Hebrews 10

1The Law was only a faint shadow of the good things coming. It was not the solid reality itself! Year after year, priests offer the exact same animal sacrifices. Yet those sacrifices can never make the worshipers spiritually complete.

2If they could, priests would have stopped offering them long ago! Worshipers would have been cleansed once, with zero guilty feelings left.

3Instead, those yearly sacrifices only remind people of their sins!

4The blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins.

5So when Christ came into the world, He said: You did not want sacrifices and offerings, but you prepared a body for me.

6You were not pleased with burnt offerings and sin offerings.

7Then I said: Here I am. It is written about me in the scroll. I have come to do your will, O God.

8First He said: You did not want sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings. You were not pleased with them, even though the law required them.

9Then He said: Here I am; I have come to do your will. So God sets aside the first to put the second in its place.

10And because of God's will, we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Day after day, every earthly priest stands and does his duty. He repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never remove sins!

12But Jesus offered one single sacrifice for sins for all time. Then He sat down at the right hand of God!

13Now He waits until His enemies are made His footstool.

14By that one offering, He made His holy people complete forever!

15The Holy Spirit also tells us this. First He says:

16This is the agreement I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts. I will write them in their minds.

17Then He adds: I will remember their sins and wrong deeds no more.

18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any need to offer sacrifice for sin.

19Brothers and sisters, we have bold confidence to enter the Most Holy Place! We enter directly by the blood of Jesus.

20He opened a brand-new, life-giving way for us through the curtain. That curtain is His own physical body, torn open for us!

21We have a supreme high priest who rules over God's household.

22So let us draw near to God with sincere hearts and full assurance! His blood sprinkled our hearts clean from a guilty conscience. Our bodies have been washed with pure water.

23Let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, without wavering, because the One who promised is faithful.

24And let us think about how we can stir up one another to love and good works.

25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. Instead, let us encourage one another, all the more as you see the day coming.

26If we keep on sinning on purpose after we have come to know the truth, then there is no longer any sacrifice that can cover those sins.

27There is only a terrible fear of judgment and of a raging fire that will destroy God's enemies.

28Anyone who broke the law of Moses died without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses.

29Think how much worse the punishment will be for rebellious traitors! They have stomped the Son of God under their feet! They treated the blood of God's agreement as filthy and unholy. Yet that very blood was what set them apart! Worse still, they insulted and spit upon the Holy Spirit of grace!

30For we know the One who said: It is mine to pay back; I will repay. And again: The Lord will judge His people.

31It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32Remember the earlier days when you first received God's light. You endured a fierce contest filled with painful suffering!

33Sometimes mobs shamed and attacked you in public. Other times you stood shoulder to shoulder with persecuted believers.

34You showed deep compassion to brothers locked in prison. When enemies stole your homes and possessions, you accepted it with joy! You knew you possessed far better and lasting heavenly riches.

35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be greatly rewarded.

36You need to keep going, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

37For, in just a little while: The one who is coming will come and will not delay.

38And: The person who is right with me will live by faith. But if they turn back, I will not be pleased with them.

39But we are not those who turn back and are lost. We are those who believe and are saved.