| OLD TESTAMENT | NEW TESTAMENT | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The 7 Books | Old Testament History | Wisdom Books | Major Prophets | Minor Prophets | NT History | Epistles of St. Paul | General Writings | |||
| Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuter. Joshua Judges | Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chron. 2 Chron. | Ezra Nehem. Tobit Judith Esther 1 Macc. 2 Macc. | Job Psalms Proverbs Eccles. Songs Wisdom Sirach | Isaiah Jeremiah Lament. Baruch Ezekiel Daniel | Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah | Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi | Matthew Mark Luke John Acts | Romans 1 Corinth. 2 Corinth. Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians | 1 Thess. 2 Thess. 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews | James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation |
| 1 |
1 What the law contains is only the shadow of those blessings which were still to come, not the full expression of their reality. The same sacrifices are offered year after year without intermission, and still the worshippers can never reach, through the law, their full growth. 2 If they could, must not the offerings have ceased before now? There would be no guilt left to reproach the consciences of those who come to worship; they would have been cleansed once for all. 3 No, what these offerings bring with them, year by year, is only the remembrance of sins; 4 that sins should be taken away by the blood of bulls and goats is impossible. 5 As Christ comes into the world, he says, No sacrifice, no offering was thy demand; thou hast endowed me, instead, with a body. 6 Thou hast not found any pleasure in burnt-sacrifices, in sacrifices for sin. 7 See then, I said, I am coming to fulfil what is written of me, where the book lies unrolled; to do thy will, O my God.[1] 8 First he says, Thou didst not demand victim or offering, the burnt-sacrifice, the sacrifice for sin, nor hast thou found any pleasure in them; in anything, that is, which the law has to offer, 9 and then:—I said, See, my God, I am coming to do thy will. He must clear the ground first, so as to build up afterwards. 10 In accordance with this divine will we have been sanctified by an offering made once for all, the body of Jesus Christ. 11 One high priest after another must stand there, day after day, offering again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away our sins; 12 whereas he sits for ever at the right hand of God, offering for our sins a sacrifice that is never repeated.[2] 13 He only waits, until all his enemies are made a footstool under his feet;[3] 14 by a single offering he has completed his work, for all time, in those whom he sanctifies. 15 And here the Holy Spirit adds his testimony. He has been saying, 16 This is the covenant I will grant them, the Lord says, when that time comes; I will implant my laws in their hearts, engrave them in their innermost thoughts. And what follows? 17 I will not remember their sins and their transgressions any more.[4] 18 Where they are so remitted, there is no longer any room for a sin-offering. | 1 Umbram enim habens lex futurorum bonorum, non ipsam imaginem rerum: per singulos annos, eisdem ipsis hostiis quas offerunt indesinenter, numquam potest accedentes perfectos facere: 2 alioquin cessassent offerri: ideo quod nullam haberent ultra conscientiam peccati, cultores semel mundati: 3 sed in ipsis commemoratio peccatorum per singulos annos fit. 4 Impossibile enim est sanguine taurorum et hircorum auferri peccata. 5 Ideo ingrediens mundum dicit: Hostiam et oblationem noluisti: corpus autem aptasti mihi: 6 holocautomata pro peccato non tibi placuerunt. 7 Tunc dixi: Ecce venio: in capite libri scriptum est de me: Ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam. 8 Superius dicens: Quia hostias, et oblationes, et holocautomata pro peccato noluisti, nec placita sunt tibi, quæ secundum legem offeruntur, 9 tunc dixi: Ecce venio, ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam: aufert primum, ut sequens statuat. 10 In qua voluntate sanctificati sumus per oblationem corporis Jesu Christi semel. 11 Et omnis quidem sacerdos præsto est quotidie ministrans, et easdem sæpe offerens hostias, quæ numquam possunt auferre peccata: 12 hic autem unam pro peccatis offerens hostiam, in sempiternum sedet in dextera Dei, 13 de cetero exspectans donec ponantur inimici ejus scabellum pedum ejus. 14 Una enim oblatione, consummavit in sempiternum sanctificatos. 15 Contestatur autem nos et Spiritus Sanctus. Postquam enim dixit: 16 Hoc autem testamentum, quod testabor ad illos post dies illos, dicit Dominus, dando leges meas in cordibus eorum, et in mentibus eorum superscribam eas: 17 et peccatorum, et iniquitatum eorum jam non recordabor amplius. 18 Ubi autem horum remissio: jam non est oblatio pro peccato. |
| 19 Ἔχοντες |
19 Why then, brethren, we can enter the sanctuary with confidence through the blood of Christ. 20 He has opened up for us a new, a living approach, by way of the veil, I mean, his mortality.[5] 21 A great priest is ours, who has dominion over God’s house. 22 Let us come forward with sincere hearts in the full assurance of the faith, our guilty consciences purified by sprinkling, our bodies washed clean in hallowed water.[6] 23 Do not let us waver in acknowledging the hope we cherish; we have a promise from one who is true to his word. 24 Let us keep one another in mind, always ready with incitements to charity and to acts of piety, 25 not abandoning, as some do, our common assembly, but encouraging one another; all the more, as you see the great day drawing nearer. 26 If we go on sinning wilfully, when once the full knowledge of the truth has been granted to us, we have no further sacrifice for sin to look forward to;[7] 27 nothing but a terrible expectation of judgement, a fire that will eagerly consume the rebellious. 28 Let a man be convicted by two or three witnesses of defying the law of Moses, and he dies, without hope of mercy.[8] 29 What of the man who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has reckoned the blood of the covenant, that blood which sanctified him, as a thing unclean, mocked at the Spirit that brought him grace? Will not he incur a punishment much more severe? 30 It is one we know well, who has told us, Vengeance is for me, I will repay; and again, The Lord will judge his people.[9] 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. | 19 Habentes itaque, fratres, fiduciam in introitu sanctorum in sanguine Christi, 20 quam initiavit nobis viam novam, et viventem per velamen, id est, carnem suam, 21 et sacerdotem magnum super domum Dei: 22 accedamus cum vero corde in plenitudine fidei, aspersi corda a conscientia mala, et abluti corpus aqua munda, 23 teneamus spei nostræ confessionem indeclinabilem (fidelis enim est qui repromisit), 24 et consideremus invicem in provocationem caritatis, et bonorum operum: 25 non deserentes collectionem nostram, sicut consuetudinis est quibusdam, sed consolantes, et tanto magis quanto videritis appropinquantem diem. 26 Voluntarie enim peccantibus nobis post acceptam notitiam veritatis, jam non relinquitur pro peccatis hostia, 27 terribilis autem quædam exspectatio judicii, et ignis æmulatio, quæ consumptura est adversarios. 28 Irritam quis faciens legem Moysi, sine ulla miseratione duobus vel tribus testibus moritur: 29 quanto magis putatis deteriora mereri supplicia qui Filium Dei conculcaverit, et sanguinem testamenti pollutum duxerit, in quo sanctificatus est, et spiritui gratiæ contumeliam fecerit? 30 Scimus enim qui dixit: Mihi vindicta, et ego retribuam. Et iterum: Quia judicabit Dominus populum suum. 31 Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis. |
| 32 Ἀναμιμνῄσκεσθε |
32 Remember those early days, when the light first came to you, and the hard probation of suffering you went through. 33 There were times when you yourselves were publicly exposed to calumny and persecution; there was a time when you took part with those who had the same path to tread. 34 You shewed your sympathy with those who were in bonds; and when you were robbed of your goods you took it cheerfully, as men who knew that a higher, a more lasting good was yours. 35 Do not throw away that confidence of yours, with its rich hope of reward; 36 you still need endurance, if you are to attain the prize God has promised to those who do his will. 37 Only a brief moment, now, before he who is coming will be here; he will not linger on the way. 38 It is faith that brings life to the man whom I accept as justified; if he shrinks back, he shall win no favour with me.[10] 39 Not for us to shrink away, and be lost; it is for us to have faith, and save our souls. | 32 Rememoramini autem pristinos dies, in quibus illuminati, magnum certamen sustinuistis passionum: 33 et in altero quidem opprobriis et tribulationibus spectaculum facti: in altero autem socii taliter conversantium effecti. 34 Nam et vinctis compassi estis, et rapinam bonorum vestrorum cum gaudio suscepistis, cognoscentes vos habere meliorem et manentem substantiam. 35 Nolite itaque amittere confidentiam vestram, quæ magnam habet remunerationem. 36 Patientia enim vobis necessaria est: ut voluntatem Dei facientes, reportetis promissionem. 37 Adhuc enim modicum aliquantulum, qui venturus est, veniet, et non tardabit. 38 Justus autem meus ex fide vivit: quod si subtraxerit se, non placebit animæ meæ. 39 Nos autem non sumus subtractionis filii in perditionem, sed fidei in acquisitionem animæ. |
[1] vv. 5-7: Ps. 39.7-9; where, however, the Hebrew text differs. Our author here follows the Greek Septuagint, which is less obscure than the Hebrew.
[2] ‘He sits … at the right hand of God, offering for our sins a sacrifice’; in the Greek, ‘he has taken his seat at the right hand of God after offering a sacrifice’.
[3] Ps. 109.2.
[4] vv. 16, 17: Jer. 31.31-34.
[5] ‘By way of the veil, I mean, his mortality’; literally, ‘through the veil, that is, his flesh’. Some commentators understand this of our Lord’s human Nature as such; but it is difficult to see how the Sacred Humanity could be regarded as in any sense an obstacle which has to be removed, as the sense of the passage suggests.
[6] ‘Sprinkling’; that is, with the precious Blood.
[7] ‘If we go on sinning’; the tense used in the Greek shews that the Apostle is referring to obstinate sinners, and in particular, no doubt, to those who fall away from the faith.
[8] Deut. 17.6.
[9] Deut. 32.35-36.
[10] vv. 37, 38: A reminiscence, rather than an exact quotation, of Hab. 2.3-4.
Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd
