10:1 FOR SINCE the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come--instead of fully expressing those things--it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars]. |
10:2 For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt {or} consciousness of sin. |
10:3 But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for], |
10:4 Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away. |
10:5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer]; |
10:6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight. |
10:7 Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God--[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book. |
10:8 When He said just before, You have neither desired, nor have You taken delight in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings--all of which are offered according to the Law-- |
10:9 He then went on to say, Behold, [here] I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with {and} annuls the first (former) order [as a means of expiating sin] so that He might inaugurate {and} establish the second (latter) order. |
10:10 And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One). |
10:11 Furthermore, every [human] priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which never are able to strip [from every side of us] the sins [that envelop us] {and} take them away-- |
10:12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, |
10:13 Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet. |
10:14 For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed {and} perfected those who are consecrated {and} made holy. |
10:15 And also the Holy Spirit adds His testimony to us [in confirmation of this]. For having said, |
10:16 This is the agreement (testament, covenant) that I will set up {and} conclude with them after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their minds (on their inmost thoughts and understanding), |
10:17 He then goes on to say, And their sins and their lawbreaking I will remember no more. |
10:18 Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these [sins and lawbreaking], there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin. |
10:19 Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom {and} confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus, |
10:20 By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated {and} dedicated {and} opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh, |
10:21 And since we have [such] a great {and} wonderful {and} noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, |
10:22 Let us all come forward {and} draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance {and} absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled {and} purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water. |
10:23 So let us seize {and} hold fast {and} retain without wavering the hope we cherish {and} confess {and} our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) {and} faithful to His word. |
10:24 And let us consider {and} give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love {and} helpful deeds {and} noble activities, |
10:25 Not forsaking {or} neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching. |
10:26 For if we go on deliberately {and} willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward]. |
10:27 [There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful {and} fearful prospect {and} expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath {and} indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God]. |
10:28 Any person who has violated {and} [thus] rejected {and} set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity {or} mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. |
10:29 How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned {and} [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common {and} unhallowed, thus profaning it {and} insulting {and} outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)? |
10:30 For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me]; I will repay [I will exact the compensation], {says the Lord.} And again, The Lord will judge {and} determine {and} solve {and} settle the cause {and} the cases of His people. |
10:31 It is a fearful (formidable and terrible) thing to incur the divine penalties {and} be cast into the hands of the living God! |
10:32 But be ever mindful of the days gone by in which, after you were first spiritually enlightened, you endured a great {and} painful struggle, |
10:33 Sometimes being yourselves a gazingstock, publicly exposed to insults {and} abuse and distress, and sometimes claiming fellowship {and} making common cause with others who were so treated. |
10:34 For you did sympathize {and} suffer along with those who were imprisoned, and you bore cheerfully the plundering of your belongings {and} the confiscation of your property, in the knowledge {and} consciousness that you yourselves had a better and lasting possession. |
10:35 Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great {and} glorious compensation of reward. |
10:36 For you have need of steadfast patience {and} endurance, so that you may perform {and} fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive {and} carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised. |
10:37 For still a little while (a very little while), and the Coming One will come and He will not delay. |
10:38 But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back {and} shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight {or} pleasure in him. |
10:39 But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] {and} by faith preserve the soul. |