tabernacle was 2 prepared, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the holy place.

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3 But after the second veil a tabernacle which is called the 4 holy of holies, having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was a golden pot having the manna, and Aaron's rod 5 that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it cherubim of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we 6 cannot now speak particularly. Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests enter always into the first 7 tabernacle, completing the services; but into the second the high priest alone once every year, not without blood which he offers for himself and the ignorances of the 8 people: the Holy Spirit signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been manifested, while the 9 first tabernacle is still standing, which tabernacle is a symbol for the time present, in accordance with which are offered both gifts and sacrifices, unable to make perfect as 10 to conscience him that serves, which are only, in addition to meats and drinks and divers baptisms, ordinances of flesh imposed until a time of reformation.

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But Christ having appeared an high priest of the good things to come; through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation; 12 and not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the holy place, 13 having found an everlasting redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and ashes of an heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctifies to the purity of 14 the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through his everlasting Spirit offered himself blameless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

15 And for this cause he is mediator of a new covenant, in order that death having taken place, for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, they who have been called may receive the promise of the everlasting 16 inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be brought in the death of him that made it; 17 for a testament is valid in the case of the dead: since

it is of no force at all while he that made it lives. Whence neither has the first been dedicated without blood. 18 For when Moses had spoken every commandment to all 19 the people according to law, he took the blood of the calves and of the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God 20 commanded unto you. And he sprinkled with the blood 21 in like manner both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And one may almost say that all things are 22 purified with blood according to the law, and that without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore neces- 23 sary that the examples of the things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered not 24 into a holy place made with hands, antitype of the true, but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor yet that he may offer himself often, 25 as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others, for then he must often have suffered 26 since the foundation of the world: but now once at the end of the ages has he been manifested for the putting away of sin by his sacrifice. And inasmuch as it is 27 appointed unto men once to die, but after this, judgment; so also Christ, having been once offered to bear the sins of 28 many, will appear a second time without sin to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

FOR the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year which they offer continually make them perfect that draw near; for then would they 2 not have ceased to be offered, because they who serve having been once purified should have no more consciousness of sins? Rather is there by them a remembrance of 3 sins every year; for it is impossible that the blood of bulls 4 and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he 5 comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, but a body didst thou prepare me; in whole 6

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burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure; 7 then said I, Lo, I am come (in the volume of the book it is 8 written of me) to do thy will, O God. While he says above,

Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou didst not desire, neither hadst pleasure 9 therein, such as are offered according to law; then he has said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He takes away 10 the first that he may establish the second; in which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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And every priest stands daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away 12 sins but he, after he offered one sacrifice for sins, sat 13 down continually at the right hand of God; from hence14 forth waiting till his enemies be made his footstool. For

by one offering he has made perfect continually them that 15 are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also wit16 nesses to us: for after he said, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I put my laws into their hearts, and upon their mind will I write 17 them; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no 18 more. But where remission of these is, there is no more an offering for sin.

19 Having therefore, brethren, openness with respect to

the entrance into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 which he dedicated for us as a new and living way through 21 the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest 22 over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our body washed with pure water; 23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without waver24 ing; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider 25 one another to provoke unto love and to good works; not

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forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting; and so much the more as ye see the day drawing nigh.

For if we sin wilfully after we received the full knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacri

fice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment 27 and a fiery indignation about to devour the adversaries. One that rejected Moses' law dies without mercy under 28 two or three witnesses: of how much worse punishment, 29 suppose ye, will he be counted worthy, who trampled under foot the Son of God, and thought the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the spirit of grace? For we know him that said, Vengeance 30 is mine, I will repay; and again, The Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 31 living God.

But call to remembrance the former days, in which, 32 after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great contest of sufferings, partly in that ye were made a gazing-stock 33 both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly in that ye became partakers with them that were so used. For ye 34 both sympathised with them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing that ye have yourselves a better and an abiding substance. Cast not away therefore your openness, which has great 35 reward. For ye have need of patience, that, having done 36 the will of God, ye may receive the promise. For yet a 37 very little while, The coming one will come, and will not tarry: but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he draw 38 back my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of 39 backsliding unto destruction, but of faith unto the possession of the soul.

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Now faith is a confidence of things hoped for, a con- XI. viction of things not seen. For in it the elders had 2 testimony borne to them. By faith we understand that 3 the worlds were completed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not arisen out of things which appear. By 4 faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he had testimony borne to him that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead yet speaks. By faith Enoch was translated 5 that he should not see death, and was not found because God translated him. For before the translation he had the

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