Chapter 8

Now the main point in what we are saying is this. We have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens,

a minister of the Holies, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has erected and not man.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore it is necessary that this one also should have something to offer.

If then he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are already others to offer gifts according to the Law.

The worship they offer is a mere copy and shadow of things heavenly, even as Moses was warned when he was completing the tabernacle: "See," God said, "that thou make all things according to the pattern that was shown thee on the mount." Mediator of a Superior Covenant

But now he has obtained a superior ministry, in proportion as he is mediator of a superior covenant, enacted on the basis of superior promises.

For had the first been faultless, place would not of course be sought for a second.

For finding fault with them he says, "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Juda,

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For they did not abide by my covenant, and I did not regard them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and upon their hearts I will write them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall not teach, each his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord'; for all shall know me, from least to greatest among them.

Because I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more."

Now in saying, "a new covenant," he has made obsolete the former one; and that which is obsolete and has grown old is near its end.