1NOW THIS is my main point: just such a high priest we have, and he has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens, 2a ministrant in the real sanctuary, the tent pitched by the Lord and not by man. 3Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices: hence, this one too must have something to offer. 4Now if he had been on earth, he would not even have been a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts which the Law prescribes, 5 [ Ex.25.40. ] though they minister in a sanctuary which is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly. This is implied when Moses, about to erect the tent, is instructed by God: 'See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.' 6But in fact the ministry which has fallen to Jesus is as far superior to theirs as are the covenant he mediates and the promises upon which it is legally secured.
7Had that first covenant been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second in its place. 8 [ Jr.31.31-34. ] But God, finding fault with them, says, 'The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 9It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt; because they did not abide by the terms of that covenant, and I abandoned them, says the Lord. 10For the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, is this: I will set my laws in their understanding and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11And they shall not teach one another, saying to brother and fellow-citizen, "Know the Lord!" For all of them, high and low, shall know me; 12I will be merciful to their wicked deeds, and I will remember their sins no more at all.' 13By speaking of a new covenant, he has pronounced the first one old; and anything that is growing old and ageing will shortly disappear.
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