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Hebrews 9 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Old Rules about Worship
(cf. Exo 25:10–40 )
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:1 - That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:2 - There were two rooms in that Tabernacle.[fn] In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:3 - Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room[fn] called the Most Holy Place.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:4 - In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:5 - Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:6 - When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room[fn] as they performed their religious duties.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:7 - But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:8 - By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle[fn] and the system it represented were still in use.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:9 - This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:10 - For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
Christ Is the Perfect Sacrifice
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:11 - So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come.[fn] He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:12 - With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:13 - Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:14 - Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds[fn] so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:15 - That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:16 - Now when someone leaves a will,[fn] it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:17 - The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:18 - That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:19 - For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats,[fn] along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:20 - Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:21 - And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:22 - In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:23 - That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:24 - For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:25 - And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:26 - If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age[fn] to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:27 - And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
Unchecked Copy BoxHeb 9:28 - so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
NLT Footnotes
Or tent; also in 9:11, 21.
Greek second tent.
Greek first tent.
Or the first room; Greek reads the first tent.
Some manuscripts read that are about to come.
Greek from dead works.
Or covenant; also in 9:17.
Or Now when someone makes a covenant, it is necessary to ratify it with the death of a sacrifice.
Some manuscripts do not include and goats.
Exod 24:8.
Greek the ages.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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