This verse forms a summary and also introduces the next stage in the argument. Verse 22 is to be understood in the light of according to the Law. Good News Translation‘s frequent addition of Moses (7.28) is not necessary here, since Moses has just been mentioned. The meaning is not “no one may forgive anyone else unless blood is poured out,” but “the Law does not provide for sin to be dealt with in any other way than by a sacrifice which involves pouring out blood.”
According to the Law may be expressed as “the Law says that,” “as it is written in the Law,” or “… the laws.”
A literal rendering of everything is purified by blood might wrongly suggest that everything is made clean by blood. In reality, of course, blood stains. Therefore it may be best to speak of “everything is made pure by the shedding of blood,” for it is death which causes purification, not the mere substance of blood itself. This is emphasized in Good News Translation by the second clause, sins are forgiven only if blood is poured out.
From this point, the middle of verse 22, the forgiveness of sin becomes the central theme. In verse 22a it is not clear whether the writer is still thinking of ritual purification, or whether he is already thinking of forgiveness of sin. Verse 22a may thus mean either (a) “almost all sins are dealt with by means of blood,” or (b) “almost all objects to do with worship are made ritually pure by blood.” The writer sometimes uses the word for “cleanse” with human beings as the object (see 9.23; 10.2), but in this verse the word rendered everything is most naturally understood to include the objects just mentioned. The Bible de Jérusalem note quotes Leviticus 5.11 as an illustration of almost, that is, something which is an exception to the rule because it is not cleansed by blood. Almost is surprisingly emphasized in the Greek. One might translate “one could almost say that according to the law everything is purified by blood or “it is almost true….”
Sins are forgiven translates the last word in the Greek sentence; it is therefore emphatic. New English Bible‘s “forgiveness,” implying “of sins,” is quite sufficient. Some modern translations, such as Moffatt, Knox, Phillips, and Jerusalem Bible, keep the rather literary expression “remission” for sins are forgiven, to show that it is not a mere statement of the type “I forgive you,” but a process which effectively deals with sin. The meaning is similar to that of verse 26, where the word for sin is expressed.
The passive expression sins are forgiven may need to be expressed in an active form as “God forgive sins.”
The word for “pouring out blood” seems to have been invented by the writer, but the meaning is clear from such texts as 1 Kings 18.28, where a similar phrase occurs. It does not refer only to shedding blood when an animal or human being is killed, but to collecting blood in basins and then pouring it out.
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 .