1 The first covenant, then, also had its regulations for worship and its sanctuary belonging to this world.
2 For a tabernacle was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table and the presentation of the loaves; it is called the Holy Place.
3 And past the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies,
4 containing the golden censer and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold all over; in it were the golden pot holding the manna, Aaron's staff that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant.
5 and over it the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat—things of which we cannot now speak one by one.
6 With these things arranged in this way, the priests go continually into the first room of the tabernacle to carry out their duties of worship,
7 but into the second only the high priest, once a year, and not without blood, which he presents for himself and for the errors of the people.
8 The Holy Spirit signifies by this that the way into the holies had not yet been revealed while the first tabernacle still had its standing,
9 which is a parable for the present time, in which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot, as to conscience, make the worshiper perfect,
10 resting only on foods and drinks and various washings, ordinances of the flesh imposed until a time of correction.
11 But Christ, having arrived as high priest of the good things to come, by way of the greater and more complete tabernacle, not handmade, that is, not of this creation,
12 entered once for all into the holies, not through the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood, having found eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats, and a heifer's ashes sprinkled on the defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh,
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit presented himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works for the service of the living God?
15 That is why he is mediator of a new covenant: a death has taken place that redeems from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, so that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament exists, the death of the testator must be brought forward;
17 for a testament is valid upon death, since it is never in force while the testator is living.
18 Therefore not even the first was inaugurated without blood.
19 For after every command had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
20 and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has laid on you as a command."
21 And the tabernacle too, and all the vessels of the service, he likewise sprinkled with the blood.
22 Indeed, by the law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from the shedding of blood forgiveness does not come about.
23 It was needful, then, that the patterns of the things in the heavens be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with sacrifices better than these.
24 For it was not into holies made by hand, mere counterparts of the true, that Christ entered, but into heaven itself, now to be manifested before the face of God for us;
25 nor did he enter to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest goes into the holies year by year with blood not his own;
26 else he would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once, at the consummation of the ages, he has been revealed to abolish sin through the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is laid up for men to die once, and after that, judgment,
28 so also Christ, offered once to carry the sins of many, will be seen a second time, without sin, by those who eagerly wait for him, for salvation.