1
NOW of the things which we have spoken this is the sum:
We have such an high priest,
who is set on the right hand of the throne
of the Majesty in the heavens;
2
A minister of the sanctuary,
and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched, and not man.
3
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices:
wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
4
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest,
seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
5
Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,
as Moses was admonished of God
when he was about to make the tabernacle:
for, See, saith he,
that thou make all things according
to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
6
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry,
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant,
which was established upon better promises.
7
For if that first covenant had been faultless,
then should no place have been sought for the second.
8
For finding fault with them, he saith,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah:
9
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt;
because they continued not in my covenant,
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10
For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind,
and write them in their hearts:
and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people:
11
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me,
from the least to the greatest.
12
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13
In that he saith, A new covenant,
he hath made the first old.
Now that which decayeth and waxeth old
is ready to vanish away.
