International Standard Version

Hebrews 8

1 Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we do have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven

2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tent set up by the Lord and not by any human.

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, this high priest ^a had to offer something, too.

4 Now if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because other men offer the gifts prescribed by the Law.

5 They serve in a sanctuary that is a copy, a shadow of the heavenly one. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tent: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” ^b

6 However, Jesus ^c has now obtained a more superior ministry, since the covenant he mediates is founded on better promises.

7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one,

8 but God ^d found something wrong with his people ^e when he said, “Look! The days are coming, declares the Lord, ^f when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

9 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors at the time when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. Because they did not remain loyal to my covenant, I ignored them, declares the Lord. ^g

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord: ^h I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

11 Never again will everyone teach his neighbor or his brother by saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ⁱ because all of them will know me, from the least important to the most important.

12 For I will be merciful regarding their wrong deeds, and I will never again remember their sins.” ^j

13 In speaking of a “new” covenant, he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.