Hebrews 8

1 Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

Now the main point of the things we are saying is this: We do have such a High Priest, who sat down at the right of the Majesty's throne in the heavens,

2 a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man.

Minister of the Holy Places, that is, of the true Tabernacle which the Lord set up, not man.

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.

Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices (it follows that it is necessary for this One also to have something He might offer)

4 For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law,

—if He were on earth He would not be a priest, there already being priests who offer the gifts according to the Law;

5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.”

who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things (that is why Moses was warned by God when he was ready to assemble the Tabernacle: “See to it,” He says, “that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain”)—

6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law.

but now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, just as He is Mediator of a better covenant, which was enacted as law on the basis of better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

Now if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for a second one;

8 For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days are coming”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

but finding fault with them He says: “Listen! Days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will establish 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 that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.

—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 did not abide by my covenant and so I disregarded them,” says the Lord.

10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put my laws into their mind; I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

“Now this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws into their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God and they will be my people.

11 They will not teach every man his fellow citizen and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.

Further, not one of them will teach his neighbor and not one his brother saying, ‘Get to know the Lord!’ because they all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

For I will be merciful to their wrongdoings; I will not at all remember their sins and their lawless deeds.”

13 In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first obsolete. But that which is becoming obsolete and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

By saying ‘new’ He has made the first one ‘old’; and what is obsolete and aging is near the end.