1Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man. 3For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. 4For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, 5who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.” 6But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law.
7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8For finding fault with them, he said,
“Behold, the days are coming”, says the Lord,
“that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
9not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
for they didn’t continue in my covenant,
and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.
10“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 mind;
I will also write them on their heart.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11They will not teach every man his fellow citizen
and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for all will know me,
from their least to their greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness.
I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”
13In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first obsolete. But that which is becoming obsolete and grows aged is near to vanishing away.
Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, and one of the twelve sons of Jacob, his name in Hebrew is Yehudah, meaning praise. Jacob is one of the more significant figures in the Bible. The important tribe of Judah is named after the patriarch Judah, since King David, and ultimately Jesus the Messiah, came from this tribe.
In the well-known study relating to the selling of Joseph into slavery because of the anger of the brothers against Joseph and their decision to kill him. Judah intercedes and convinces them to sell Joseph to some traders who were passing through, which enabled him to become a leader in Egypt.
In addition to this event regarding Joseph, Judah is also known because of his involvement regarding Tamar. According to custom, when a man died, the woman was to be married to a brother of the brother who died (later known as the levirate law). After two of Judah's sons died, it was custom for Judah to marry then the third son and bear a child for the deceased son. Tamar attempted to avoid this custom and dressed as a prostitute and tricked Judah to have sex with her, which resulted in her giving birth to two sons, Perez and Zerah, which then continued the line of Judah, from which the Messiah came.