Hebrews 10-11

Hebrews 10

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.

Hebrews 11

¹Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.

²For by this, the elders obtained approval.

³By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

⁴By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

⁵By faith Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God.

⁶Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

⁷By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

⁸By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went.

⁹By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

¹⁰For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

¹¹By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised.

¹²Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

¹³These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

¹⁴For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

¹⁵If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.

¹⁶But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born son,

¹⁸to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,”

¹⁹concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.

²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.

²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

²³By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

²⁴By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

²⁵choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time,

²⁶considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

²⁷By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.

²⁹By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.

³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.

³²What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets—

³³who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.

³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

³⁶Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.

³⁷They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated—

³⁸of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

³⁹These all, having been commended for their faith, didn’t receive the promise,

⁴⁰God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.