Are not all angels ministering spirits sent out [by God] to serve those people who will inherit salvation?

how will we escape [punishment] if we neglect such a great salvation? [For it was] first announced [to people] by the Lord and then confirmed to us [i.e., the writer and other Christians] by those who heard Him [i.e., the original apostles].

God also testified, along with those people, by [giving them] both signs and wonders and various miracles, and by [supernatural] gifts distributed [to them] by the Holy Spirit, as He desired.

For, both the One who makes people holy [i.e., Jesus], and those who are made holy [i.e., Christians], all come from one [Father], and for this reason Christ is not ashamed to call them His brothers,

And [also He could] release all of those people who, because of their fear of death, were [kept] in bondage all their lives.

For since He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is [also] able to help those who [suffer when they] are tempted.

Now Moses was a faithful servant among all of [those belonging to] God's household [i.e., the Israelites], as [one who gave] testimony about the things which [were to be] spoken [by him],

And who was God angry with for forty years? Was it not with those people who sinned, whose bodies fell [dead] in the desert?

And to whom did God vow that they would not enter a state of rest with Him? [Was it not] those who were disobedient to Him?

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.

So, since it still remains for some people to enter into that rest, but those to whom the good news was previously proclaimed [See verse 2] failed to enter it because of disobedience [See 3:18]

and after becoming perfectly [qualified], He became the source of never ending salvation to all those who obey Him.

For God blesses land that has soaked up the rain which has fallen on it, and it produces a profitable crop for those people for whom the land was farmed.

We do not want you people to be [spiritually] slack, but to imitate those who will inherit [God's] promises because of their faith and patience.

Since God wanted to show conclusively to those who would inherit the promise [i.e., Abraham and all of his spiritual descendants], how unchangeable His purpose was, He confirmed it with an oath.

So, He is also able to save completely those people who approach God through Him, since He lives forever to intercede [i.e., to plead to God] on their behalf.

He does not need to offer up [animal] sacrifices every day like those head priests did [Note: The head priest here is represented as being in charge of the daily sacrifices offered by the other priests], first for His own sins and then for the people's sins. For He did this once for all time when He offered up Himself [on the cross].

Now if He were [still] on earth, He would not be a priest [at all], since there are [already] those [on earth] who offer gifts according to the law of Moses.

Therefore, Christ is the Mediator of a New Agreement, so that [all] those people who have been called [by God] can receive the promise of the never ending inheritance. [This is possible because] a death has taken place for the redemption of [people's] sins who lived under the first Agreement.

so Christ also, who was once [for all] offered [as a sacrifice] to take away the sins of many people, will come back a second time, not to take away sin, [but] to provide salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

For the law of Moses was [only] a foreshadow of the good things that [were] to come [i.e., in the Messianic age], not the exact image of those things. It can never, by the same sacrifices, continually offered year after year, make [morally] perfect those who draw near [to God in worship].

If it could, would not those sacrifices have stopped being offered [by now], since the worshipers would have been [ceremonially] cleansed and would not have had a sense of guilt anymore?

But those sacrifices were [only] a reminder of [the people's] sins year after year,

For by one offering [i.e., the sacrifice of Himself], Christ has made perfect forever those people who are being set apart for God.

[Jer. 31:33f], "The Lord says, this is the Agreement I will make with them [i.e., with my people] after those days. I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds." Then He said,

Sometimes you were subjected to public ridicule and abuse, and at other times you shared [vicariously] with those people who were treated that way.

For you showed sympathy for those who were in prison and accepted it joyfully when your [own] possessions were taken away, [because] you knew that you yourselves had a better and more permanent possession [in heaven].

But we are not like those people who turn back and are destroyed, but like those who have faith [in God] and obtain the salvation of their souls.

And unless one has faith, it is impossible for him to be pleasing to God, for the person who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

For those who say such things make it obvious that they are looking for a country of their own [i.e. heaven].

For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and punishes every child He accepts."

No discipline seems pleasant, but painful, at the time [it is received], yet later on it produces a crop of peace and righteousness in [the lives of] those who have been trained by it.

For those people could not stand [hearing] the command [Ex. 19:12f], "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned [to death]."

and to the church of the firstborn ones [i.e., those who have received an inheritance from their Father], whose names are recorded in heaven. [See Luke 10:20]. [You have come] to God, who is the Judge of all people, and to the spirits of righteous people who have become [morally] perfect [i.e., that great company of God's people who have gone on to their heavenly reward],

Pay careful attention so that you do not refuse [to hear] God when He speaks to you. [See verse 9]. For if those people [i.e., the Israelites] did not escape [judgment] when they refused [to hear] Him who warned them on earth [i.e., God speaking through Moses at Mount Sinai], how much less [likely] will we escape [judgment] if we reject Him who warns from heaven [i.e., Christ]?

Now the words, "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken --- that is, the created universe --- so that those things which cannot be shaken will remain. [Note: These "things" have been variously interpreted to be eternal truth, the heavenly kingdom, the new heavens and earth, etc.].

Remember [to pray for and help] those who are in prison, as though you [yourselves] were in prison with them. [Remember] those who are being mistreated, realizing that you [yourselves] also share [with them] a physical body [i.e., you are subject to the same kind of trials].

Marriage should be considered honorable among all people and its sexual responsibilities should be faithfully kept. For God will judge [and condemn] those people who are sexually immoral and who are sexually unfaithful to their mates.

Do not continue to be swept off your course by all kinds of strange teachings. For it is good for your hearts to be strengthened by God's unearned favor [upon you] and not by [keeping regulations about] foods, which do not benefit those who observe them.

Greet all of those who are your leaders, and all the saints [i.e., God's holy people]. Those [brothers] from Italy send you their greetings.