Hebreus 10

ARC · Chapter 10/13

1Porque, tendo a lei a sombra dos bens futuros, e não a imagem exacta das coisas, nunca, pelos mesmos sacrificios que continuamente se offerecem cada anno, pode aperfeiçoar os que a elles se chegam.

2D'outra maneira, não cessariam de se offerecer, porquanto, purificados uma vez os ministrantes, nunca mais teriam consciencia de peccado.

3N'elles, porém, cada anno se faz commemoração dos peccados.

4Porque é impossivel que o sangue dos toiros e dos bodes tire os peccados.

5Pelo que, entrando no mundo, diz: Sacrificio e offerta não quizeste, mas corpo me preparaste;

6Holocaustos e oblações pelo peccado não te agradaram.

7Então disse: Eis aqui venho (no principio do livro está escripto de mim), para fazer, ó Deus, a tua vontade.

8Dizendo acima: Sacrificio e offerta, e holocaustos e oblações pelo peccado não quizeste, nem te agradaram (os quaes se offerecem segundo a lei).

9Então disse: Eis aqui venho, para fazer, ó Deus, a tua vontade. Tira o primeiro, para estabelecer o segundo.

10Na qual vontade somos sanctificados pela oblação do corpo de Jesus Christo, feita uma vez.

11E assim todo o sacerdote apparece cada dia, ministrando e offerecendo muitas vezes os mesmos sacrificios, que nunca podem tirar os peccados.

12Mas este, havendo offerecido um sacrificio pelos peccados, está assentado para sempre á dextra de Deus;

13D'aqui em diante esperando até que os seus inimigos sejam postos por escabello de seus pés.

14Porque com uma oblação aperfeiçoou para sempre os que são sanctificados.

15E tambem o Espirito Sancto nol-o testifica, porque depois de haver antes dito:

16Este é o concerto que farei com elles depois d'aquelles dias, diz o Senhor: Porei as minhas leis em seus corações, e as escreverei em seus entendimentos: então diz

17E jámais me lembrarei de seus peccados e de suas iniquidades.

18Ora, onde ha remissão d'estes, não ha mais oblação pelo peccado.

19Tendo pois, irmãos, ousadia para entrar no sanctuario, pelo sangue de Jesus,

20Pelo novo e vivo caminho que elle nos consagrou, pelo véu, isto é, pela sua carne,

21E tendo um grande sacerdote sobre a casa de Deus,

22Cheguemo-nos com verdadeiro coração, em inteira certeza de fé; tendo os corações purificados da má consciencia, e o corpo lavado com agua limpa

23Retenhamos firmes a confissão da nossa esperança; porque fiel é o que prometteu.

24E consideremo-nos uns aos outros, para nos estimularmos á caridade e boas obras:

25Não deixando a nossa reunião, como é o costume de alguns, antes admoestando-nos uns aos outros; e tanto mais, quando virdes que se vae chegando aquelle dia.

26Porque, se peccarmos voluntariamente, depois de termos recebido o conhecimento da verdade, já não resta mais sacrificio pelos peccados,

27Mas uma certa expectação horrivel de juizo, e ardor de fogo, que ha de devorar os adversarios.

28Quebrantando algum a lei de Moysés, morre sem misericordia, só pela palavra de duas ou tres testemunhas:

29De quanto maior castigo cuidaes vós será julgado digno aquelle que pisar o Filho de Deus, e tiver por profano o sangue do testamento, com que foi sanctificado, e fizer aggravo ao Espirito da graça?

30Porque bem conhecemos aquelle que disse: Minha é a vingança, eu darei a recompensa, diz o Senhor. E outra vez: O Senhor julgará o seu povo.

31Horrenda coisa é cair nas mãos do Deus vivo.

32Lembrae-vos, porém, dos dias passados, em que, depois de serdes illuminados, supportastes grande combate de afflicções;

33Em parte fostes feitos espectaculo com vituperios e tribulações, e em parte fostes participantes com os que assim foram tratados.

34Porque tambem vos compadecestes das minhas prisões, e com gozo permittistes o roubo dos vossos bens, sabendo que em vós mesmos tendes nos céus uma possessão melhor e permanente.

35Não rejeiteis pois a vossa confiança, que tem grande remuneração de galardão.

36Porque necessitaes de paciencia, para que, depois de haverdes feito a vontade de Deus, possaes alcançar a promessa.

37Porque ainda um poucochinho, e o que ha de vir virá, e não tardará.

38Mas o justo viverá da fé; e, se alguem se retirar, a minha alma não tem prazer n'elle.

39Nós, porém, não somos d'aquelles que se retiram para a perdição, mas d'aquelles que crêem para a conservação da alma

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The author argues that the sacrifices of the law were only a shadow and could never perfect those who offered them, but Christ, by offering himself once, made those who are sanctified perfect forever. He encourages readers to draw near to God in faith and not to abandon church gatherings.

Explanation

The author quotes Psalm 40 to show that God always preferred genuine obedience over repeated sacrifices, and that the offering of Christ's body perfectly fulfilled this divine will, ending the need for ongoing sacrifices. The famous exhortation not to 'forsake the assembling of ourselves together' (10:25) responds to a real temptation among readers to withdraw from the Christian community, perhaps out of fear of persecution or discouragement. The chapter ends with a warning about the serious consequences of deliberately rejecting truth already known, while at the same time encouraging readers by reminding them of their record of faithfulness in past trials. Today's practical application is to value church fellowship as a place of mutual encouragement, especially in difficult times.

Fun facts

  • Verse 25, about not forsaking 'the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is,' is one of the most frequently cited biblical texts in Christian tradition to encourage regular participation in worship services and faith communities.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Hebreus 10:1Calling the Jewish law “a shadow of good things to come,” and not “the very image” of the things themselves, is a metaphor: a shadow gives an idea of something's shape, but isn't the object itself. The letter uses this to explain why the temple's repeated sacrifices never truly perfected anyone — they pointed to something still to come.
  2. Hebreus 10:2The letter argues that if the old sacrifices had really solved the problem of sin, people would have already stopped offering them, because their consciences would have been cleansed once and for all.
  3. Hebreus 10:3But what actually happened was the opposite: each yearly sacrifice only served to remind people of their sins again, not to erase them.
  4. Hebreus 10:4Saying it is “not possible” for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins is a strong statement: the temple's sacrifices, in the letter's view, never actually solved the problem of sin, only reminded people of it year after year. This sets up the argument that only Christ's sacrifice accomplishes what the animals could not.
  5. Hebreus 10:5The citation comes from Psalm 40 and is placed in Christ's mouth as He enters the world: instead of sacrifices and offerings, what God wanted was a body prepared to do His will. It's a way of saying that Christ's obedience replaces the temple's sacrificial system.
  6. Hebreus 10:6The citation from Psalm 40 continues: neither burnt offerings nor sin offerings truly pleased God, according to the psalm itself.
  7. Hebreus 10:7The citation goes on with Christ saying, “Lo, I come...to do thy will, O God,” a phrase the letter uses as a summary of His mission.
  8. Hebreus 10:8The letter re-reads the earlier citation, repeating that sacrifices and offerings required by the law, even though the law demanded them, were not what truly pleased God.
  9. Hebreus 10:9The letter explains the meaning of the citation: by saying “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” Christ was replacing the old sacrificial system with a new one.
  10. Hebreus 10:10It's precisely because of this fulfilled will that Christians are made holy, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, made once for all.
  11. Hebreus 10:11By contrast, the letter recalls that the ordinary priest had to repeat the same sacrifices every day, sacrifices that could never actually remove sin.
  12. Hebreus 10:12Christ, however, after offering a single sacrifice for sins, sat down forever at God's right hand, a gesture that marks the work as finished.
  13. Hebreus 10:13From then on, He waits for the moment when His enemies will be made His footstool, an image of complete victory.
  14. Hebreus 10:14With this single offering, Christ has perfected forever all those who are being made holy through Him.
  15. Hebreus 10:15The letter quotes the Holy Spirit once more, confirming this same promise through the words of the prophet Jeremiah.
  16. Hebreus 10:16The citation returns to the promise of the new covenant: God will place His laws in the people's hearts and minds.
  17. Hebreus 10:17And it adds: God promises never again to remember the sins and wrongdoings committed by that people.
  18. Hebreus 10:18The letter draws the logical conclusion: where full forgiveness already exists, there's no longer any need for another offering for sin.
  19. Hebreus 10:19The letter shifts tone, beginning to apply all of this to the readers' practical lives: they now have freedom to enter the most sacred place, thanks to the blood of Jesus.
  20. Hebreus 10:20Calling access to God “a new and living way...through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” compares the veil that separated the Holiest of all in the temple to Christ's own body: just as the veil was torn, according to the Gospels, at the moment of Jesus' death, His body opened the way for anyone to approach God directly.
  21. Hebreus 10:21Beyond that, they have a great priest set over the whole house of God, an extra reason for confidence.
  22. Hebreus 10:22That's why the letter invites its readers to draw near to God with complete sincerity, with a clean conscience and, as in baptism, the body washed with pure water.
  23. Hebreus 10:23Another invitation: hold firmly to the hope they profess, trusting that God is faithful to what He promised.
  24. Hebreus 10:24The letter also asks for mutual attention among Christians, each looking after the others, encouraging love and good works.
  25. Hebreus 10:25A practical warning: don't abandon the church's gatherings, as some were already doing, but encourage one another, all the more as the final day draws near.
  26. Hebreus 10:26The warning about sinning willfully after knowing the truth, with no more sacrifice left for sins, is one of the harshest passages in the letter. It speaks of deliberately rejecting what one has already known to be true, not of everyday failures or sins — an important distinction that different interpretations still debate today.
  27. Hebreus 10:27Whoever rejects this known truth, the letter warns, has ahead of them only a terrible expectation of judgment and a fire that consumes those who oppose God.
  28. Hebreus 10:28The letter recalls that, under the law of Moses, breaking certain commandments was already enough for someone to die without mercy, as long as there were two or three witnesses confirming it.
  29. Hebreus 10:29If that was already serious, the letter asks: how much worse will the punishment be for someone who despises the Son of God, treats as common the blood that sanctified him, and insults the Spirit of grace?
  30. Hebreus 10:30The letter recalls two well-known citations: that vengeance belongs to God, and that He Himself will judge His own people.
  31. Hebreus 10:31The conclusion is direct and strong: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God for judgment.
  32. Hebreus 10:32The letter changes tone again, reminding its readers of the early days after becoming Christians, when they faced a great struggle of sufferings and endured.
  33. Hebreus 10:33In part, they themselves were publicly exposed to insults and persecution; in part, they stood by others going through the same thing.
  34. Hebreus 10:34They had compassion on prisoners and even joyfully accepted the loss of their possessions, knowing they had something better and lasting reserved in heaven.
  35. Hebreus 10:35That's why the letter asks them not to throw away that confidence, which carries a great reward.
  36. Hebreus 10:36What's still needed now, the letter says, is perseverance: doing God's will to the end, in order to then receive what was promised.
  37. Hebreus 10:37The letter quotes the hope that “yet a little while” and the one who is to come, Jesus, will arrive without delay.
  38. Hebreus 10:38The phrase “the just shall live by faith” is a quotation from the prophet Habakkuk, used here to reinforce that persevering in trust in God, even without seeing immediate results, is what sustains those who hold to the faith.
  39. Hebreus 10:39The letter ends the chapter on a note of confidence: the readers are not the kind who shrink back to destruction, but the kind who hold on to faith until the soul is saved.

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