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.

And as he was not [constituted] without swearing,??21 for they were made priests without swearing, but he with swearing by him who says to him, The Lord swore, and he will not change, You are a priest forever;??22 by so much is Jesus the pledge of a better covenant.

but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever'" --

By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

But he continues forever, and so his priesthood is untransferable.

So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.

Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak [frail, sinful, dying men], but the word of the oath [of God], which came after [the institution of] the Law, permanently appoints [as priest] a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Now the main point of what we have to say is this: we have such a High Priest, [the Christ] who is seated [in the place of honor] at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty (God) in heaven,

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is essential for this One also to have something to offer.

Now were he on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law??5 those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle. "See", he says, "that you make everything on the pattern showed you on the mountain."

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.

For, protesting against them, he says, See, the days are coming when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;

Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
On the day when I took them by the hand
To lead them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not abide in My covenant,
And so I withdrew My favor and disregarded them, says the Lord.

There shall be no need for every man to instruct his fellow-citizen, or for a man to say to his Brother 'Learn to know the Lord'; For every one will know me, From the lowest to the highest.

[So], by saying "a New Agreement," God has made the first one obsolete. And that which is becoming obsolete and getting aged is ready to [completely] disappear.

So indeed the first covenant had its regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;

And above the ark were the Cherubim denoting God's glorious presence and overshadowing the Mercy-seat. But I cannot now speak about all these in detail.

So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent as they perform their duties.

but only the high priest could enter the inner part, and he but once a year, and never without taking some victim's blood, to offer on his own behalf and for the sins committed through ignorance by the people.

And the lesson which the Holy Spirit teaches is this--that the way into the true Holy place is not yet open so long as the outer tent still remains in existence.

This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and a heifer's ashes sprinkling the defiled, sanctifies for the purity of the flesh,

how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead actions so that we may serve the living God!

And for this reason he is mediator of a new covenant, so that, death having taken place for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, the called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

And a will is only of force in the case of a deceased person, being never of any avail so long as he who made it lives.

So even the first covenant was not put in force without [the shedding of] blood.

saying, as he did so-- "This is the blood that renders valid the Covenant which God has commanded to be made with you."

And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.

For not into a Holy place built by men's hands--a mere copy of the reality--did Christ enter, but He entered Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

And not so that he might offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the Holy things each year with blood by another,

And because by God's law death comes to men once, and after that they are judged;

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

For while the Law foreshadowed the blessings that were to come, it did not fully express them, and so the priests by offering the same sacrifices endlessly year after year cannot wholly free those who come to worship from their sins.

For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin?

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

So that when he comes into the world, he says, You had no desire for offerings, but you made a body ready for me;

Then I said, “See—
it is written about Me
in the volume of the scroll—
I have come to do Your will, God!”

At first he says, "You never wished or cared for sacrifices or offerings, or burnt-offerings or sacrifices for sin"??ll of which the Law prescribes??9 and then he adds, "See, I have come to do your will!" He is taking away the old to put the new in its place.

then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” [And so] He does away with the first [covenant as a means of atoning for sin based on animal sacrifices] so that He may inaugurate and establish the second [covenant by means of obedience].

By God's will we have been sanctified once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah.

Every other priest stands officiating day after day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices, though they were powerless ever to remove people's sins.

this Priest, on the contrary, after offering for sins a single sacrifice of perpetual efficacy, took His seat at God's right hand,

“And their sins and their lawless acts
I will remember no more [no longer holding their sins against them].”

So then, my brothers, being able to go into the holy place without fear, because of the blood of Jesus,

By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

and since we have a great Priest [who is] over God's household [i.e., Christ],

let's draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word];

and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds ??25 not ceasing to meet together, as is the habit of some, but admonishing one another, all the more so, as you see the Day coming near.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

For if we choose to go on sinning after we have so fully learned the truth, there is no sacrifice left to be offered for our sins,