For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
Parallel Translations
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For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
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For it is vnpossible that the bloud of oxen and of gotes shuld take awaye synnes.
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For it is vnpossible that the blood of bulles and goates should take away sinnes.
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Hebrews 10:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 10:11 Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices which can never take away sins,
- Isaiah 1:11-15 “What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies. My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
- Micah 6:6-8 How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Romans 11:27 This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.”
- 1 John 3:5 You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and no sin is in him.
- Mark 12:33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
- Hebrews 10:8 Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law),
- Psalms 51:16 For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
- Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
- Amos 5:21-22 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies. Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
- John 1:29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- Hebrews 9:9 This is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect,
- Hebrews 9:12-13 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh,
- Jeremiah 7:21-22 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices;
- Hosea 14:2 Take words with you, and return to Yahweh. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good: so we offer our lips like bulls.
- Psalms 50:8-12 I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
- Isaiah 66:3 He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
- Jeremiah 6:20 To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 4. For it is not possible, etc. He confirms…
4. For it is not possible, etc. He confirms the former sentiment with the same reason which he had adduced before, that the blood of beasts could not cleanse souls from sin. The Jews, indeed, had in this a symbol and a pledge of the real cleansing; but it was with reference to another, even as the blood of the calf represented the blood of Christ. But the Apostle is speaking here of the efficacy of the blood of beasts in itself. He therefore justly takes away from it the power of cleansing. There is also to be understood a contrast which is not expressed, as though he had said, “It is no wonder that the ancient sacrifices were insufficient, so that they were to be offered continually, for they had nothing in them but the blood of beasts, which could not reach the conscience; but far otherwise is the power of Christ’s blood: It is not then right to measure the offering which he has made by the former sacrifices.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 4 For it is not possible that the blood…
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Ver. 4. Should take away sins] And so pacify conscience; for sin is to the conscience as a mote to the eye, as a dagger to the heart, 2Sa 24:10, as an adder’s sting to the flesh, Pro 23:32.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For gives a reason of the precedent proof, that…
For gives a reason of the precedent proof, that the legal sacrifices did keep sins in remembrance; for they were of such matter as could not have any causal power to take them away.
It is not possible: this is equivalent to a universal negative, the impossibility being absolute as to the things themselves in their very nature; they being corporeal, can have no influence upon a spiritual evil in the soul, Mic 6:6,7; and by God’s constitution they were to lead them to better things, God being not pleased with flesh and blood, Psa 50:13; Isa 1:11.
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That the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins; the blood of these were only carried into the holy of holiest on the atonement day, yearly, Lev 16:1-34, to which this is chiefly applied; nor could the blood of all the other sacrifices by expiation pardon their offerers, nor by sanctification cleanse them, nor by removing the sense of them comfort the soul; they could neither pacify God, nor the sinner’s conscience, having no virtue or power to satisfy God’s justice, or merit his grace, only it had by his constitution a power to typify that blood which could do both.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain The intendment of our apostle in these words, is…
The intendment of our apostle in these words, is to prove that the sacrifices of the law could not expiate sin, nor make reconciliation with God, wich the sacrifice of Christ alone was ordained and appointed to.
Here observe, 1. The subject-matter spoken of, The blood of bulls and goats: They were accompanied with great solemnity and pomp of ceremony in their celebration; and the people had a great esteem and veneration of them in their minds; but when all was done, that which was offered was no more than the blood was done, that which was offered was no more than the blood of bulls and goats.
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Observe, 2. That which is denied of these sacrifices, namely, the taking away of sins: To take away sin, is to make atonement for sin, to expiate the guilt of it before God, by a satisfaction given, or price paid, that it shall never bind over the penitent sinner unto punishment.
Observe, 3. The manner of the negation; It was impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Impossible from divine institution; they were never designed for that end therefore could never effect it; for the virtue of every institution depends upon its designation to its end.
Now the blood of bulls was only designed to represent the taking away of sin, but never by itself to effect it. And it was also impossible from the nature of the thing; for how could the blood of a beast expiate the sin of a man? Satisfaction must be made for sin in and by the same nature that had sinned.
Learn hence, That it was utterly impossible that sin should be taken away before God, and from the conscience of a sinner by any other blood than the blood of Christ: It is this alone that cleanseth us from all sin, for he alone was the propitiation for them.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For it is not possible,.... There is a necessity…
For it is not possible,.... There is a necessity of sin being taken away, otherwise it will be remembered; and there will be a conscience of it, and it must be answered for, or it will remain marked, and the curse and penalty of the law must take place: but it is impossible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins; which was shed on the day of atonement: sin is a breach of the moral law, but these sacrifices belong to, the ceremonial law, which are less acceptable to God than moral duties; sin is committed against God, and has an objective infiniteness in it, and therefore can never be atoned for by the blood of such creatures; it leaves a stain on the mind and conscience, which this blood cannot reach; besides, this is not the same blood, nor of the same kind with the person that has sinned; yea, if this could take away sin, it would do more than the blood of the man himself could do; such blood shed can never answer the penalty of the law, satisfy divine justice, or secure the honour of divine holiness: but what the blood of these creatures could not do, the blood of Christ has done, and does: that takes away sin from the sight of justice, and from the consciences of the saints. Compare with this the Septuagint version of Jer 11:15.
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"what, has the beloved committed abomination in my house? shall prayers, and the holy flesh take away thy wickednesses from thee, or by these shall thou escape?''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain It is impossible the blood of goats should take…
It is impossible the blood of goats should take away sins - Either the guilt or the power of them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. For it is not possible] Common sense…
Verse 4. For it is not possible] Common sense must have taught them that shedding the blood of bulls and goats could never satisfy Divine justice, nor take away guilt from the conscience; and God intended that they should understand the matter so: and this the following quotation from the Psalmist sufficiently proves.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Heb 10:4. For it is not possible that the…
Heb 10:4. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats — Or of any brute animals; should take away sins — Should make full satisfaction and atonement for them, so as to procure the pardon of them on its own account. To understand the apostle, we must remember, that though remission of sins be originally from mere grace and mercy, yet it is not to be accomplished by sovereign grace alone, which would be inconsistent with God’s truth, holiness, and righteous government of the world. Hence shedding of blood has been the appointed means of obtaining it in all ages; and the psalmist, Psa 50:5, represents all God’s true people as making a covenant with him by sacrifice. And for this appointment much may be said on the principles of reason. For as the most ancient way of teaching was by symbols, emblems, or hieroglyphics, God, by requiring sacrifices of mankind in order to the pardon of their sins, intended hereby to teach them, 1st, Their guilt, and desert of death and destruction: 2d, The great evil of sin, its odious nature, and destructive consequences, in that it could not be expiated without blood: 3d, The necessity of mortifying it, and the carnal principle whence it proceeds: 4th, Hereby to lay a foundation for the confidence and hope of the sinner, with respect to pardon, as the substitution, by divine appointment, of the life of the animal in the stead of the life of the sinner, manifested grace and promised forgiveness: 5th, Hereby also provision was made both for condemning and pardoning sin, both which things, in order to the glory of God and the salvation of mankind, were absolutely necessary to be done. Now, though these ends might be answered, in some faint degree, or, to speak more properly, though a shadow of them might be exhibited in the sacrifices of brute animals, yet they could not be accomplished in an adequate manner, nor the very images of the things be exhibited thereby. For, 1st, These sacrifices could not fully manifest the great evil of sin, and its destructive nature. For what great evil was there in it, if only the death of an inferior creature, or of a number of inferior creatures, was required in order to the expiation of it? Nor, 2d, For the same reason could the sacrifice of these animals adequately manifest the great guilt of mankind in committing sin, and the punishment they thereby deserved: nor, 3d, God’s infinite hatred to it, and the infinite rectitude of his nature, and dignity of his government. Add to this, as the sacrificed animals were not of the same nature with man, who had sinned, their death could not dissolve the debt of death and destruction which the human nature had contracted. Nay, being irrational, they were of an inferior nature, and the lives of ten thousands of them were not worth the life of one man, even if man were no more immortal than they. “In satisfaction to justice, by way of compensation for injuries, there must be a proportion between the injury and the reparation, that justice may be as much exalted and glorified in the one, as it is depressed and debased in the other. But there could be no such proportion between the affront put on the righteousness of God by sin, and the reparation by the blood of bulls, &c.” If a nobleman forfeit his head by high treason, his giving up his flocks and herds would not expiate his offence, and satisfy the law. And if the blood of thousands of them would not be an adequate ransom for the life of one man, much less for the lives of all men. They are in their own nature mortal; man is immortal; and surely the sacrifice of their temporal, yea, short lives, could be no adequate price for men’s everlasting lives. The appointment of these sacrifices, however, was not made in vain. Though they could not take away sin, they had their use. 1st, They purified the flesh from ceremonial defilement, and gave, or restored, to those that offered them, a right to the benefits of the Mosaic dispensation, namely, access to God in his worship, and life and prosperity in the land of Canaan; although they did not purify their conscience so as to procure them admission into the heavenly Canaan. 2d, They continually represented to sinners the curse and sentence of the law, or that death was the wages of sin. For although there was allowed in them a commutation, namely, that the sinner himself should not die, but the beast sacrificed in his stead; yet they all bore testimony to the sacred truth, that, in the judgment of God, they who commit sin are worthy of death. 3d, They were intended, as we have repeatedly seen, to be typical of the sacrifice of Christ; and the temporal benefits obtained for the Israelites by them were emblematical of the everlasting blessings procured for believers by his sacrifice.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For it is not possible that the blood of…
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins - The reference here is to the sacrifices which were made on the great day of the atonement, for on that day the blood of bulls and of goats alone was offered; see the notes on Heb 9:7. Paul here means to say, doubtless, that it was not possible that the blood of these animals should make a complete expiation so as to purify the conscience, and so as to save the sinner from deserved wrath. According to the divine arrangement, expiation was made by those sacrifices for offences of various kinds against the ritual law of Moses, and pardon for such offences was thus obtained. But the meaning here is, that there was no efficacy in the blood of a mere animal to wash away a “moral” offence. It could not repair the Law; it could not do anything to maintain the justice of God; it had no efficacy to make the heart pure. The mere shedding of the blood of an animal never could make the soul pure. This the apostle states as a truth which must be admitted at once as indisputable, and yet it is probable that many of the Jews had imbibed the opinion that there was such efficacy in blood shed according to the divine direction, as to remove all stains of guilt from the soul; see the notes, Heb 9:9-10.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain For, &c.--reason why, necessarily, there is a continually recurring…
For, &c.--reason why, necessarily, there is a continually recurring "remembrance of sins" in the legal sacrifices (Heb 10:3). Typically, "the blood of bulls," &c., sacrificed, had power; but it was only in virtue of the power of the one real antitypical sacrifice of Christ; they had no power in themselves; they were not the instrument of perfect vicarious atonement, but an exhibition of the need of it, suggesting to the faithful Israelite the sure hope of coming redemption, according to God's promise.
take away--"take off." The Greek, Heb 10:11, is stronger, explaining the weaker word here, "take away utterly." The blood of beasts could not take away the sin of man. A MAN must do that (see on Heb 9:12-14).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. For—Reason why they do not abolish sin. The…
4. For—Reason why they do not abolish sin. The death of an animal is no real atonement for the sins of a man. There is no rational adequacy in the case. A sacrifice of a higher nature is demanded.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. it is not possible …] This plain statement…
4. it is not possible …] This plain statement of the nullity of sacrifices in themselves, and regarded as mere outward acts, only expresses what had been deeply felt by many a worshipper under the Old Covenant. It should be compared with the weighty utterances on this subject in the O.T., 1Sa_15:22; Isa_1:11-17; Jer_6:20; Jer_7:21-23; Amo_5:21-24; Mic_6:6-8; Psa_40:6-8 (quoted in the next verses), and Pss. 50. and 51; and above all Hos_6:6, which, being a pregnant summary of the principle involved, was a frequent quotation of our Lord. Any value which the system of sacrifices possessed was not theirs intrinsically (propriâ virtute) but relatively and typically (per accidens). “By a rudely sensuous means,” says Lünemann, “we cannot attain to a high spiritual good.” Philo in one of his finest passages shews how deeply he had realised that sacrifices were valueless apart from holiness, and that no mere external acts can cleanse the soul from moral guilt. He adds that God accepts the innocent even when they offer no sacrifices, and delights in unkindled altars if the virtues dance around them (De plant. Noe). The heathen had learnt the same high truths. Horace (Od. iii. 23) sings,
“Immunis aram si tetigit manus
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Non sumptuosâ blandior hostiâ
Mollivit aversos Penates
Farre pio et saliente micâ.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) This verse explains those which precede. No inconsistency…
(4) This verse explains those which precede. No inconsistency really belonged to these sacrifices and this ceremonial, though so often repeated; for it was impossible that any such sacrifice should really remove sin. The offering was necessary, and it answered its purpose; but it could not remove the necessity for another and a better offering.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For it is not possible that the blood of…
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats (specified as being the offerings of the Day of Atonement) should take away sins. The principle of the insufficiency of animal sacrifices having been thus expressed, confirmation of it is now further adduced from the Old Testament itself, together with a prophetic anticipation of the great self-oblation which was to take their place.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The blood of bulls and Of goats
Heb_10:4
The blood of bulls and Of goats
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The insufficiency of Mosaic sacrifices
I.
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THINGS MAY USEFULLY REPRESENT WHAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE THAT IN AND BY THEMSELVES THEY SHOULD EFFECT. This is the fundamental rule of all institutions of the Old Testament.
II. THERE MAY RE GREAT AND EMINENT USES OF DIVINE ORDINANCES AND INSTITUTIONS, ALTHOUGH IT BE IMPOSSIBLE THAT BY THEMSELVES, IN THEIR MOST EXACT AND DILIGENT USE, THEY SHOULD WORK OUT OUR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD. And it belongs to the wisdom of faith to use them to their proper end, not to trust to them, as to what they cannot of themselves effect.
III. IT WAS UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE THAT SIN SHOULD BE TAKEN AWAY BEFORE GOD AND FROM THE CONSCIENCE OF THE SINNER BUT BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. Other ways men are apt to betake themselves to for this end, but in vain. It is the blood of Jesus Christ alone that cleanseth us from all our sins, for He alone was the propitiation for them.
IV. THE DECLARATION OF THE INSUFFICIENCY OF ALL OTHER WAYS FOR THE EXPIATION OF SIN IS AN EVIDENCE OF THE HOLINESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND SEVERITY OF GOD AGAINST SIN, WITH THE UNAVOIDABLE RUIN OF ALL UNBELIEVERS.
V. HEREIN ALSO CONSISTS THE GREAT DEMONSTRATION OF THE LOVE, MERCY, AND GRACE OF GOD, WITH AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO FAITH, in that when the old sacrifices neither would nor could perfectly expiate sin, He would not suffer the work itself to fail, but provided a way that should be infallibly effective of it, as is declared in the following verses. (John Owen, D. D.)
The inability of the legal sacrifices
As the legal sacrifices did not of themselves take away sins, so it was impossible that they should. There was an essential defect in them.
1. They were not of the same nature with us that sinned.
2. They were not of sufficient value to make satisfaction for the affronts done to the justice and government of God.
3. The beasts offered up under the law could not consent to put themselves in the sinners room and place. The atoning sacrifice must be one capable of consenting, and must voluntarily substitute himself in the sinners stead. Christ did so. (Matthew Henry.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 4. For it is not possible. The blood of…
4. For it is not possible. The blood of bulls and goats, the animals offered in the sacrifices, had no power to cleanse from sin. In their essence the only real efficacy of the bloody sacrifices of the altar was the moral effect upon the people and the fact that they pointed forward to the Lamb of God.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:4 The blood of bulls and goats in the…
10:4 The blood of bulls and goats in the sacrifices of the old covenant offered a degree of cleansing (9:13, 23), but that cleansing was limited in that it could not take away sins. It could not eradicate sin in a way that would offer permanent cleansing and peace with God (see Acts 10:36; Rom 5:1; 11:26-27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.