﻿Hebrews.
Chapter 9.
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. 
For a tabernacle was prepared. In its first part were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place. 
Behind the second curtain was the part of the tabernacle called the Most Holy Place, 
having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on every side. In it were a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 
Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. We cannot now speak of these things in detail. 
With these things arranged in this way, the priests continually enter the first part of the tabernacle to perform their worship duties. 
But only the high priest enters the second part, once a year, and not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance. 
By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the Most Holy Place has not yet been revealed while the first tabernacle still stands. 
This is a symbol for the present time, according to which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper's conscience. 
They concern only food, drink, and various washings—regulations for the body imposed until the time of reform. 
But Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, and through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by human hands—that is, not of this creation— 
he entered the Most Holy Place once for all, not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify them for the cleansing of the flesh, 
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God! 
For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, since a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 
For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be established. 
For a will takes effect upon death, since it is never in force while the one who made it is alive. 
Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 
For when Moses had spoken every commandment according to the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 
saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.” 
In the same way he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the utensils for worship with blood. 
Indeed, according to the law, almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 
Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed by these means, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these. 
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, now to appear in God's presence on our behalf. 
Nor did he enter to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 
Otherwise he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now, at the culmination of the ages, he has appeared once to put away sin through his own sacrifice. 
And just as it is appointed for human beings to die once, and after that comes judgment, 
so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, apart from sin, for the salvation of those who eagerly await him. 
