Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech: Hebrews | Page 6

Covenant unlike the one which I made with
their forefathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out from the land of Egypt; for they would not remain faithful to that.'
`So I turned from them,' says the Lord. 008:010 `But this is the
Covenant that I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days,'
says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds and will write them
upon their hearts. And I will indeed be their God and they shall be My
People. 008:011 And there shall be no need for them to teach each one
his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For
all will know Me from the least of them to the greatest; 008:012
Because I will be merciful to their wrongdoings, and their sins I will
remember no longer.'" 008:013 By using the words, "a new Covenant,"
He has made the first one obsolete; but whatever is decaying and
showing signs of old age is not far from disappearing altogether.
009:001 Now even the first Covenant had regulations for divine
worship, and had also its sanctuary--a sanctuary belonging to this world.
009:002 For a sacred tent was constructed--the outer one, in which
were the lamp and the table and the presented loaves; and this is called
the Holy place. 009:003 And behind the second veil was a sacred tent
called the Holy of holies. 009:004 This had a censer of gold, and the
ark of the Covenant lined with gold and completely covered with gold,
and in it were a gold vase which held the manna, and Aaron's rod
which budded and the tables of the Covenant. 009:005 And above the

ark were the Cherubim denoting God's glorious presence and
overshadowing the Mercy-seat. But I cannot now speak about all these
in detail. 009:006 These arrangements having long been completed, the
priests, when conducting the divine services, continually enter the outer
tent. 009:007 But into the second, the High Priest goes only on one day
of the year, and goes alone, taking with him blood, which he offers on
his own behalf and on account of the sins which the people have
ignorantly committed. 009:008 And the lesson which the Holy Spirit
teaches is this-- that the way into the true Holy place is not yet open so
long as the outer tent still remains in existence. 009:009 And this is a
figure--for the time now present--answering to which both gifts and
sacrifices are offered, unable though they are to give complete freedom
from sin to him who ministers. 009:010 For their efficacy depends only
on meats and drinks and various washings, ceremonies pertaining to the
body and imposed until a time of reformation. 009:011 But Christ
appeared as a High Priest of the blessings that are soon to come by
means of the greater and more perfect Tent of worship, a tent which has
not been built with hands-- that is to say does not belong to this
material creation-- 009:012 and once for all entered the Holy place,
taking with Him not the blood of goats and calves, but His own blood,
and thus procuring eternal redemption for us. 009:013 For if the blood
of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have
contracted defilement make them holy so as to bring about ceremonial
purity, 009:014 how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ,
who strengthened by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God, free
from blemish, purify your consciences from lifeless works for you to
serve the ever-living God? 009:015 And because of this He is the
negotiator of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given
in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant,
those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which
has been promised to them. 009:016 For where there is a legal `will,'
there must also be a death brought forward in evidence--the death of
him who made it. 009:017 And a will is only of force in the case of a
deceased person, being never of any avail so long as he who made it
lives. 009:018 Accordingly we find that the first Covenant was not
inaugurated without blood. 009:019 For when Moses had proclaimed to
all the people every commandment contained in the Law, he took the

blood of the calves and of the goats and with them water, scarlet wool
and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
009:020 saying, "This is the blood which confirms the Covenant that
God has made binding upon you." 009:021 And in the same way he
also sprinkled blood upon the Tent of worship and upon all the