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HebrewsChapter 9

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Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.
A tent was set up, and in its first room stood the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place.
Behind the second curtain was the room called the Most Holy Place,
which held the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, overlaid all around with gold. In the ark were the golden jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the tablets of the covenant,
and above it the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But of these things I cannot now speak in detail.
With everything arranged this way, the priests enter the first room continually to carry out their duties of worship.
But into the second room only the high priest goes, once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance.
By this the Holy Spirit shows that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been revealed while the first tent was still standing.
This is a symbol for the present time, for the gifts and sacrifices offered under it cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.
They deal only with food and drink and various washings—outward regulations for the body, imposed until the time of the new order.
But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have now arrived, he went through the greater and more perfect tent, one not made by human hands, that is, not part of this creation.
He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who are defiled, sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God!
For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant: now that a death has taken place to redeem us from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be established.
A will takes effect only at death; it has no force while the one who made it is still alive.
That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people,
saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you."
In the same way he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its service.
Indeed, under the law nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be cleansed with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf.
Nor did he enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own.
Otherwise he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And just as it is appointed for people to die once, and after that to face judgment,
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
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