HEB 7-9 minor edits/corrections

59-HEB.usfm

@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@
 \c 7
 \p
 \v 1 Now I will say more about this man Melchizedek. He was the king of the city of Salem and was also a priest of God, who rules the universe. He met Abraham and his men who were returning home from defeating the armies of the four kings. Melchizedek blessed Abraham.
-\v 2 Then Abraham gave to him one tenth of all the things he took after winning the battle. Now Melchizedek's name means first, "king who rules righteously," and, since Salem means "peace," his name also means "the king who rules peacefully."
+\v 2 Then Abraham gave to him one tenth of all the things he took after winning the battle. Now Melchizedek's name means first, "king who rules righteously," and, since Salem means "peace," his name also means "king who rules peacefully."
 \v 3 The scriptures provide us with no record of Melchizedek's father, mother, or ancestors; nor do the scriptures tell us when he was born or when he died. It is as if he continues to be a priest forever. In this way, he is a little like the Son of God.
 
 \s5
@@ -282,12 +282,12 @@
 \s5
 \v 7 Now everyone knows that the more important people bless the less important people, just as Melchizedek blessed Abraham. So we know that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham.
 \v 8 In the case of the priests who are descendants of Levi, they are all men who will die one day, but even they received tithes. However, in the case of Melchizedek, who received a tenth of everything from Abraham—it is as if God testified that Melchizedek keeps on living, since scripture does not speak about him dying.
-\v 9 And it was as though Levi himself, and all the priests descended from him—those who received tithes from the people—paid tithes to Melchizedek because their ancestor Abraham paid tithes to him. When Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek it was as though Levi and all the priests descended from him acknowledged that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham.
+\v 9 And it was as though Levi himself, and all the priests descended from him—those who received tithes from the people—paid tithes to Melchizedek because their ancestor Abraham paid tithes to him. When Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, it was as though Levi and all the priests descended from him acknowledged that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham.
 \v 10 This is true because we can say that Levi and his descendants were still in Abraham's body when Melchizedek met Abraham.
 
 \s5
 \p
-\v 11 God gave the law to his people at the same time he gave regulations about the priests. So if the priests who were descended from Aaron and his ancestor Levi could have provided a way for God to forgive people for disobeying those laws, those priests would have been adequate. In that case, no other priest like Melchizedek would have been necessary.
+\v 11 God gave the law to his people at the same time he gave regulations about the priests. So, if the priests who were descended from Aaron and his ancestor Levi could have provided a way for God to forgive people for disobeying those laws, those priests would have been adequate. In that case, no other priest like Melchizedek would have been necessary.
 \v 12 But we know those priests were not adequate, because a new type of priest like Melchizedek has come. And since God appointed a new type of priest, he also had to change the law.
 
 \s5
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@
 \s5
 \p
 \v 18 God withdrew what he had first commanded about the priests because those priests are unable to make sinful people holy.
-\v 19 No one was able to become good by obeying the laws that God gave Moses. On the other hand, God gave us a better reason to have confidence in him, because he makes it possible for us to come near to him.
+\v 19 No one was able to become good by obeying the laws that God gave Moses. On the other hand, God gave us a better reason to have confidence in him because he makes it possible for us to come near to him.
 
 \s5
 \p
@@ -321,9 +321,9 @@
 \v 24 But because Jesus lives eternally, he will continue to be a high priest forever.
 
 \s5
-\v 25 So Jesus can completely and eternally save those who come to God, since he lives forever to plead with God to forgive them and keep them safe.
+\v 25 So Jesus can completely and eternally save those who come to God since he lives forever to plead with God to forgive them and keep them safe.
 \p
-\v 26 Jesus is the kind of high priest that we need. He was holy, he did no wrong, and he was innocent. God has now separated him from living among sinners, and has now taken him up to the highest heaven.
+\v 26 Jesus is the kind of high priest that we need. He was holy, he did no wrong, and he was innocent. God has now separated him from living among sinners and has now taken him up to the highest heaven.
 
 \s5
 \v 27 The Jewish high priests need to sacrifice animals day by day as well as year by year. They do this, firstly, to cover their own sins, and then to cover the sins of other people. But because Jesus never sinned, he does not need to do that. The only thing he needed to do to save people was to sacrifice himself once, and that is exactly what he did!
@@ -344,10 +344,10 @@
 \s5
 \v 6 But now Christ serves in a much better way than the Jewish priests do. In the same way, the new covenant that he established between God and people is better than the old one. When he established the new covenant, he promised us better things than the laws that God gave Moses.
 \p
-\v 7 God needed to make this new covenant, because the first covenant had not done everything well.
+\v 7 God needed to make this new covenant because the first covenant had not done everything well.
 
 \s5
-\v 8 Because God declared that the people of Israel were guilty of not obeying the first covenant he wanted a new covenant. This is what a prophet wrote about that:
+\v 8 Because God declared that the people of Israel were guilty of not obeying the first covenant, he wanted a new covenant. This is what a prophet wrote about that:
 \q "The Lord says, 'Listen! There will soon be a time
 \q when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and the people of Judah.
 \q
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@
 \v 10 'This is the covenant that I will make with the Israelites,
 \q after the first covenant has ended.
 \q I will enable them to understand my laws,
-\q and I will help them to obey my laws them sincerely and from their hearts.
+\q and I will help them to obey my laws sincerely and from their hearts.
 \q I will be their God, and they will be my people.
 \q
 
@@ -376,17 +376,17 @@
 
 \s5
 \p
-\v 13 Since God said that he was making a new covenant, we know that he considered that the first covenant was no longer in use, and that it would soon disappear.
+\v 13 Since God said that he was making a new covenant, we know that he considered that the first covenant was no longer in use and that it would soon disappear.
 
 \s5
 \c 9
 \p
-\v 1 In the first covenant God regulated how people of Israel should worship, and he told them to make a place to worship him.
+\v 1 In the first covenant, God regulated how people of Israel should worship, and he told them to make a place to worship him.
 \v 2 The sanctuary that the people of Israel set up was the sacred tent. In its outer room there were the lampstand and the table on which they put the bread on display before God. That room was called the holy place.
 
 \s5
-\v 3 Behind the curtain on one side of the holy place there was another room. That was called the very holy place.
+\v 3 Behind the curtain on one side of the holy place, there was another room. That was called the very holy place.
-\v 4 There was an altar in the holy place that was covered with gold. It was used for burning incense. The sacred chest was also there. All its sides were covered with gold. In the holy place was the golden pot which contained pieces of the food they called manna. Inside the chest there was also Aaron's walking stick that had budded to prove that he was God's true priest. Inside the chest were also the stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments.
+\v 4 There was an altar in the holy place that was covered with gold. It was used for burning incense. The sacred chest was also there. All of its sides were covered with gold. In the holy place was the golden pot that contained pieces of the food they called manna. Inside the chest there was also Aaron's walking stick that had budded to prove that he was God's true priest. Inside the chest were also the stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments.
 \v 5 On top of the chest were figures of winged creatures that symbolized God's glory. Their wings overshadowed the sacred chest's lid. This sacred chest was where the high priest sprinkled the blood to atone for the sins of the people. I cannot now write about these things in detail.
 
 \s5
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@
 \v 12 When a high priest goes into the inner room in the tent each year, he takes goats' blood and calves' blood to offer as a sacrifice. But Christ did not do that. It was as though he went into that very holy place only once because he gave his own blood on the cross, just one time. By doing that, he redeemed us forever, because his blood flowed from himself.
 
 \s5
-\v 13 The priests sprinkle on the people the blood of goats and bulls with the ashes of the calf that was burned in offering. This act of worship, this sprinking of blood, was the way they were made pure so they could worship God. 
+\v 13 The priests sprinkle on the people the blood of goats and bulls with the ashes of the calf that was burned in offering. This act of worship, this sprinkling of blood, was the way they were made pure so they could worship God. 
 \v 14 Since all this was true, we see now how much more God has accomplished by the blood of Christ!  By the power of God's eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Now we can serve the living God and no longer do the things that lead to death. 
 \p
 \v 15 By dying for us, Christ made for God a new covenant with us. We were trying to please God by means of the first covenant, but we were still guilty of having sinned. When he died, he freed us from having to die for our own sins. As a result, all of us whom God has called to know him will receive what he has promised to give us forever.
@@ -430,11 +430,11 @@
 
 \s5
 \v 25 The high priest enters the very holy place once every year, taking blood that is not his own, to offer it as a sacrifice. But when Christ entered heaven, it was not in order to offer himself repeatedly like that.
-\v 26 If that were so, he would have needed to suffer and shed his blood repeatedly since the time when God created the world. But instead, in this final age, Christ has appeared once so that by sacrificing himself, God will forgive all our sins and will not condemn us any more because we have sinned.
+\v 26 If that were so, he would have needed to suffer and shed his blood repeatedly since the time when God created the world. But instead, in this final age, Christ has appeared once so that by sacrificing himself, God will forgive all our sins and will not condemn us anymore because we have sinned.
 
 \s5
 \v 27 All people must die once, and after that God will judge them for their sins.
-\v 28 Likewise, when Christ died, God offered him once to be a sacrifice, to punish him in the place of the many people who had sinned. He will come to earth a second time, not in order to sacrifice himself again for those who have sinned, but in order to save us who wait for him and expect him to come.
+\v 28 Likewise, when Christ died, God offered him once to be a sacrifice, to punish him in the place of the many people who had sinned. He will come to earth a second time, not to sacrifice himself again for those who have sinned but to save us who wait for him and expect him to come.
 
 \s5
 \c 10
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@
 
 \s5
 \v 27 Because he trusted God, Moses left Egypt. He was not afraid that the king would be angry because he left. He kept going because it was as though he kept seeing God, whom no one can see.
-\v 28 Because Moses believed God would save his own people, he obeyed God's commands about Passover. He instructed the people to sprinkle blood on their doorposts so that the angel who causes people to die would pass over the homes that had blood sprinked on them. For where the blood was sprinked he would not kill the first child in that home, but any other home without the blood, the angel would make the oldest child to die.
+\v 28 Because Moses believed God would save his own people, he obeyed God's commands about Passover. He instructed the people to sprinkle blood on their doorposts so that the angel who causes people to die would pass over the homes that had blood sprinkled on them. For where the blood was sprinkled he would not kill the first child in that home, but any other home without the blood, the angel would make the oldest child to die.
 
 \s5
 \p