8. First he said, “You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burnt on the altar and the sacrifices to take away sins.” He said this even though all these sacrifices are offered according to the Law.
9. Then he said, “Here I am, O God, to do your will.” So God does away with all the old sacrifices and puts the sacrifice of Christ in their place.
10. Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do, we are all purified from sin by the offering that he made of his own body once and for all.
11. Every Jewish priest performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times; but these sacrifices can never take away sins.
12. Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective for ever, and then he sat down at the right-hand side of God.
13. There he now waits until God puts his enemies as a footstool under his feet.
14. With one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect for ever those who are purified from sin.
15. And the Holy Spirit also gives us his witness. First he says:
16. “This is the covenant that I will make with themin the days to come, says the Lord:I will put my laws in their heartsand write them on their minds.”
17. And then he says, “I will not remember their sins and evil deeds any longer.”
18. So when these have been forgiven, an offering to take away sins is no longer needed.
19. We have, then, my brothers and sisters, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus.
20. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain — that is, through his own body.
21. We have a great priest in charge of the house of God.
22. So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.
23. Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise.
24. Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.
25. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer.