Hebrews 10:1

For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The writer addresses Jewish believers tempted to rely on the Mosaic sacrificial system, explaining why the old covenant cannot complete them.

The words — Σκιὰν (skian) means "shadow," describing a mere outline that depends on a substance for its existence. νόμος (nomos) is identified as the law that holds only this shadow of the good things coming.

The thread — The shadow motif recurs in Colossians 2:17 and Hebrews 8:5, where earthly institutions point forward to a greater reality. Hebrews 9:11 appears in the cross-references but employs σκηνῆς (tabernacle) rather than shadow terminology.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that repeated sacrifices cannot achieve spiritual perfection, directing readers to look beyond ritual to the reality it foreshadows.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

Cross-references

Colossians 2:17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
Hebrews 8:5 The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation.
Hebrews 9:23 So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Hebrews 7:18 So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless
Hebrews 9:25 Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Hebrews 9:8 By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
Hebrews 10:11 Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Hebrews 10:3 Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,