English · KJV

Hebrews 8

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

Christ Ministers in the Heavenly Sanctuary 1–6

1
Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; ​
2
A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. ​
3
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. ​
4
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: ​
5
Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. ​
6
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. ​

The New Covenant Foretold 7–13

7
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. ​
8
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: ​
9
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. ​
10
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: ​
11
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. ​
12
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. ​
13
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Hebrews 8

Verse 1

the sum — Kephalaion, the main point, occurs elsewhere only in Acts 22:28, where it is a 'sum' of money. The point is a high priest 'set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty'. 'Majesty' (megalosyne) is the word of 1:3, 'sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high', and of Jude 25.

Verse 2

the true tabernacle — 'Minister' (leitourgos) is the word rendered 'ministers' in 1:7. 'True' (alethinos) is the real as against its copy, as in 9:24, 'the figures of the true'. 'Pitched' (pegnymi) occurs only here. Moses 'pitched' the tent without the camp (Ex 33:7); this one the Lord pitched.

Verse 3

somewhat also to offer — 'Gifts and sacrifices' repeat the pair of 5:1. Since every high priest must offer, 'this man' must have an offering too. It is named in 9:14, 'offered himself without spot to God', and in 10:5, 'a body hast thou prepared me'. 'Of necessity' is anagkaios, what cannot be done without.

Verse 4

if he were on earth — The law gave the offering of gifts and the charge of the altar to Aaron's house (Num 18:5). Christ came of Juda, 'of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood' (7:14). So his priesthood is exercised where he now is, 'in the heavens' (v.1).

Verse 5

example and shadow — Hypodeigma is a sketch or specimen; 'shadow' (skia) is the word of Col 2:17, 'a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ', and of 10:1. 'Admonished' (chrematizo) is 'warned of God' in 11:7. The command is Ex 25:40; 'pattern' is typos, as in Acts 7:44, 'the fashion that he had seen'.

Verse 6

a more excellent ministry — 'Ministry' (leitourgia) is the priestly service. 'Mediator' (mesites) is said of Moses in Gal 3:19, 'in the hand of a mediator', and of Christ in 9:15 and 12:24. 'Established' is nomotheteo, the verb of 7:11, 'received the law': the new covenant is enacted 'upon better promises'.

Verse 7

that first covenant — 'Faultless' (amemptos) is the word of Luke 1:6 and Phil 3:6, 'touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless', where it describes persons. In v.8 the fault is found 'with them', the people, while Rom 7:12 calls the commandment itself 'holy'. The 'second' is the covenant of v.8.

Verse 8

finding fault with them — The quotation is Jer 31:31–34, given in full here and in part in 10:16–17. 'Finding fault' (memphomai) is the verb of Rom 9:19. 'New' (kainos) is the word of 'This cup is the new testament in my blood' (Luke 22:20). 'Make' is synteleo, to bring to completion, 'finish' in Rom 9:28.

Verse 9

took them by the hand — The covenant 'with their fathers' was made at Sinai, with the book read and the blood sprinkled (Ex 24:7–8; Heb 9:18–20). 'Continued not' (emmeno) is the verb of Gal 3:10, 'continueth not in all things'. 'Regarded… not' is ameleo, to neglect, as in 2:3, 'neglect so great salvation'.

Verse 10

write them in their hearts — 'Mind' (dianoia) and 'hearts' name the whole inner person; epigrapho, to write upon, recurs in 10:16 with the two reversed. Paul sets this against 'tables of stone' (2 Cor 3:3), and the promise of Ezek 36:26, 'A new heart also will I give you', stands beside it. 'A God… a people' is the formula of Lev 26:12.

Verse 11

all shall know me — Isa 54:13 says 'all thy children shall be taught of the LORD', and Christ cites it in John 6:45, 'they shall be all taught of God'. 'From the least to the greatest' leaves no rank out. John writes that 'ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you' (1 John 2:27).

Verse 12

merciful to their unrighteousness — 'Merciful' (hileos) is of the family of the verb in 2:17, 'to make reconciliation', and in Luke 18:13, 'God be merciful to me a sinner'. Unrighteousness, sins and iniquities (anomia, lawlessness) gather every kind of wrong. 'Remember no more' recurs in 10:17; compare Isa 43:25.

Verse 13

waxeth old — Palaioo, to make old, is used twice here and in 1:11, of heavens that 'shall wax old as doth a garment'. By calling the second covenant 'new' (kainos), God has put the first in the past. 'Vanish away' (aphanismos), disappearance, occurs only here.