1For the law having a shadow of the good things to come , not the very image of the things , can never with the same sacrifices year by year , which they offer continually , make perfect them that draw nigh. 2Else would they not have ceased to be offered ? because the worshippers , having been once cleansed , would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year . 4For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5Wherefore when he cometh into the world , he saith , Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not , But a body didst thou prepare for me ; 6In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure : 7Then said I , Lo , I am come ( In the roll of the book it is written of me ) To do thy will , O God . 8Saying above , Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not , neither hadst pleasure therein ( the which are offered according to the law ), 9then hath he said , Lo , I am come to do thy will . He taketh away the first , that he may establish the second . 10By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all . 11And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices , the which can never take away sins: 12but he , when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever , sat down on the right hand of God ; 13henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet . 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us ; for after he hath said , 16This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days , saith the Lord : I will put my laws on their heart , And upon their mind also will I write them ; then saith he , 17And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more . 18Now where remission of these is , there is no more offering for sin.
A Call to Persevere in Faith
19Having therefore , brethren , boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus , 20by the way which he dedicated for us , a new and living way , through the veil , that is to say , his flesh ; 21and having a great priest over the house of God ; 22let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith , having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience : and having our body washed with pure water, 23let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not ; for he is faithful that promised : 24and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works ; 25not forsaking our own assembling together , as the custom of some is , but exhorting one another ; and so much the more , as ye see the day drawing nigh .
Warning Against Apostasy
26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, 27but a certain fearful expectation of judgment , and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries . 28A man that hath set at nought Moses ’ law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses : 29of how much sorer punishment , think ye , shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God , and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing , and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace ? 30For we know him that said , Vengeance belongeth unto me , I will recompense. And again , The Lord shall judge his people . 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God .
The Just Shall Live by Faith
32But call to remembrance the former days , in which , after ye were enlightened , ye endured a great conflict of sufferings ; 33partly , being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions ; and partly , becoming partakers with them that were so used. 34For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds , and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions , knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one . 35Cast not away therefore your boldness , which hath great recompense of reward . 36For ye have need of patience , that , having done the will of God , ye may receive the promise . 37For yet a very little while , He that cometh shall come , and shall not tarry . 38But my righteous one shall live by faith : And if he shrink back , my soul hath no pleasure in him . 39But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul .