1 God, who in time past spoke in many stages and in many ways to the fathers by the prophets has spoken at the end of these days to us by his son,
2 whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages,
3 who being the radiance of his glory and the impressed image of his essence, and upholding everything by his powerful word, after he had through his own doing brought about the cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high,
4 and to the extent to which he became better than the angels he has inherited a more excellent name than them.
5 For to whom of the angels has he said at any time, “You are my son; today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me”?
6 And when again he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “And let all the angels of God worship him.”
7 And to the angels he says, “He who makes his angels spirits and his servants a fiery flame,”
8 but to the son, “Your throne, O God, is throughout the duration of the age. The sceptre of your kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. That is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness, rather than your fellow men.”
10 And, “You, at the beginning, Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you remain, and they will all become old like a garment,
12 and you will roll them up like a cloak and they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will not fail.”
13 But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit on my right hand side until I make your enemies your foot-stool”?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent for service for the sake of those who are going to inherit salvation?
1 This is why we should pay attention all the more to the things heard, so that we do not at any time drift away.
2 For if the word spoken by angels came to be inviolable, and every transgression and disobedience received legitimate retribution,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which started to be spoken about by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard it,
4 while God bore additional witness with them in signs and miracles and various deeds of power and by distributions of holy spirit, according to his will?
5 For he has not made the world which is to come, about which we speak, subject to angels,
6 but someone solemnly testified in a certain place and said, “What is man, that you should remember him? Or the son of man, that you should watch over him?
7 You made him lower than the angels for a short while, you crowned him in glory and honour,
8 and you put everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left him nothing unsubjected to him. But right now we do not yet see everything subjected to him.
9 But we do see Jesus, who had been made lower than the angels for a short while, on account of suffering death now crowned with glory and honour, in order that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone's sake.
10 For it was fitting for him, for whose sake everything exists, and by whom everything exists, who led many sons to glory, to bring the institutor of their salvation to perfection through sufferings.
11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one, and for this reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
12 and he says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the heart of the assembly I will sing praises to you.”
13 And again, “I will be confident in him.” And again, “Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”
14 Now since the children are constituted of flesh and blood, so he likewise partook of the same, in order that through death he might nullify him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release them – all those who through fear of death throughout their whole life were subject to enslavement.
16 For he did not, of course, take on kinship with angels, but took on the seed of Abraham.
17 Hence he needed to become like his brothers in all respects in order to become a merciful and faithful high priest of things relating to God, to propitiate the sins of the people.
18 For in that he himself has suffered, having been put to the test, he is able to help those undergoing testing.
1 In view of which, holy brothers, partakers of the upper-heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus Christ,
2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses was to all his house.
3 For this man has been considered worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as the one who constructed a house has more honour than the house itself.
4 For every house is constructed by someone, but he who constructed everything is God.
5 And Moses was indeed faithful in all his house as a servant, as a testimony of things which would be spoken about,
6 but Christ was faithful as a son over his house, and we are of that house, if, that is to say, we hold fast to the firm confidence and boast of hope to the end.
7 For that reason – as the holy spirit says, “Today, if you heed his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, as on the day of testing in the desert,
9 where your fathers made a trial of me, and tested me, and saw my works for forty years –
10 for that reason I became angry with that generation and I said, ‘They are always erring in their heart, and they do not know my ways.’
11 So I swore in my anger, ‘They shall certainly not enter into my rest.’ ”
12 Watch out, brothers, in case there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in defecting from the living God.
13 But comfort each other every day as long as it is called “today”, in order that not one of you be hardened by sinful deceit.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if, that is to say, we hold on to the origin of our entitlement firmly to the end,
15 with it being said, “Today, if you will heed his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation.”
16 For some on hearing it were provocative, but not all who came out of Egypt under Moses' leadership were.
17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the desert?
18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, if not those who disbelieved?
19 And we see that they were unable to enter in on account of disbelief.
1 So let us fear in case, although a promise of going in to his rest remains open, any one of you should appear to have failed to obtain it.
2 For indeed we are those who have had the gospel preached to us, as also are they. But the word heard did not benefit them because they were not united in faith with those who had heeded it.
3 For we who have believed are entering into the rest, as he has said, “As I have sworn in my anger, ‘They shall certainly not enter into my rest,’ ” and yet the works were completed from the overthrow of the world.
4 For he has spoken in a certain place concerning the seventh day as follows: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
5 And in this context again, “They shall certainly not enter into my rest.”
6 Since therefore the fact remains that some are entering into it, but those who first had the gospel preached to them did not enter into it, through disbelief,
7 he has again appointed a day, “today,” speaking by means of David, after so much time, as has been said, “Today, if you will heed his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not be speaking about another day after these events.
9 Consequently, there remains a Sabbatical rest to the people of God.
10 For he who has entered into his rest has also himself rested from his works, as God has from those of his own.
11 Let us be eager, therefore, to enter into that rest, in case anyone should fall in the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword and reaches as far as dividing both soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, and is discerning of thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 For there is no creature which is out of sight before him, but everything is laid bare and laid open to his eyes, with whom we must reckon.
14 Therefore, seeing we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all respects like us except sin.
16 So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, in order that we may receive mercy and find grace as a timely help.
1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men concerning matters pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins,
2 being able to bear to some degree with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is beset by weakness,
3 and on account of this, just as he needs to make offering for sins on behalf of the people, so also he needs to on behalf of himself.
4 And it is not to oneself that anyone takes the honour, but he is called by God, as Aaron was as well.
5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but it happened by him who said to him, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.”
6 As he also says in another place, “You are a priest throughout the Age according to the order of Melchisedec.”
7 And in the days of his flesh he made supplications and entreaties with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his devoutness,
8 and although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered,
9 and when he had come to completion, he became the source of age-abiding salvation to all those who obey him,
10 and was designated by God to be the high priest according to the order of Melchisedec,
11 concerning whom we have many a word to say, although hard to interpret, since you have become dull of hearing.
12 For indeed, although you should be teachers by this time, you again need someone to teach you what the basics of the starting point of the oracles of God are, and you have come to need milk, and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes of milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness, for he is an infant,
14 but solid food is appropriate for those who are complete, who have senses which have been exercised through practice, leading to discernment of both good and evil.
1 That is why, leaving the instruction on the starting point of Christ, let us be brought along to perfection, not again laying a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God,
2 of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead and of age-abiding judgment.
3 And let us do this, if indeed God allows it.
4 For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the upper-heavenly gift, and have become partakers of holy spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of an age to come,
6 and have fallen away, to renew them to repentance, because they crucify the son of God to themselves again and make an example of him.
7 For land which has drunk the rain which often falls on it and produces plants which are useful to those by whom it is farmed shares in blessing from God;
8 but land which produces thorn-bushes and thistles is rejected and is close to a curse, the fate of which is burning.
9 But, beloved, we have been persuaded of better things concerning you, and things following on from salvation, even though we speak this way,
10 for God is not unrighteous, forgetting your work and toil in the love which you have shown for the sake of his name, having ministered to the saints, and are still ministering.
11 And we long that each of you should show the same eagerness for the full assurance of your hope up to the end,
12 so that you do not become slothful, but imitators of those who through faith and forbearance inherit the promises.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had nothing greater by which to swear, he swore by himself,
14 and said, “I will truly richly bless you and greatly multiply you.”
15 And in this way after being very patient he obtained the promise.
16 For men swear by something greater, and the oath is the end of all controversy for them, as a confirmation.
17 And so God, wishing to show the unchangeableness of his will all the more forcibly to the heirs of the promise, intervened with an oath,
18 in order that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a robust encouragement, we who have fled to lay hold of the hope that lies before us,
19 which we have as a safe and firm anchor for our life, which also enters into the inside area behind the veil,
20 where Jesus went in as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec throughout the Age.
1 For this Melchisedec – king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him,
2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything, who is firstly, by translation, “King of Righteousness,” and then also “King of Salem,” which means “King of Peace;”
3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but being like the son of God – remains a priest perpetually.
4 So you see how great this man is, to whom Abraham the patriarch for his part gave a tenth of the finest produce,
5 and how those who are of the sons of Levi receive the priesthood, and have a commandment to tithe the people according to the law, that is their brothers, although they have come from the loins of Abraham,
6 but he who had no genealogy from them tithed Abraham, and blessed him who had the promises.
7 Now without any contradiction, the lesser is blessed by the greater.
8 And in one case dying men receive tithes, but in the other case it is one who is borne witness to that he is living.
9 And, so to speak, Levi who receives tithes has also been tithed through Abraham,
10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchisedec met him.
11 So if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood – for under it the people had been placed under a law – what need would there still be for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchisedec, and not to be called according to the order of Aaron?
12 Seeing that the priesthood is changing, a change in the law is also necessarily taking place.
13 For these things speak about him, who belongs to a different tribe, of which no-one has offered at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang from Judah, a tribe about which Moses did not say anything concerning priesthood.
15 And it is all the more abundantly evident, if another priest arises after the likeness of Melchisedec,
16 who was not appointed according to a human legal commandment, but according to the power of indissoluble life.
17 For he testifies, “You are a priest throughout the Age according to the order of Melchisedec.”
18 For an annulment of the preceding commandment is taking place because of its weakness and unprofitableness.
19 For the law perfected nothing, but the introduction of a better hope did, through which we approach God.
20 Inasmuch as it is not without swearing an oath – for the priests are appointed without the swearing of an oath,
21 but he was appointed with the swearing of an oath, by saying to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest throughout the Age according to the order of Melchisedec” –
22 so Jesus has become the security of a better covenant.
23 And additional priests were appointed because they were prevented by death from continuing,
24 but he, because he remains throughout the Age, has an intransmissible priesthood.
25 And on this ground he is able also to save those who come through him to God completely, as he is always alive to intercede for them.
26 For such a high priest was fitting for us, holy, free from wrongdoing, undefiled, separate from sinners and having become higher than the heavens,
27 who does not need each day, as the high priests do, first to offer sacrifices for their own sins, then for those of the people, since he did this once and for all when he offered himself.
28 For the law appoints men as priests having weakness, but the word of the swearing of an oath which came after the law appoints a son who has been brought to perfection throughout the Age.
1 Now the essence of the things spoken of is that we have a high priest of such a kind, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens,
2 a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Hence it is necessary that this one also has something to offer.
4 For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, seeing that there are priests who offer gifts according to the law,
5 who minister by example and foreshadowing of upper-heavenly things, as Moses was oracularly instructed when he was about to take the tabernacle through to completion. For he said, “Look, you shall make everything according to the blueprint shown to you in the mountain.”
6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also a mediator of a better covenant, which has been drawn up on the basis of better promises.
7 For if that first one were faultless, no place would be sought for a second one.
8 For finding fault with those people, he says, “ ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will thoroughly bring a new covenant about with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
9 not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, since they did not remain in my covenant, and I let them have their way,’ says the Lord.
10 ‘For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel, after those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws in their mind, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be God to them, and they will be a people to me.
11 And not a single one of them will have to teach his fellow citizen at all, nor a single one of them his brother, saying, «Know the Lord,» because all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,
12 because I will be propitious with their wrongdoings and I will no longer remember their sins and their lawless deeds at all.’ ”
13 In saying “New,” he has made the first obsolete. Now that which is obsolete and ageing is on the point of vanishing.
1 The first one did indeed have ordinances of religious service and the worldly sanctuary.
2 For the first tabernacle was fitted out in which there was the lamp-stand and the table and the exhibition of the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.
3 But after the second veil is the tabernacle which is called the holy of holies,
4 having a golden censer and the ark of the covenant, overlaid on all sides with gold, in which is a golden jar containing the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
5 And above it are the cherubim of glory overshadowing the atonement cover, concerning whom it is not now possible to speak particularly.
6 And with these things fitted out in this way the priests continually go into the first tabernacle, carrying out the religious services,
7 but the high priest alone goes into the second tabernacle once a year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of ignorance of the people,
8 the holy spirit demonstrating this: that the way of the sanctuary has yet not been made manifest since the first tabernacle is still standing,
9 which is a figure pointing to the present time, in accordance with which gifts and sacrifices are offered which are not able to make the officiator perfect as pertaining to the conscience,
10 just being based on food and drink and various baptisms and carnal statutes, imposed on them until the time of reform.
11 But now that Christ has come as high priest of good things to come through a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,
12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but it is through his own blood that he went into the sanctuary once and for all, having made himself an age-abiding redemption.
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on the defiled sanctify for the purity of the flesh,
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through age-abiding spirit offered himself unblemished to God, purify your conscience from dead works, for you to serve the living God!
15 And because of this he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, his death having taken place as a ransom for the transgressions under the first covenant, those who have been called might receive the promise of the age-abiding inheritance.
16 For where there is a covenant, the death of the testator must necessarily be announced.
17 For a testament is applicable at death, since it is never in force while the testator is alive,
18 on which grounds the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood either.
19 For when the whole body of commandments according to the law under Moses had been stated to all the people, he took the blood of the calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and the whole people,
20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.”
21 And he likewise sprinkled the tabernacle and all the equipment for the service with blood.
22 And almost everything is purified by blood according to the law, and without the shedding of blood forgiveness does not take place.
23 So it was necessary that the figures of things in the heavens should be purified by these means, but the upper-heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made with hands, which is a prefiguration of the true one, but into heaven itself to be exhibited now in the presence of God for our sakes.
25 And not in order to offer himself repeatedly, as when the high priest enters into the sanctuary each year with blood which is not his,
26 since then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the overthrow of the world. But now he has been manifested once for the consummation of the ages to annul sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And just as it is the destiny for men to die once, and after this the judgment,
28 so too Christ, having been offered once in order to take upon himself the sins of many, will appear a second time without sin to those who eagerly await him for salvation.
1 For seeing that the law has a shadow of the good things to come, but not the image itself of the things, they can never – with the same sacrifices which they offer every year perpetually – perfect those who draw near.
2 For in that case, would they not have stopped being offered, because the ministers would not have any consciousness of sins any more, having been purified that one time?
3 But by those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to remove sins,
5 which is why, on coming into the world, he says, “You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you have prepared a body for me.
6 You did not take pleasure in burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come – in the scroll of the book it stands written about me – to do your will, O God.’ ”
8 Having said above, “You did not desire or take pleasure in sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin” – which are offered according to the law –
9 he then said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,”. So he removes the first in order to establish the second.
10 And by this will we have been sanctified, we who are so through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
11 Also every priest stands every day ministering and repeatedly offering the same sacrifices, which can never remove sins,
12 but he offered one sacrifice for sins and sat down at the right hand of God uninterruptedly,
13 from then on waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he has made those sanctified perfect perpetually.
15 And the holy spirit also witnesses to us, for this is after saying beforehand,
16 “This is the covenant which I will make with them after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put my law in their hearts and I will write them in their minds,
17 and I will no longer remember their sins and their lawlessness at all.”
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.
19 So, brothers, considering we have confidence to enter into the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
20 confidence which he inaugurated for us as a fresh and living way, through the veil, that is, through his flesh,
21 and considering we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having been sprinkled in heart from a guilty conscience and washed as regards the body in pure water.
23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope unwaveringly, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us take notice of one another as a stimulus to love and good works,
25 not abandoning our own episynagogue gathering, as is the custom of some, but encouraging each other, and all the more so as you see the day approaching.
26 For if we deliberately sin after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a zealous fire which is about to devour those who are in opposition.
28 Anyone who lays aside the law of Moses on the testimony of two or three witnesses dies without mercy.
29 Of how much worse punishment do you think he who tramples on the son of God will be considered worthy, and who considers profane the blood of the covenant in which he was sanctified, and insults the spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who has said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord, and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
31 It is a fearful matter to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But remember the former days, in which you were enlightened and endured a great struggle full of sufferings.
33 Sometimes you were made a gazing stock with reproaches and afflictions whereas at other times you made common cause with those who had that mode of life.
34 For indeed you sympathized with my bonds and you accepted the confiscation of your property with joy, knowing that you have among yourselves better and permanent property in the heavens.
35 So do not discard your confidence, which has a great reward.
36 For you need patience, in order that when you have done the will of God, you receive the promise.
37 For in just a very little while he who is to come will come and will not delay.
38 And the righteous shall live by faith, but if he draws back, my being shall not be pleased with him.
39 But we are not ones to draw back leading to loss, but we are of faith, leading to the preservation of one's being.
1 Now faith is the entitlement to things hoped for, the conviction of matters not seen.
2 For by it the elders were attested to.
3 By faith we understand that the ages have been arranged by the word of God, in such a way that the things seen did not come about from things appearing automatically.
4 By faith Abel offered a greater sacrifice to God than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God himself testifying about his gifts, and through it, although he has died, he is still adduced.
5 By faith Enoch was translated so as not to see death, and was not found anywhere because God had translated him. After all, before his translation he had been attested to have pleased God.
6 But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him out.
7 By faith Noah, having been oracularly warned about things not yet seen, took devout heed and prepared an ark for the safety of his household, by which he condemned the world and became an heir to righteousness which is by faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed in going out to the place which he was to receive as an inheritance, and went out not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he lived as an emigrant in the land of the promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise.
10 For he was waiting for the city which has foundations, whose architect and craftsman is God.
11 By faith Sarah herself also received power to conceive seed and when past the prime of life she gave birth, because she considered him who made the promise faithful.
12 Which is also why there were begotten from one – who was in these respects considered dead – as many as the stars of the sky in abundance and as the sand of the sea-shore which is uncountable.
13 In faith these all died, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar, and having embraced them, and they confessed that they were strangers and outsiders on the earth.
14 For those who say such things make it plain that they seek a homeland.
15 And if they had kept thinking back to where they had come out from, they would have had an opportunity to turn back.
16 But as it is, they aspire to a better homeland, that is to say, an upper-heavenly one. For that reason God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham offered Isaac when he was tested, and having received the promises was in the process of offering his only begotten son,
18 to whom it had been said, “Your seed will be called in the line of Isaac.”
19 And he had considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from where he duly got him back in a symbolic way.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped leaning on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph when dying made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones.
23 By faith when he was born, Moses was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was good-looking, and they did not fear the king's edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to have short-lived enjoyment of sin,
26 considering the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he had the reward in view.
27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the anger of the king, for he was steadfast in the invisible one as if seeing him.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the pouring of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if crossing on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried it they were swallowed up.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been surrounded for seven days.
31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who disbelieved, because she received the spies in peace.
32 And what more can I say? For time is insufficient for me to go into detail about Gideon, Barak and Samson and Jephthae, David and Samuel and the prophets,
33 who through faith prevailed over kingdoms, practised righteousness, attained promises, stopped up the mouths of lions.
34 They quenched powerful fire, escaped the blade of the sword, they were strengthened in weakness, they became strong in battle, they made foreigners' encampments give way.
35 Women received their dead back from resurrection, others were beaten to death but did not accept deliverance, in order that they might attain to a better resurrection,
36 whereas others received a trial of jeerings and lashes of the whip, even of bonds and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn up, they underwent trials, they died in cases of murder by the sword, they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated –
38 of whom the world was not worthy – wandering in desert places and mountains and caves and the crevices of the world.
39 And these were all attested to through their faith, but did not receive the promise,
40 God having provided something better for us in order that they should not be brought to perfection without us.
1 Consequently as regards us too, having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us dispose of every burden and of sin which easily besets us, and run with patience the race which lies ahead of us,
2 turning our sights to the originator and finisher of faith, Jesus, who over against the joy which lay ahead of him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him who has endured such opposition towards himself by sinners, so that you do not flag and become faint-hearted.
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood in struggling against sin.
5 And you have completely forgotten the exhortation which treats you as sons, “My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart when you are reproved by him.
6 For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.”
7 Be patient in being disciplined when God deals with you as with sons, for what kind of a son is it whom the father does not discipline?
8 For if you were to be without discipline, of which you have all become partakers, you would then be illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Then again, we had our fathers in the flesh as educators and we respected them. Shall we not much more submit to the father of spirits and live?
10 For they for a few days disciplined us according to what seemed right to them, but he for what is beneficial for our partaking of his holiness.
11 Now no discipline seems to be a matter of joy at the time, but of grief, but later it yields peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.
12 So straighten up drooping hands and infirm knees,
13 and make straight paths with your feet, so that a lame member is not put out of joint, but rather is healed.
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and sanctification, without which no-one will see the Lord,
15 watching out that no-one is missing the grace of God, in order that no root of bitterness grows up and causes disquiet and many become defiled through it,
16 and that there is no fornicator, or profane person like Esau who for one meal sold his birthright.
17 For you know that also later on, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no room for a change of mind, although he sought it earnestly with tears.
18 For you have not come to the tangible mountain which has been burnt with fire, and gloom and darkness and storm,
19 and with the sounding of the trumpet, and the sound of words, which those who heard it pleaded that not a word should be spoken to them again.
20 For they could not bear what was ordered: “If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”
21 And the spectacle was so fearful that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the upper-heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels,
23 to the assembly and church of the firstborn who have been recorded in the heavens, and to God the judge of everyone, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,
24 and to the mediator of a new covenant, Jesus, and to sprinkled blood speaking of something better than Abel.
25 See that you do not disregard him who speaks. For if those who disregarded him who gave oracular instructions on earth did not escape, how much more so if we turn away from him who instructs from the heavens,
26 whose voice shook the world at that time, and has now made a promise, saying, “Yet one more time will I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
27 And the phrase, “Yet one more time” indicates the removal of the things shaken, that is, the things physically made, in order that the things not shaken should remain.
28 So let us have grace, seeing that we are receiving an unshakeable kingdom, through which we serve God in a pleasing way, with reverence and veneration,
29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Do not forget hospitality to strangers. For through this some have been host to angels without knowing it.
3 Remember prisoners as if you were fellows-in-bonds, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were in their body.
4 Let marriage be honourable in every respect and the marriage-bed undefiled, but God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
5 Let your way of life not be avaricious, but one of you being content with what you have, for he himself said, “I will certainly never leave you nor forsake you.”
6 As a result we can be of good courage and say, “The Lord is my helper and I shall not be afraid of what man might do to me.”
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you, and in closely examining the outcome of their behaviour, imitate their faith.
8 Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and throughout the ages.
9 Do not be diverted by various foreign doctrines. For it is good for the heart to be confirmed by grace, not by food, by which those who have embraced such doctrines have not been benefited.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.
11 For the bodies of animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for the sin offering are burnt outside the camp,
12 which is why Jesus for his part, in order that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.
13 So, then, let us go out to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For we do not have a permanent city here, but we keenly seek the one which is to come.
15 So let us offer a sacrifice of praise through him to God continually, that is to say, the fruit of our lips confessing his name.
16 But do not forget well-doing and fellowship, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.
17 Obey your leaders and comply with them, for they keep watch over your very beings, since they must render an account. Comply in order that they may do that with joy, and not sighing, for that would be unprofitable to you.
18 Pray for us, for we trust that we have a clear conscience, seeing we want to conduct ourselves well in all circumstances.
19 And I encourage you to do this all the more, so that I may be restored to you very quickly.
20 And may the God of peace, who brought up the great shepherd of the sheep from the dead, our Lord Jesus, by the blood of an age-abiding covenant,
21 equip you in every good work for doing his will, when he does in you what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory throughout the durations of the ages. Amen.
22 And I exhort you, brothers, bear with the word of encouragement, for in fact I have written to you rather concisely.
23 Be informed that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes quickly, I will see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.
25 Grace be with you all. Amen.