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

They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

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"}}.

For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

and might free those who were slaves all their lives because they were terrified by death.

For having been put to the test himself, he is able to give help to others when they are tested.

do not harden your hearts as they did when they provoked me during the time of testing in the wilderness.

in which tempt Me did your fathers, they did prove Me, and saw My works forty years;

Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

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

As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did when they provoked me."

For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

Were they not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them who had sinned?

And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

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

For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard.

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he saith thus in a certain place, of the seventh day, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works: And in this again, They shall not enter into my rest.

And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

[Now] we have many things to say about Melchizedek, but because of your slowness to grasp things, they are hard to explain.

And we will do so [i.e., go on to more advanced teaching] if God allows us to. For it is impossible to get people who have [completely] fallen away [from God] to repent again, because they [continue to] crucify for themselves God's Son all over again, and hold Him up to contempt.

For it is not possible that they which were once lighted, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were become partakers of the holy ghost,

and who had experienced the good teaching of God and the powers of the coming age [i.e., they had already received some of the blessings of the Christian life, perhaps even miraculous signs].

If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

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

For men make oath by something greater than themselves, and they accept an oath as settling finally any disagreement they may have.

And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:

Furthermore, here [in the Levitical priesthood] tithes are received by men who are subject to death; but in that case [concerning Melchizedek], they are received by one of whom it is testified that he lives on [perpetually].

Now if the crowning blessing was attainable by means of the Levitical priesthood--for as resting on this foundation the people received the Law, to which they are still subject-- what further need was there for a Priest of a different kind to be raised up belonging to the order of Melchizedek instead of being said to belong to the order of Aaron?

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.

(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but he with an oath by him that saith of him, The Lord sware and will not repent himself, Thou art a priest for ever);

And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

For the law constitutes men high-priests, though they have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which is since the law, constitutes the Son, unto eternity completely perfect.

Further, if he were still on earth, he would not be a priest at all, for there are priests enough provided to offer the gifts the Law prescribes??5 though the service they engage in is only a shadow and imitation of that in heaven. For when Moses was going to make the tent of worship he was warned, "Be sure to make it all just like the pattern you were shown on the mountain."

They serve in a sanctuary that is a copy, a shadow of the heavenly one. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tent: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent {continually} [as they] accomplish their service,

And this is a figure--for the time now present--answering to which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, unable though they are to give complete freedom from sin to him who ministers.

They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of restoration.

And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

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

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

As it is, they are an annual reminder of sins

after having said, "victims, oblations, holocausts, and sacrifice for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein," tho' they are all prescrib'd by the law;

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.

now where they are remitted, there is no need of any further oblation for sin.

How much worse then, think you, will be the punishment deserved by those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have treated the blood that rendered the Covenant valid--the very blood by which they were purified--as of no account, and who have outraged the Spirit of Love?

But faith is, of things hoped for, a confidence, of facts, a conviction, when they are not seen;

Therefore indeed they were born of one, and those things of one having died, as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sands which are by the sea, which are innumerable.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

By [having] faith, when Joseph was about to die, he mentioned the Israelites' departure [from Egypt] and gave [them] instructions concerning his bones [i.e., that they were to take them back to Palestine. See Gen. 50:25].

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, received promises, shut the mouths of lions,

Put out the power of fire, got safely away from the edge of the sword, were made strong when they had been feeble, became full of power in war, and put to flight the armies of the nations.

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

others, again, had to experience scoffs and scourging, aye chains and imprisonment ??37 they were stoned, sawn in two, and cut to pieces; they had to roam about in sheepskins and goatskins, forlorn, oppressed, ill-treated

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all of these, though they gained [divine] approval through their faith, did not receive [the fulfillment of] what was promised,

God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

But, the saying, Yet once for all, maketh clear the removal of the things which can be shaken, as of things done with, - that they may remain, which cannot be shaken.

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were in prison with them, as well as those who are mistreated, since they also are only mortal.

Remember your leaders [for it was they] who brought you the word of God; and consider the result of their conduct [the outcome of their godly lives], and imitate their faith [their conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider of eternal salvation through Christ, and imitate their reliance on God with absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].

Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, wherein they that occupied themselves were not profited.

We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.

They of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all.