Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant
1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, uone who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in vthe true tent1 that the Lord wset up, not man. 3 For xevery high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus yit is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve za copy and ashadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, b“See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ2 has obtained a ministry that is cas much more excellent than the old as dthe covenant ehe mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 fFor if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8 For he finds fault with them when he says:3
g“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 hFor this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and iwrite them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall jall know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
kand I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And lwhat is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Ascribe to the Lord Glory
A Psalm of David.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,1
cascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
3 The voice of the Lord is over ethe waters;
the God of glory fthunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is gpowerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks hthe cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to iskip like a calf,
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of lKadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes mthe deer give birth3
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over nthe flood;
the Lord sits enthroned oas king forever.
11 May the Lord give pstrength to his people!
