Hebræos 10
1 Umbram enim habens lex futurorum bonorum, non ipsam imaginem rerum: per singulos annos, eisdem ipsis hostiis quas offerunt indesinenter, numquam potest accedentes perfectos facere:
The Law, though able to foreshadow the better system which was coming, never had its actual substance. Its priests, with those sacrifices which they offer continuously year after year, can never make those who come to worship perfect.
2 alioquin cessassent offerri: ideo quod nullam haberent ultra conscientiam peccati, cultores semel mundati:
Otherwise, would not the offering of these sacrifices have been abandoned, as the worshipers, having been once purified, would have had their consciences clear from sins?
3 sed in ipsis commemoratio peccatorum per singulos annos fit.
But, on the contrary, these sacrifices recall their sins to mind year after year.
4 Impossibile enim est sanguine taurorum et hircorum auferri peccata.
For the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to remove sins.
5 Ideo ingrediens mundum dicit: Hostiam et oblationem noluisti: corpus autem aptasti mihi:
That is why, when he was coming into the world, the Christ declared – “Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you provide for me a body;
6 holocautomata pro peccato non tibi placuerunt.
You take no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.
7 Tunc dixi: Ecce venio: in capite libri scriptum est de me: Ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam.
So I said, ‘See, I have come’ (as is written of me in the pages of the book), ‘To do your will, God.’”
8 Superius dicens: Quia hostias, et oblationes, et holocautomata pro peccato noluisti, nec placita sunt tibi, quæ secundum legem offeruntur,
First come the words – “You do not desire, nor do you take pleasure in, sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin” (offerings regularly made under the Law),
9 tunc dixi: Ecce venio, ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam: aufert primum, ut sequens statuat.
and then there is added – “See, I have come to do your will.” The former sacrifices are set aside to be replaced by the latter.
10 In qua voluntate sanctificati sumus per oblationem corporis Jesu Christi semel.
And it is in the fulfilment of the will of God that we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, of the body of Jesus Christ.
11 Et omnis quidem sacerdos præsto est quotidie ministrans, et easdem sæpe offerens hostias, quæ numquam possunt auferre peccata:
Every other priest stands day after day at his ministrations, and offers the same sacrifices over and over again – sacrifices that can never take sins away.
12 hic autem unam pro peccatis offerens hostiam, in sempiternum sedet in dextera Dei,
But, this priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, which should serve for all time, “took his seat at the right hand of God,”
13 de cetero exspectans donec ponantur inimici ejus scabellum pedum ejus.
and has since then been waiting “for his enemies to be put as a stool for his feet.”
14 Una enim oblatione, consummavit in sempiternum sanctificatos.
By a single offering he has made perfect for all time those who are being purified.
15 Contestatur autem nos et Spiritus Sanctus. Postquam enim dixit:
We have also the testimony of the Holy Spirit. For, after saying –
16 Hoc autem testamentum, quod testabor ad illos post dies illos, dicit Dominus, dando leges meas in cordibus eorum, et in mentibus eorum superscribam eas:
“‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,’ says the Lord; ‘I will impress my laws on their hearts, and will inscribe them on their minds,’”
17 et peccatorum, et iniquitatum eorum jam non recordabor amplius.
then we have – “And their sins and their iniquities I will no longer remember.”
18 Ubi autem horum remissio: jam non est oblatio pro peccato.
And, when these are forgiven, there is no further need of an offering for sin.
19 Habentes itaque, fratres, fiduciam in introitu sanctorum in sanguine Christi,
Therefore, friends, since we may enter the sanctuary with confidence, in virtue of the blood of Jesus,
20 quam initiavit nobis viam novam, et viventem per velamen, id est, carnem suam,
by the way which he inaugurated for us – a new and living way, a way through the sanctuary curtain (that is, his human nature);
21 et sacerdotem magnum super domum Dei:
and, since we have in him “a great priest set over the house of God,”
22 accedamus cum vero corde in plenitudine fidei, aspersi corda a conscientia mala, et abluti corpus aqua munda,
let us draw near to God in all sincerity of heart and in perfect faith, with our hearts purified by the sprinkled blood from all consciousness of wrong, and with our bodies washed with pure water.
23 teneamus spei nostræ confessionem indeclinabilem (fidelis enim est qui repromisit),
Let us maintain the confession of our hope unshaken, for he who has given us his promise will not fail us.
24 et consideremus invicem in provocationem caritatis, et bonorum operum:
Let us vie with one another in a rivalry of love and noble actions.
25 non deserentes collectionem nostram, sicut consuetudinis est quibusdam, sed consolantes, et tanto magis quanto videritis appropinquantem diem.
And let us not, as some do, cease to meet together; but, on the contrary, let us encourage one another, and all the more, now that you see the day drawing near.
26 Voluntarie enim peccantibus nobis post acceptam notitiam veritatis, jam non relinquitur pro peccatis hostia,
Remember, if we sin wilfully after we have gained a full knowledge of the truth, there can be no further sacrifice for sin;
27 terribilis autem quædam exspectatio judicii, et ignis æmulatio, quæ consumptura est adversarios.
there is only a fearful anticipation of judgment, and a burning indignation which will destroy all opponents.
28 Irritam quis faciens legem Moysi, sine ulla miseratione duobus vel tribus testibus moritur:
When someone disregarded the Law of Moses, they were, on the evidence of two or three witnesses, put to death without pity.
29 quanto magis putatis deteriora mereri supplicia qui Filium Dei conculcaverit, et sanguinem testamenti pollutum duxerit, in quo sanctificatus est, et spiritui gratiæ contumeliam fecerit?
How much worse then, think you, will be the punishment deserved by those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have treated the blood that rendered the covenant valid – the blood by which they were purified – as if it were not holy, and who have outraged the Spirit of love?
30 Scimus enim qui dixit: Mihi vindicta, et ego retribuam. Et iterum: Quia judicabit Dominus populum suum.
We know who it was that said – “It is for me to avenge, I will requite”; and again – “The Lord will judge his people.”
31 Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Rememoramini autem pristinos dies, in quibus illuminati, magnum certamen sustinuistis passionum:
Call to mind those early days in which, after you had received the light, you patiently underwent a long and painful conflict.
33 et in altero quidem opprobriis et tribulationibus spectaculum facti: in altero autem socii taliter conversantium effecti.
Sometimes, in consequence of the taunts and injuries heaped on you, you became a public spectacle; and sometimes you suffered through having shown yourselves to be the friends of people who were in the same position in which you had been.
34 Nam et vinctis compassi estis, et rapinam bonorum vestrorum cum gaudio suscepistis, cognoscentes vos habere meliorem et manentem substantiam.
For you not only sympathised with those who were in prison, but you even took the confiscation of your possessions joyfully, knowing, as you did, that you had in yourselves a greater possession and a lasting one.
35 Nolite itaque amittere confidentiam vestram, quæ magnam habet remunerationem.
Do not, therefore, abandon the confidence that you have gained, for it has a great reward awaiting it.
36 Patientia enim vobis necessaria est: ut voluntatem Dei facientes, reportetis promissionem.
You still have need of patient endurance, in order that, when you have done God’s will, you may obtain the fulfilment of his promise.
37 Adhuc enim modicum aliquantulum, qui venturus est, veniet, et non tardabit.
“For there is indeed but a very little while before he who is coming will have come, without delay;
38 Justus autem meus ex fide vivit: quod si subtraxerit se, non placebit animæ meæ.
and through faith the righteous will find life, but, if anyone draws back, my heart can find no pleasure in them.”
39 Nos autem non sumus subtractionis filii in perditionem, sed fidei in acquisitionem animæ.
But we do not belong to those who draw back, to their ruin, but to those who have faith, to the saving of their souls.
