Mediator of a Better Covenant

1Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent8.2 Or tabernacle that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up. 3For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one; for Moses, when he was about to erect the tent,8.5 Or tabernacle was warned, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’ 6But Jesus8.6 Gk he has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises. 7For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.

8God8.8 Gk He finds fault with them when he says:

‘The days are surely coming, says the Lord,

when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah;

9not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors,

on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;

for they did not continue in my covenant,

and so I had no concern for them, says the Lord.

10This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their minds,

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

or say to each other, “Know the Lord”,

for they shall all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

12For I will be merciful towards their iniquities,

and I will remember their sins no more.’

13In speaking of ‘a new covenant’, he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear.