1 The chief point in what we are saying is this: we have a high priest of this kind, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty {megalosyne: supreme greatness} in the heavens {ouranoi: highest realm}.
2 He is a minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord {Kyrios, Divine Architect} set up—not man {anthropos: human agent}.
3 Every high priest is appointed {kathistatai: divinely installed} to present gifts and sacrifices; thus, this one must also have something to offer {prosenegkē: presented sacrifice}.
4 If He {Christos Iesous, Exalted High Priest} were on earth, He would not be a priest, because there are those who offer the gifts {dora: sacrificial offerings} according to the law.
5 These priests serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was instructed when he was about to complete the tabernacle; for He {Theos, Pattern-Giving God} says, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain {orei: place of divine encounter}.”
6 But now He {Christos, Superior Mediator} has received a more excellent ministry, since He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established upon better promises {epangelia: binding assurances}.
7 For if that first {prote: initial phase} covenant had been faultless {amemptos: above reproach}, no place would have been sought for a second.
8 For, finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord {Kyrios, Covenant Maker}, “when I will establish a new covenant {diatheken: divinely binding agreement} with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”
9 It will not be according to the covenant {diatheke: binding pledge} that I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not remain in My covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord {Kyrios, Covenant Judge}.
10 For this is the covenant {diatheke: binding promise} that I will establish with the house of Israel in days to come, says the Lord {Kyrios, Covenant Promise-Maker}: I will embed My laws within their minds and inscribe them on their hearts; I will be to them as God, and they shall be to Me as a people.
11 And they will by no means instruct, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, “Know the Lord {Kyrios, Fully Known Lord},” for all will know Me, from the lowliest {mikros: low in rank} to the most exalted.
12 For I {Theos, Gracious Forgiver} will be merciful toward their injustices {adikiais: unjust actions}, and their sins I will remember no more.
13 In saying “new,” He {Theos, Covenant-Renewing Speaker} has made the first obsolete. But what is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to vanishing {aphanismos: complete removal}.