Hebrews 10

¹ So, since the Law contains no more than a reflection of the good things which were stil to come, andno true image of them, it is quite incapable of bringing the worshippers to perfection, by means of the samesacrifices repeatedly offered year after year.

² Otherwise, surely the offering of them would have stopped, because the worshippers, when they hadbeen purified once, would have no awareness of sins.

³ But in fact the sins are recal ed year after year in the sacrifices.

⁴ Bul s' blood and goats' blood are incapable of taking away sins,

⁵ and that is why he said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice or cereal offering, but yougave me a body.

⁶ You took no pleasure in burnt offering or sacrifice for sin;

⁷ then I said, 'Here I am, I am coming,' in the scrol of the book it is written of me, to do your wil , God.

⁸ He says first You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: thesacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them;

⁹ and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your wil . He is abolishing the first sort to establish thesecond.

¹⁰ And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once andfor all.

¹¹ Every priest stands at his duties every day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices whichare quite incapable of taking away sins.

¹² He, on the other hand, has offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then taken his seat for ever, atthe right hand of God,

¹³ where he is now waiting til his enemies are made his footstool.

¹⁴ By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of al who are sanctified.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit attests this to us, for after saying:

¹⁶ No, this is the covenant I wil make with them, when those days have come. the Lord says: In theirminds I wil plant my Laws writing them on their hearts,

¹⁷ and I shal never more call their sins to mind, or their offences.

¹⁸ When these have been forgiven, there can be no more sin offerings.

¹⁹ We have then, brothers, complete confidence through the blood of Jesus in entering the sanctuary,

²⁰ by a new way which he has opened for us, a living opening through the curtain, that is to say, hisflesh.

²¹ And we have the high priest over al the sanctuary of God.

²² So as we go in, let us be sincere in heart and fil ed with faith, our hearts sprinkled and free from anytrace of bad conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³ Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is trustworthy.

²⁴ Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works.

²⁵ Do not absent yourself from your own assemblies, as some do, but encourage each other; the moreso as you see the Day drawing near.

²⁶ If, after we have been given knowledge of the truth, we should deliberately commit any sins, thenthere is no longer any sacrifice for them.

²⁷ There is left only the dreadful prospect of judgement and of the fiery wrath that is to devour yourenemies.

²⁸ Anyone who disregards the Law of Moses is ruthlessly put to death on the word of two witnesses orthree;

²⁹ and you may be sure that anyone who tramples on the Son of God, and who treats the blood of thecovenant which sanctified him as if it were not holy, and who insults the Spirit of grace, will be condemned to afar severer punishment.

³⁰ We are al aware who it was that said: Vengeance is mine; I wil pay them back. And again: The Lordwil vindicate his people.

³¹ It is a dreadful thing to fal into the hands of the living God.

³² Remember the great chal enge of the sufferings that you had to meet after you received the light, inearlier days;

³³ sometimes by being yourselves publicly exposed to humiliations and violence, and sometimes asassociates of others who were treated in the same way.

³⁴ For you not only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you accepted with joybeing stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something that was better and lasting.

³⁵ Do not lose your fearlessness now, then, since the reward is so great.

³⁶ You wil need perseverance if you are to do God's wil and gain what he has promised.

³⁷ Only a little while now, a very little while, for come he certainly wil before too long.

³⁸ My upright person will live through faith but if he draws back, my soul wil take no pleasure in him.

³⁹ We are not the sort of people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep faith untilour souls are saved.