That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without blood.
- KJV Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
- BSB That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
- NKJV Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
- NASB Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood.
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
Even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. Covenant and sacrificial death have always gone together in God's dealings.
Overview
The author returns to history to show that blood marked the very founding of the old covenant. This establishes a pattern: covenants are ratified by sacrifice. It prepares the reader to see Christ's blood as the necessary and superior means by which the new covenant is established.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Exod 24:3–8Moses came and told the people all Yahweh’s words, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which Yahweh has spoken will we do.”
- Heb 9:22According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
- Heb 8:7–9For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
- Heb 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
- Exod 12:22You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:18 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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