1For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. 2Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins? 3But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins. 4For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5Therefore when he comes into the world, he says,
“You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering,
but you prepared a body for me.
6You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.
7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)
to do your will, O God.’”
8Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law), 9then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, 10by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, 12but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. 14For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days,” says the Lord,
“I will put my laws on their heart,
I will also write them on their mind;”
then he says,
17“I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”
18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, 21and having a great priest over God’s house, 22let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our body washed with pure water, 23let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.
24Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
26For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. 29How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions, and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. 34For you both had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens. 35Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. 36For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
37“In a very little while,
he who comes will come and will not wait.
38But the righteous one will live by faith.
If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.
This passage is an example of material that relates to sacrifices. Most of the fine detail of such material is included in Leviticus, but some also in Numbers. In its ancient context, the passage relates to what is called priestly material of the Pentateuch and the stipulations contributed towards ancient Israelite worship. The five main sacrifices are presented in Leviticus 1-5, the burnt offering, the grain offering, the fellowship offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. These offerings were presented on various occasions, including to atone for sin, as voluntary measures, and as scheduled offerings during regular national festivals throughout each year. In the Christian canonical biblical context, the sacrificial material is seen as part of the Old Covenant that has now been replaced by the New. According to the New Testament, Jesus himself has fulfilled the sacrificial requirements of the Old Covenant, and there is no more need for any further sacrifices (e.g. Heb 10). Thus, for Christians, in many ways this material is of historical interest and not something to be followed in practice. And yet, the Old Testament sacrificial material went further than just ritual. In fact, the idea was to sacrifice from what one had and serve Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament ultimately voluntarily and out of gladness, and to take care of one’s neighbour, including the weak and destitute (cf. e.g. Deut 12:4-7, 26; Hosea 12, Amos 4-5). In that sense, the related Old Testament themes do carry over to the New Testament and to Christians as exhortations of good practice, both in an individual and collective sense.