Day 596 of 730

¹Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and an earthly sanctuary.

²For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lampstand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place.

³After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,

⁴having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

⁵and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we cannot speak now in detail.

⁶Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services,

⁷but 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.

⁸The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place was not yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing;

⁹which is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshipper perfect;

¹⁰being only (with meats and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.

¹¹But Christ having come as a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

¹²nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh:

¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵For this reason he is the mediator of a New Covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

¹⁶For where a last will and testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him who made it.

¹⁷For a will is in force where there has been death, for it is never in force while he who made it lives.

¹⁸Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without blood.

¹⁹For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

²⁰saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you."

²¹Moreover he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry in like manner with the blood.

²²According to the Law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

²³It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴For Christ hasn't entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

²⁵nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own,

²⁶or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

²⁸so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.

¹Praise Yah! Praise the Lord, my soul.

²While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.

³Do not put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help.

⁴His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.

⁵Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord, his God:

⁶who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;

⁷who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners.

⁸The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous.

⁹The Lord preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

¹⁰The Lord will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise Yah!

¹My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

⁵that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

⁸passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.

¹¹She is loud and defiant. Her feet do not stay in her house.

¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.

¹⁹For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

²¹With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

²²He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

²³Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways. Do not go astray in her paths,

²⁶for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.