Letters to the Churches

For it is testified: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless

(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

And none of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath,

but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Now there have been many other priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office.

But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood.

Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.

For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

and who ministers in the sanctuary and true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.

And since every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, it was necessary for this One also to have something to offer.

Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer gifts according to the law.

The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second.

But God found fault with the people and said: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.