Christ’s Eternal Priesthood

1Now the main point of the things being said: We have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3For every high priest is appointed in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it was necessary for this One also to have something that He might offer.

4Then† indeed, if He were on earth, not even would He be a priest, there being those offering the gifts according to law, 5who serve as an example and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was divinely warned being about to complete the tabernacle. For He says, “See that you will make all things according to the pattern having been shown to you in the mountain.”†

The New Covenant
(Jeremiah 31:26–40)

6But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises. 7For if that first had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second. 8For finding fault with them, He says:

“Behold, the days are coming,

says the Lord, and

I will complete with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah

a new covenant,

9not according to the covenant

that I made with their fathers,

in the day of My having taken hold of their hand

to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

because they did not continue in My covenant,

and I disregarded them,

says the Lord.

10For this is the covenant that I will make

with the house of Israel after those days,

says the Lord,

giving My laws into their mind,

and I will inscribe them upon their hearts;

and I will be unto them God,

and they will be unto Me for a people.

11And they shall not teach,

each his neighbor† and each his brother,

saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

because all will know Me,

from the small to the great of them,

12because I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

and I shall remember their sins† no more.†

13In saying, “new,”† He has made old the first; and that which is growing old and aging is near to vanishing.

Footnotes:

4 BYZ and TR Now
5 Exodus 25:40; see also Exodus 26:30.
11 Or his fellow citizen
12 BYZ and TR include and lawless acts.
12 Jeremiah 31:31–34 (see also LXX)
13 Or By speaking of a new covenant;