[but] during these final days He has spoken to us through His Son [Note: This period refers to the Christian age (See Acts 2:14-36)], whom He appointed to be heir of all things [and] through whom He created the universe. [See John 1:3; Col. 1:16].

The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority],

Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

For to which of the angels did the Father ever say,

“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten (fathered) You [established You as a Son, with kingly dignity]”?

And again [did He ever say to the angels],

“I shall be a Father to Him
And He shall be a Son to Me”?

and again, when he brings in the firstborn into the habitable world, he says, And let all God's angels worship him.

But God said [this] about the angels [Psa. 104:4 LXX], "He [i.e., God] makes His angels to be [like] winds and His servants [like] flames of fire." [Note: The idea is probably that angels obediently serve God's purpose similar to the way wind and lightening do].

But God says [this] about the Son [Psa. 97:7], "Your throne [i.e. kingdom], O God [Note: This term here is applied to Jesus], will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter [i.e., the standard for ruling] of your kingdom.

You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you.

And [Psa. 102:25-27 says], "Lord, in the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hand.

And like a robe You will roll them up;
Like a garment they will be changed.
But You are the same [forever],
And Your years will never end.”

But to which of the angels did he ever say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?

We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.

Because if the word which came through the angels was fixed, and in the past every evil act against God's orders was given its full punishment;

How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

while God himself added his testimony to it by signs, and marvels, and many different miracles, as well as by imparting the Holy Spirit as he saw fit.

But someone has testified somewhere [Psa. 8:4-6], "What is man, that you [i.e., God] should remember him? Or the son of man [i.e., mankind], that you should care about him?

You made him a little bit lower than the angels [i.e., a little less exalted]. [Note: Although these Psalms passages referred to mankind, they are here applied to Jesus. See verse 9]. You crowned him with splendor and honor {{some ancient manuscripts add "and placed him as ruler over what you made"}}.

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

saying,

“I will declare Your (the Father’s) name to My brethren (believers),
In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”

And again he says, I will put my faith in him. And again, See, I am here, and the children which God has given to me.

Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil—

and so might deliver all those who, from fear of death, had all their lives been living in slavery.

For it is clear that He does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring.

Therefore, it was essential that He had to be made like His brothers (mankind) in every respect, so that He might [by experience] become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things related to God, to make atonement (propitiation) for the people’s sins [thereby wiping away the sin, satisfying divine justice, and providing a way of reconciliation between God and mankind].

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider the Apostle and High Priest whom we confessed [as ours when we accepted Him as Savior], namely, Jesus;

He was faithful to Him who appointed Him [Apostle and High Priest], as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.

For he hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more honor than the house.

Now Moses was faithful in [the administration of] all God’s house, [but only] as a ministering servant, [his ministry serving] as a testimony of the things which were to be spoken afterward [the revelation to come in Christ];

but Christ is faithful as a Son over His [Father’s] house. And we are His house if we hold fast our confidence and sense of triumph in our hope [in Christ].

And so, as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you let his voice come to your ears,

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

“Therefore I was angered with this generation,
And I said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways [nor become progressively better and more intimately acquainted with them]’;

So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

See, brethren, lest there be in any one of you a wicked heart of unbelief, in turning away from the living God.

but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin:

because we are the Messiah's partners only if we hold on to our original confidence to the end.

So long as it is said - To-day, if, unto his voice, ye would hearken, do not harden your hearts, - as in the embitterment.

for some when they had heard his voice, did provoke him: however, not all that were brought out of Egypt by Moses did so.

And with whom was God so greatly grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, and whose dead bodies fell in the Desert?

and who were they, who, he sware, should not enter into his rest, but those that did not believe? so we see that they could not enter in,

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Therefore, while the promise to enter His rest remains, let us fear that none of you should miss it.

For we [Christians] have had the good news [about resting with God] preached to us, just as the Israelites [had good news proclaimed to them. See 1:16-19]. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not coupled with faith by those who heard it.

for we do enter into the rest -- we who did believe, as He said, 'So I sware in My anger, If they shall enter into My rest -- ;' and yet the works were done from the foundation of the world,

And again, this [is recorded, Psa. 95:11], "They will not enter a state of rest with me."

So that as it is clear that some have to go in, and that the first hearers of the good news were not able to go in because they went against God's orders,

Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

For if Joshua had given the Israelites rest, God would not have spoken about another day later on [i.e., "Today" in Psa. 95:7].

So there remains a [full and complete] Sabbath rest for the people of God.

For the one who has once entered His rest has also rested from [the weariness and pain of] his [human] labors, just as God rested from [those labors uniquely] His own.

Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

For God's Message is full of life and power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.

And no created being is hidden from God's sight, but everything is laid bare and is openly visible to the eyes of God, to whom we must give account.

Since then we [Christians] have [such] a great Head Priest, who has passed through the skies [i.e., ascended to heaven. See Acts 1:9], Jesus, the Son of God, we should remain true to our profession [of faith in Him].

Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].

Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.

And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

Nor does any one take that high office upon himself, till he has been called to do so by God, as Aaron was.

So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.

And He says in another place [Psa. 110:4], "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." [Note: This is the first mention of this mysterious Old Testament priest who, throughout this book, is represented as a type of Christ].

this was Jesus, who while he was in a mortal body, having offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries, and with tears, to him that was able to save him from that death, was heard so as to be delivered from his fear;

Although He was God's Son, yet He learned obedience from the sufferings which He endured;

and so, having been made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the source and giver of eternal salvation.

[So], God declared Him to be a Head Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food.

But solid food is for men of full growth, even for those whose senses are trained by use to see what is good and what is evil.

So, we should leave the basic principles of Christ's teaching and go on to maturity. [We should] not lay again a foundation of repentance [i.e., turning away] from deeds of death [i.e., acts that lead to spiritual death or that spring from a spiritually dead person], and of faith in God;

and of teaching about immersions [Note: The use of the plural word here suggests teaching on the distinctions between Jewish washings and John's and Christian immersion, whether in water or the Holy Spirit. See Acts 19:1-7], and about placing hands on people [Note: This act was practiced in the appointment of church leaders, in healing sick people and to impart supernatural gifts], and about people being raised from the dead and about never ending judgment.

And advance we will, if God permits us to do so.

As for those who at one time saw the light, tasting the good things from heaven, and having their part in the Holy Spirit,

tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age,

it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for, to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.

For land which has drunk in the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sakes, indeed, it is tilled, has a share in God's blessing.

but that which bringeth forth thorns and briars, is rejected and near to a curse, (whose end is burning) so are they.

But, my loved ones, though we say this, we are certain that you have better things in you, things which go with salvation;

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown for His name in ministering to [the needs of] the saints (God’s people), as you do.

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,

so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.

For when God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to make oath by, he did so by himself,

And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

for when men swear by a superior, the ratifying what they say with an oath, puts an end to all further debate.

In the same way, since it was God's desire to display more convincingly to the heirs of the promise how unchangeable His purpose was,

so that by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge would have strong encouragement and indwelling strength to hold tightly to the hope set before us.

For this Melchizedek was king of Salem [Note: This probably refers to Jerusalem], and a priest of the Most High God. He met Abraham returning [from battle] when he defeated the kings [See Gen. 14:1ff] and blessed him.

And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace;

And see how great this one is, to whom also a tenth Abraham the patriarch did give out of the best of the spoils,

And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the priest's office have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though these have come out of the loins of Abraham:

But Melchizedek, although not of this lineage, received tithes from Abraham, and gave his blessing to the very man who had God's promises.

And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.

Because he was still in his father's body when Melchizedek came to him.

So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood -- for on that basis the people received the law -- what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron's order?

For the Lord [See next verse], about whom these things are being said, belonged to another tribe, from which no one has [ever] been appointed to serve at the Altar.

And what we say is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest,

That is to say, not made by a law based on the flesh, but by the power of a life without end:

For it is declared [about Jesus in the Scriptures, Psa. 110:4], "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

For, on the one hand, a former commandment is cancelled because of its weakness and uselessness [because of its inability to justify the sinner before God]

for the law had never made anything perfect -- and so a better hope is brought to us, through which we have approach to God.