Hebreus 8

¹ NowHe briefly repeats that to which all these things are to be referred, that is, that we have another High Priest than those Levitical high priests, even such a one as sits at the right hand of the Most High God in heaven.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 They of Levi were high priests in an earthly sanctuary, but Christ is in the heavenly.A minister of theOf heaven.sanctuary,They of Levi exercised their priesthood in a frail tabernacle, but Christ bears about with him another tabernacle, that is, his body, which God himself made everlasting, as shall later be declared in (Heb_9:11).and of theOf his body.true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

³ He brings a reason why it must be that Christ should have a body (which he calls a tabernacle which the Lord built, and not man) that is, that he might have that to offer: for otherwise he could not be an High Priest. The body is both the tabernacle and the sacrifice.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 He gives a reason why he said that our High Priest is in the heavenly sanctuary, and not in the earthly: because, says he, if he were now on the earth, he could not minister in the earthly sanctuary, seeing there are still Levitical priests who are appointed for him, that is to say, to be patterns of that perfect example. To what purpose should the patterns serve, when the true and original example is present?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 serue vnto the paterne and shadowe of heauenly things, as Moses was warned by God, whe he was about to finish the Tabernacle. See, saide hee, that thou make all thinges according to the paterne, shewed to thee in the mount.

⁶ He enters into the comparison of the old and transitory Testament or covenant, being but for a time, of which the Levitical priests were mediators, with the new, the everlasting Mediator of which is Christ, to show that this is not only better than that in all respects, but also that that was made void by this.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.

⁷ He proves by the testimony of Jeremiah that there is a second Testament or covenant, and therefore that the first was not perfect.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 theHe calls it a house, as it were one family of the whole kingdom: for while the kingdom of David was divided into two sections, the Prophet would have us understand that through the new Testament they shall be joined together again in one.house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

⁹ Not like the Testament that I made with their fathers, in the day that I tooke them by the hand, to leade them out of the land of Egypt: for they continued not in my Testament, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

¹⁰ For this is the Testament that I will make with the house of Israel, After those dayes, saith the Lord, I will put my Lawes in their minde, and in their heart I will write them, and I wil be their God, and they shalbe my people,

¹¹ And they shall not teache euery man his neighbour and euery man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall knowe me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

¹² For I will bee mercifull to their vnrighteousnes, and I wil remember their sinnes and their iniquities no more.

¹³ The conclusion: Therefore by the later and the new, the first and old is taken away, for it could not be called new, if it did not differ from the old. Again, that same is at length taken away, which is subject to corruption, and therefore imperfect.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.