Hebrews 9:3 describes the innermost chamber of the tabernacle, the room called the Holy of Holies, which lay behind a second curtain and was entered only by the high priest. The verse is a note of description: the writer is mapping out the layout of Israel’s worship space so his readers can see what the old arrangement looked like before he explains what it pointed to. The author is traditionally identified as Paul, though many scholars consider the letter anonymous, and it was written to Jewish Christians who knew the temple system well.
After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies…
Hebrews 9:3 (WEB)
What Hebrews 9:3 Means
The phrase “after the second veil” tells you that the tabernacle had two separate curtains. The first divided the outer Holy Place from the courtyard, and the second separated the Holy Place from the innermost room. Walking through the tabernacle meant passing through more than one barrier, each one marking a further step closer to God’s presence.
“The tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies” names that innermost space. The wording is worth noticing: the room is called the Holy of Holies, a phrase that means most holy or set apart above all others. It was the place where God’s presence was understood to dwell in a special way, and only one person a year was permitted to enter it.
The verse does not promise anything directly to the reader. It is a description meant to set up the argument that follows, where the author contrasts this earthly arrangement with the access to God that Christ makes possible. Read by itself it informs, but its real weight comes from what it is about to be compared with.
The Context of Hebrews 9:3
Hebrews is a sustained argument that Jesus is greater than the systems of the old covenant, including the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the sanctuary. Chapter 9 turns to the worship arrangements themselves. Verses 1 and 2 introduce the earthly sanctuary and its outer room with the lampstand, table and bread of the Presence. Verse 3 moves past the second veil into the inner room, and verses 4 and 5 list the furnishings kept there, including the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant.
Verse 6 then notes that ordinary priests carried out their duties continually in the outer room, while the author goes on in verse 7 to describe the single annual entry of the high priest. Seen this way, Hebrews 9:3 is the hinge between the everyday worship and the restricted inner sanctuary. Its distance from God’s immediate presence is exactly what the writer wants his readers to feel before he shows them how Christ opened a way in.
Key Phrases in Hebrews 9:3
Hebrews 10:19
Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus…
(WEB)
This verse picks up the thread from chapter 9 and states the conclusion directly: believers now have confidence to enter the Holy of Holies because of the blood of Jesus. Reading it after Hebrews 9:3 shows how the description of the inner room becomes an invitation rather than a warning.
Exodus 26:33
You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil: and the veil shall separate the holy place from the most holy for you.
(WEB)
In this passage from the original instructions for the tabernacle, the curtain is set up to divide the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Reading it alongside Hebrews 9:3 lets you see the design the author is describing as something God himself commanded, which helps explain why the layout carried such meaning.
A Short Prayer From Hebrews 9:3
Lord, thank you for showing us the careful design of the old worship, with its veils and rooms and the one place where your presence was most fully known. Help me understand how far that distance once was, so that I do not take the nearness I now have for granted. Teach me to draw near with a sincere heart and a clear conscience, trusting the way you have opened. Let my prayers come to you as confidently as the priests once came to the altar in the outer rooms. Amen.
