So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless
Parallel translations
- WEB For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
- KJV For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
- NKJV For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness,
- NASB For, on the one hand, there is the nullification of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
- NLT Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness. The old legal order could not accomplish what was needed and is now annulled.
Overview
The writer states plainly that the prior commandment, the law governing the Levitical priesthood, is annulled because it was weak and ineffective for bringing people to God. This is not a charge against God's holiness in the law but against its inability to perfect. Its removal makes way for the better hope introduced through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Rom 8:3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
- Acts 13:39Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
- Gal 4:9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- Heb 7:11–12Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?
- Heb 8:7–13For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second.
- Heb 7:19(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
- 1 Tim 4:8For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.
- Gal 3:17What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.
- Heb 13:9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.
- Heb 10:1–9For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
- Gal 3:15Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.
- Gal 4:21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says?
- Rom 3:31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.
- Heb 9:9–10It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 7:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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