Mediator, Covenant Inauguration, Death, and Blood

Jesus is mediator of the new covenant so that the called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because his death deals with transgressions committed under the first covenant. Verses 16–17 use the Greek word diathēkē in a difficult argument involving death; interpreters debate whether the word temporarily evokes a “testament/will,” continues to mean “covenant,” or deliberately exploits both senses. Hebrews then returns unmistakably to Sinai, recalling Moses’ blood-sprinkling at covenant inauguration. The chapter’s statement that “almost all things” are purified with blood must retain its own qualifier: the Torah contains purification and atonement procedures that are not reducible to a universal slogan that every instance required blood.