But 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people.
- KJV But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
- NKJV But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;
- NASB but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.
- NLT But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
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
Only the high priest entered the inner room, once a year, and only with sacrificial blood for his own and the people's sins. Access to God was severely restricted.
Overview
This describes the Day of Atonement, when the high priest alone entered the Most Holy Place with blood. The restrictions, once a year, one man, never without blood, reveal humanity's separation from God under the old system. The author uses this to magnify Christ, who entered God's presence once for all by his own blood, securing what the yearly ritual could only picture.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Lev 16:34This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement once a year for the Israelites because of all their sins.” And all this was done as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- Lev 5:18He is to bring to the priest an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock as a guilt offering. Then the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the wrong he has committed in ignorance, and he will be forgiven.
- Exod 30:10Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”
- Heb 7:27Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.
- Heb 10:19–20Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
- Heb 9:24–25For 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.
- Isa 3:12Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.
- Isa 9:16For those who guide this people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up.
- Hos 4:12My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
- Isa 28:7These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
- 2 Chr 33:9So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
- Isa 29:14Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”
- Heb 10:3Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,
- Ps 19:12Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
- Lev 16:2–20And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
- Amos 2:14Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.
- Heb 5:2–3He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is beset by weakness.
- Ps 95:10For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”
- 2 Sam 6:7And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God.
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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 9:7 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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