Hebrews 10:1-14

1God's laws which he gave to Moses are like a shadow of the good things that would come later. But those laws do not show exactly what those good things are like. They say that the priests must continue to offer the same sacrifices on behalf of the people, year after year. So those sacrifices can never make the people completely clean when they come to worship God.

2If the old rules could do that, the priests would have stopped offering sacrifices. The people who came to worship God would have become completely clean once, for all time. They would no longer have trouble in their minds about their sins.

3But as it is, those sacrifices every year cause people to remember their sins.

4We know that the blood of bulls and of goats cannot remove the punishment for sins.

5So, when Christ came into the world, he said to his Father, ‘You have not wanted people to offer sacrifices and other gifts to you. Instead, you have prepared a body for me to offer to you.

6Sacrifices do not make you happy. If people burn whole animals as a sacrifice, or if they offer a sacrifice to make them clean from their sins, that does not make you happy.

7Then I said, “Here I am, my God. I have come to do what you want. That is what it says about me in the Bible.” ’

8So think about what Christ said there. First he said to God, ‘You have not wanted gifts and sacrifices of animals. Any kind of sacrifice like that does not make you happy.’ But we know that Moses' rules taught about those sacrifices. God's law said that they were necessary.

9Then Christ said, ‘Here I am. I have come to do what you want.’ In that way, Christ took away the first agreement and its rules about sacrifices. Christ's sacrifice of his own body is the new way that God forgives our sins.

10Jesus Christ was ready to do what God wanted. He offered his own body to God once, for all time. Because of Christ's sacrifice, God has made us clean so that we belong to him.

11Every day, the priests do their work to serve God. They offer the same sacrifices to God again and again. But those sacrifices can never take away people's sins.

12But Christ, our special priest, offered one sacrifice to take away our sins. He did that once, for all time. After that, he sat down at God's right side to rule with him.

13Since then, he waits for God to win against his enemies completely. They will become like a place for him to put his feet.

14So, as a result of his one sacrifice, Christ has made God's people completely clean for all time.