---
title: Hebrews 9:22
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-9-22/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-9-22.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Hebrews 9:22
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Hebrews 9:22

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "Yes, nearly all things are cleansed with blood according to the Law, and unless blood is poured out no forgiveness takes place."
- NWT (2013 revision): "Yes, according to the Law nearly all things are cleansed with blood, and unless blood is poured out no forgiveness takes place."

## JW Usage

JWs read Hebrews 9:22 as confirmation that blood was required for forgiveness under the Mosaic system, prefiguring Jesus' shed blood as the antitypical sacrifice. The Watchtower's "corresponding ransom" theology fits the verse into a legal-exchange framework: a perfect human life (Jesus) given to ransom a perfect human life lost (Adam), with the blood functioning as the tangible legal consideration. The passage is used to motivate gratitude for the ransom and participation in the Memorial.

## Protestant Usage

Hebrews 9:22 is the bluntest single statement in the New Testament on the necessity of blood for forgiveness. Pair this verse with Hebrews 9:14, where the writer attaches the efficacy of Christ's blood to "an everlasting spirit" — divine, not creaturely, language. The reasoning is then mathematical: a perfect-man-for-Adam ransom is symmetric and covers Adam alone; Adam's billions of descendants cannot be ransomed by an equivalent unless the value of the sacrifice exceeds the equivalent. Only one kind of life carries infinite worth: divine life. The Watchtower's "corresponding ransom" doctrine quietly assumes the very thing it denies — the divine worth of Christ's blood. On the doorstep, set Hebrews 9:22 alongside Acts 20:28 ("the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own Son") and 1 Peter 1:18-19 ("precious blood, like that of an unblemished and unspotted lamb"). The blood at issue is not symbolic; the worth at issue is not creaturely.

## NWT Issue

The NWT 2013 renders the second clause "unless blood is poured out no forgiveness takes place" rather than the standard "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (ESV, NASB, KJV). The Greek noun haimatekchysia literally means "a pouring out of blood" so the rendering is defensible — but the NWT's word order softens the absolute "no forgiveness" the standard translations preserve. The doctrinal effect is mild rather than sharp.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Why a Perfect Man Was Not Enough](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/infinite-value-divine-sacrifice.md) — Hebrews 9:14 / Acts 20:28 / 1 Peter 1:18-19 [Salvation]