Compare Leviticus 16.27 and, for the significance of being outside the camp, see Numbers 12.14-15. It is clear from the above summary that the Old Testament “sacrifice” for sin is partly contrasted and partly compared with the “sacrifice” of Christ. In verses 11-12 the two are compared rather than contrasted. On High Priest, see 2.17.

The Greek verbs in this verse, like the verb for serve in verse 10, are in the present. This is probably not because the writer thinks of the Old Testament sacrifices as still being offered in Jerusalem, but because the Old Testament itself is still available. In order to make clear the meaning of the present tenses brings and are burned, it may be necessary in some languages to specify that the action of bringing the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place was a yearly event. Therefore the first part of the verse may have “The Jewish High Priest each year brought the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place in order to offer it as a sacrifice for people’s sins.”

Most is implied; see comment on 8.2.

Bodies here clearly implies “dead bodies.” The use of the word for camp takes the readers back to the time of the exodus from Egypt (for example, Exo 29.14; Lev 4.12).

The bodies are burned in this case to destroy impurity, not as part of the sacrifice. Outside the camp may be rendered as “outside the area where people lived” or “away from the dwellings of the people.” There is no suggestion of a military camp.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .