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Hebrews 10:2

in Hebrews 10

If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

KJV

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

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This verse in Hebrews 10

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Would they not have ceased to be offered? - Had they made an effectual reconciliation for the sins of the world, and contained in their once offering a plenitude of permanent merit, they would have ceased to be offered, at least in reference to any individual who had once offered them; because, in such a case, his conscience would be satisfied that its guilt had been taken away.

This site's exposition

a shadow of good things to come

on Hebrews 10:1-2

The law carries only a shadow of good things to come, skia, not the very image, eikon, of the things themselves, and so its sacrifices, offered year by year continually, could never make the worshippers who drew near perfect, the teleioo thread stated in the negative before the chapter states it kept. Verse 2 presses the point with a question: if one offering had actually worked, would not the sacrifices have ceased, the worshippers once purged having no more conscience of sins. The repetition itself is the proof the remedy never reached its target; a sacrifice that must be offered again has not yet finished its work.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

on Hebrews 10:1-2

Whereas now, under the gospel, the atonement is perfect, and not to be repeated; and the sinner, once pardoned, is ever pardoned as to his state, and only needs to renew his repentance and faith, that he may have a comfortable sense of a continued pardon. As the legal sacrifices did not of themselves take away sin, so it was impossible they should,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

For--if the law could, by its sacrifices, have perfected the worshippers. they--the sacrifices. once purged--IF they were once for all cleansed (Heb 7:27). conscience--"consciousness of sin" (Heb 9:9).

The words behind it

16 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • ἐπεὶOtherwise

    epeiG1893 →26 times

  • οὐκnot

    oukG3756 →1664 times

  • ἂνwould

    anG302 →165 times

  • ἐπαύσαντοthey have ceased

    epausantoG3973 →

  • προσφερόμεναιbeing offered

    prospheromenaiG4374 →47 times

  • διὰbecause of

    diaG1223 →664 times

  • τὸ<the>

    toG3588 →19766 times

  • μηδεμίανnone

    medemianG3367 →

  • ἔχεινhaving

    echeinG2192 →707 times

  • ἔτιany longer

    etiG2089 →140 times

  • συνείδησινconscience

    suneidesinG4893 →30 times

  • ἁμαρτιῶνof sins

    hamartionG266 →173 times

  • τοὺςthose

    tousG3588 →19766 times

  • λατρεύονταςserving

    latreuontasG3000 →21 times

  • ἅπαξonce

    hapaxG530 →14 times

  • κεκαθαρισμένους.cleansed!

    kekatharismenousG2511 →31 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Psalms 103:12As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.18 worksIsaiah 43:25I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.10 worksMicah 7:19He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.9 worksIsaiah 44:22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.6 worksHebrews 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!6 worksHebrews 10:17Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”4 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
Hebrews 9:13–14For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,4 worksHebrews 10:18And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.4 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Isaiah 43:25

    I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 31:34

      No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I…

      Reached by 4 separate paths from here.

    • Hebrews 8:12

      For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Micah 7:18–19

      Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

    • Hebrews 10:17

      Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

    • Isaiah 1:18

      “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

  • Through

    Psalms 103:12

    As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 43:25

      I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 38:17

      Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 John 1:7

      But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Where this verse is studied

About Hebrews

Christ Presented to the People — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
Christ Presented to the People — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
Hebrews: the study guide →Read Hebrews 10 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Hebrews 10 →