how can we escape, if we pay no attention at all to a salvation that is so great? This is so because it was first proclaimed by the Lord Himself, and then it was proved to us to be valid by the very men who heard Him themselves,

to see how faithful He was to God who appointed Him, just as Moses was in all the house of God.

Although He was a Son, He learned from what He suffered how to obey,

and have experienced how good God's message is and the mighty powers of the age to come,

Now see how great this man must have been that even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils.

how much more surely will the blood of Christ, who with an eternal Spirit gave Himself a spotless offering to God, purify your consciences from works that mean mere death, to serve the ever living God?

How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we used to treat them with respect; how much more cheerfully should we submit to the Father of our spirits, and live!

See to it that you do not refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they did not escape, because they refused to listen to him who warned them here on earth, how much less can we, if we reject Him who is from heaven?

You must not forget your former leaders, for it was they who brought you the message of God. Consider how they closed their lives; imitate their faith.