Hebrews · Chapter 10
Hebrews 10
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits
Christ’s Perfect Sacrifice
(Psalms 40:1–17)
1For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
2If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.
3Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,
4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said:“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,but a body You prepared for Me.
6In burnt offerings and sin offeringsYou took no delight.
7Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll:I have come to do Your will, O God.’”*
8In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law).
9Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.
10And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.
13Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet,
14because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says:
16“This is the covenant I will make with themafter those days, declares the Lord.I will put My laws in their heartsand inscribe them on their minds.”*
17Then He adds:“Their sins and lawless actsI will remember no more.”*
18And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.
A Call to Persevere
(Jude 1:17–23)
19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,*
20by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body,*
21and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
24And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.
25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
26If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,
27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.
28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”*
31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32Remember the early days that you were in the light. In those days, you endured a great conflict in the face of suffering.*
33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to ridicule and persecution; at other times you were partners with those who were so treated.
34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.
35So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.
36You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.
37For,“In just a little while,He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38But My righteous one will live by faith;and if he shrinks back,I will take no pleasure in him.”*
39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Source notes
- 10:7 Psalms 40:6–8 (see also LXX) Read Psalms 40:6
- 10:16 Jeremiah 31:33 Read Jeremiah 31:33
- 10:17 Jeremiah 31:34 Read Jeremiah 31:34
- 10:19 Or the Holy Place
- 10:20 Literally through the veil that is His flesh
- 10:30 Deuteronomy 32:35 (see also LXX) Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalms 135:14 Read Deuteronomy 32:35 Read Deuteronomy 32:36 Read Psalms 135:14
- 10:32 Or Remember when you were first enlightened.
- 10:38 BYZ and TR But the righteous will live by faith Habakkuk 2:3–4 (see also LXX) Read Habakkuk 2:3
Old Testament references
References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.
Psalms 40:6Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
Jeremiah 31:33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Jeremiah 31:34No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”
Deuteronomy 32:35Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
Deuteronomy 32:36For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
Psalms 135:14For the LORD will vindicate His people and will have compassion on His servants.
Habakkuk 2:3For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.
Psalms 103:12As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Isaiah 43:25I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
Isaiah 44:22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
Micah 7:19He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Exodus 30:10Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”
Leviticus 16:6Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.
Leviticus 16:7Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Leviticus 16:8After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,
Leviticus 16:9he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering.
Leviticus 16:10But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by sending it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.
Leviticus 16:11When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.
Leviticus 16:21Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.