3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place.
4 In it was a golden altar for burning incense and the Ark covered with gold that held the old agreement. Inside this Ark was a golden jar of manna, Aaron’s rod that once grew leaves, and the stone tablets of the old agreement.
5 Above the Ark were the creatures that showed God’s glory, whose wings reached over the lid. But we cannot tell everything about these things now.
6 When everything in the Tent was made ready in this way, the priests went into the first room every day to worship.
7 But only the high priest could go into the second room, and he did that only once a year. He could never enter the inner room without taking blood with him, which he offered to God for himself and for sins the people did without knowing they did them.
8 The Holy Spirit uses this to show that the way into the Most Holy Place was not open while the system of the old Holy Tent was still being used.
9 This is an example for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect.