Hebrews · 28 verses

Hebrews 9

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

A will, rather surprisingly, waits for its maker to die before it can do anything; Hebrews uses the point to explain why covenant and blood arrive together, with Moses sprinkling not merely a scroll but an entire people.

The rooms, and the door that stays shutvv. 1–10

The first covenant comes with an earthly sanctuary arranged like a set of nested mysteries. The first room holds lampstand, table, and consecrated bread; behind a curtain lies the Most Holy Place, with its ark, its jar of manna, Aaron’s budding staff, the covenant tablets, and cherubim overhead. Then, after this wonderfully particular inventory, the account draws the curtain on itself: “But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.” Priests enter the first room regularly, while the high priest enters the second only once a year, carrying blood for himself and for sins committed in ignorance. The arrangement makes the unopened way into the Most Holy Place the point of the furniture.

The better entrancevv. 11–22

Christ arrives as high priest, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, entering the Most Holy Place once for all. The contrast is made by degrees: the old blood cleans the body, while Christ’s offering purifies the conscience from works of death. Then the argument takes an unexpectedly domestic turn. A will requires the death of its maker before it takes effect, and so even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. Moses brings calves, goats, water, scarlet wool, and hyssop into the ceremony, sprinkling both the scroll and all the people, then the tabernacle and its vessels. It is a remarkably thorough way of getting a covenant everywhere.

Once, and then once morevv. 23–28

The copies require one sort of purification, but the heavenly things require better sacrifices. Christ enters heaven itself, appearing in the presence of God, and does not repeat the high priest’s annual performance with blood that is not his own. Repetition would mean repeated suffering; instead, he has appeared once for all to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. The chapter closes with two appointed appearances: man dies once and faces judgment, while Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many and will appear a second time, this time not to bear sin but to bring salvation.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Heb 9:1Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
Heb 9:2A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place.
Heb 9:3Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
Heb 9:4containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
Heb 9:5Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
Heb 9:6When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties.
Heb 9:7But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
Heb 9:8By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
Heb 9:9It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.
Heb 9:10They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.
Heb 9:11But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation.
Heb 9:12He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
Heb 9:13For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,
Heb 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
Heb 9:15Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Heb 9:16In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it,
Heb 9:17because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive.
Heb 9:18That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
Heb 9:19For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people,
Heb 9:20saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”
Heb 9:21In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship.
Heb 9:22According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Heb 9:23So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.
Heb 9:25Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Heb 9:26Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Heb 9:27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
Heb 9:28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 512 passages were voted onto 28 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

27 2 Corinthians 5:10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
22 Leviticus 17:11For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
14 Hebrews 10:22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
27 Ecclesiastes 12:14For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
27 Ecclesiastes 12:7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
27 Acts 17:31For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
28 Titus 2:13as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
27 2 Samuel 14:14For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
12 Hebrews 10:4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
14 1 Peter 1:19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.
14 1 John 1:7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
27 John 5:26–29For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
15 Romans 3:24–26and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
15 Romans 8:30And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
14 Hebrews 9:12He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
14 1 Peter 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

Onward

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