We don’t have a high priest who can’t feel what we feel when we’re weak. Instead, we have a high priest who has been tempted in every way just as we are, but without sinning.
The law appoints men who are weak to be high priests. But after the law had been given, God swore an oath and appointed his Son, who has been made perfect forever.
I used to say insulting things about Jesus. I tried to hurt his followers, and I even used violence against them. But God had mercy on me because I did those things without knowing any better. I wasn’t a believer.
So he had to be made like them—fully human in every way. That way he could serve God as a merciful and faithful high priest and purify the people from their sins.
But only the high priest could go into the inner room, and he could only go in once a year. He never entered without bringing blood with him, which he had to offer for himself and for the sins the people had committed without knowing any better.