In the hope of eternal life, which was made certain before eternal time, by the word of God who is ever true;

I did not take you with me when I went away from Crete, so that you might do what was necessary to put things in order there, placing men in authority over the churches in every town, as I said to you;

But when the mercy of God our Saviour, and his love to man was seen,

Who in the past was of no profit to you, but now is of profit to you and to me:

Though my desire was to keep him with me, to be my servant in the chains of the good news, in your place:

For it is possible that for this reason he was parted from you for a time, so that you might have him for ever;

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;

What will come on us, if we do not give our minds to such a great salvation? a salvation of which our fathers first had knowledge through the words of the Lord, and which was made certain to us by those to whom his words came;

And God was a witness with them, by signs and wonders, and by more than natural powers, and by his distribution of the Holy Spirit at his pleasure.

But we see him who was made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, crowned with glory and honour, because he let himself be put to death so that by the grace of God he might undergo death for all men.

Because it was right for him, for whom and through whom all things have being, in guiding his sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation complete through pain.

Because of this it was necessary for him to be made like his brothers in every way, so that he might be a high priest full of mercy and keeping faith in everything to do with God, making offerings for the sins of the people.

And it was right for this man to have more honour than Moses, even as the builder of a house has more honour than the house.

So that I was angry with this generation, and I said, Their hearts are in error at all times, and they have no knowledge of my ways;

Who made him angry when his voice came to them? was it not all those who came out of Egypt with Moses?

And with whom was he angry for forty years? was it not with those who did evil, who came to their deaths in the waste land?

And to whom did he make an oath that they might not come into his rest? was it not to those who went against his orders?

For those of us who have belief come into his rest; even as he has said, As I said in my oath when I was angry, They may not come into my rest: though the works were done from the time of the making of the world.

And no man who is not given authority by God, as Aaron was, takes this honour for himself.

In the same way Christ did not take for himself the glory of being made a high priest, but was given it by him who said, You are my Son, this day I have given you being:

Who in the days of his flesh, having sent up prayers and requests with strong crying and weeping to him who was able to give him salvation from death, had his prayer answered because of his fear of God.

And though he was a Son, through the pain which he underwent, the knowledge came to him of what it was to be under God's orders;

For when God made his oath to Abraham, because there was no greater oath, he made it by himself,

And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect.

So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath;

Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight.

But this man, who was not of their family, took the tenth from Abraham, and gave a blessing to him to whom God had given his undertaking.

Now at the present time, men over whom death has power take the tenth; but then it was taken by one of whom it is witnessed that he is living.

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

Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?

So the law which went before is put on one side, because it was feeble and without profit.

(For those were made priests without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord gave his oath, which he will not take back, that you are a priest for ever);

It was right for us to have such a high priest, one who is holy and without evil, doing no wrong, having no part with sinners, and made higher than the heavens:

The law makes high priests of men who are feeble; but the word of the oath, which was made after the law, gives that position to a Son, in whom all good is for ever complete.

As a servant of the holy things and of the true Tent, which was put up by God, not by man.

Being servants of that which is a copy and an image of the things in heaven, as Moses, when he was about to make the Tent, had special orders from God: for, See, he said, that you make everything like the design which you saw in the mountain.

For the first Tent was made ready, having in it the vessels for the lights and the table and the ordering of the bread; and this is named the holy place.

And inside the second veil was the place which is named the Holy of holies;

Having a vessel of gold in it for burning perfumes, and the ark of the agreement, which was covered with gold and which had in it a pot made of gold for the manna, and Aaron's rod which put out buds, and the stones with the writing of the agreement;

The Holy Spirit witnessing by this that the way into the holy place had not at that time been made open, while the first Tent was still in being;

So that even the first agreement was not made without blood.

And the blood was put on the Tent and all the holy vessels in the same way.

For this cause it was necessary to make the copies of the things in heaven clean with these offerings; but the things themselves are made clean with better offerings than these.

But will not the man by whom the Son of God has been crushed under foot, and the blood of the agreement with which he was washed clean has been taken as an unholy thing, and who has had no respect for the Spirit of grace, be judged bad enough for a very much worse punishment?

For, having done what was right in God's eyes, you have need of waiting before his word has effect for you.

By faith it is clear to us that the order of events was fixed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which only seem to be.

By faith Enoch was taken up to heaven so that he did not see death; he was seen no longer, for God took him away: for before he was taken, witness had been given that he was well-pleasing to God:

By faith Noah, being moved by the fear of God, made ready an ark for the salvation of his family, because God had given him news of things which were not seen at the time; and through it the world was judged by him, and he got for his heritage the righteousness which is by faith.

By faith Abraham did as God said when he was ordered to go out into a place which was to be given to him as a heritage, and went out without knowledge of where he was going.

By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage:

For he was looking for the strong town, whose builder and maker is God.

And by faith Sarah herself had power to give birth, when she was very old, because she had faith in him who gave his word;

So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.

By faith Abraham made an offering of Isaac, when he was tested: and he with whom the agreement had been made gave up as an offering the only son of his body,

Judging that God was able to give life even to the dead; and because of this he did get him back as if from death.

By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick.

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, said that the children of Israel would go out of Egypt; and gave orders about his bones.

By faith Moses was kept secretly by his father and mother for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a fair child; and they had no fear of the king's orders.

Feeling that it was better to undergo pain with the people of God, than for a short time to have a taste of the pleasures of sin;

Judging a part in the shame of Christ to be better than all the wealth of Egypt; for he was looking forward to his reward.

By faith Rahab, the loose woman, was not put to death with those who had gone against God's orders, because she had taken into her house in peace those sent to see the land.

Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.

Because God had kept some better thing for us, so that it was not possible for them to become complete without us.

Having our eyes fixed on Jesus, the guide and end of our faith, who went through the pains of the cross, not caring for the shame, because of the joy which was before him, and who has now taken his place at the right hand of God's seat of power.

For you have knowledge that even long after, when he was desiring the blessing for his heritage, he was turned away, though he made his request frequently and with weeping; because the past might not be changed.

And the vision was so overpowering that even Moses said, I am shaking and full of fear.

Whose voice was the cause of the shaking of the earth; but now he has made an oath, saying, There will be still one more shaking, not only of the earth, but of heaven.

For this reason Jesus was put to death outside the walls, so that he might make the people holy by his blood.

For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like.

Do they not say evil of the holy name which was given to you?

Was not the righteousness of Abraham our father judged by his works, when he made an offering of Isaac his son on the altar?

You see that his faith was helping his works and was made complete by them;

And the holy Writings were put into effect which said, And Abraham had faith in God and it was put to his account as righteousness; and he was named the friend of God.

And in the same way, was not the righteousness of Rahab, the loose woman, judged by her works, when she took into her house those who were sent and let them go out by another way?

We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.

Elijah was a man of flesh and blood as we are, and he made a strong prayer that there might be no rain; and there was no rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Attempting to see what sort of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to, when it gave witness to the pains which Christ would undergo and the glories which would come after them.

And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; things which even angels have a desire to see.

Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction,

Who was marked out by God before the making of the world, but was caused to be seen in these last times for you,

But the word of the Lord is eternal. And this is the word of the good news which was given to you.

And the value is for you who have faith; but it is said for those without faith, The very stone which the builders put on one side, was made the chief stone of the building;

And, A stone of falling, a rock of trouble; the word is the cause of their fall, because they go against it, and this was the purpose of God.

In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.

Who did no evil, and there was no deceit in his mouth:

To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips; but he put himself into the hands of the judge of righteousness:

And these were the ornaments of the holy women of the past, whose hope was in God, being ruled by their husbands:

As Sarah was ruled by Abraham, naming him lord; whose children you are if you do well, and are not put in fear by any danger.

So that as Jesus was put to death in the flesh, do you yourselves be of the same mind; for the death of the flesh puts an end to sin;

For this was the reason why the good news of Jesus was given even to the dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but might be living before God in the spirit.

Dear brothers, do not be surprised, as if it was something strange, if your faith is tested as by fire:

For the man who has not these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having no memory of how he was made clean from his old sins.

For when we gave you news of the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our teaching was not based on stories put together by art, but we were eye-witnesses of his glory.

And did not have mercy on the world which then was, but only kept safe Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he let loose the waters over the world of the evil-doers;

And kept safe Lot, the upright man, who was deeply troubled by the unclean life of the evil-doers

(Because the soul of that upright man living among them was pained from day to day by seeing and hearing their crimes):

Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing;

But his wrongdoing was pointed out to him: an ass, talking with a man's voice, put a stop to the error of the prophet.

For it would have been better for them to have had no knowledge of the way of righteousness, than to go back again from the holy law which was given to them, after having knowledge of it.

So that you may keep in mind the words of the holy prophets in the past, and the law of the Lord and Saviour which was given to you by his Apostles.