For if the discourse spoken by angels was confirmed, and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment as its due,

how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which, commencing at the beginning to be spoken by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by those who had heard him;

who was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses also was in all his house.

And Moses indeed was faithful in all that house of his as a servant, to bear testimony of the things which should be after spoken;

Wherefore I was provoked against that generation, and said, They are always deluded in heart, and they have not known my ways:

But against whom was he incensed forty years? Was it not against those who had sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?

And no man assumes to himself this honour, but he who is called of God, even as Aaron was.

who in the days of his flesh, with strong crying and tears, having offered up prayers and supplications to him who was able to save him from death, and being heard for his reverential awe,

though he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered:

that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us;

For he was as yet in the loins of his father when Melchisedec met him.

If therefore there was perfection by the Levitical priesthood (for under that the people had the law given to them), what farther need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

who was not made such by the law of a carnal commandment, but by the power of a life indissoluble.

For the law led to no perfection, but was an introduction to a better hope, by which we draw nigh unto God.

Moreover, forasmuch as he was not [made priest] without an oath,

For such an high-priest was suitable to us, holy, inoffensive, spotless, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens:

who perform the service after the figure and shadow of things in the heavens, as Moses was divinely instructed, when he was about to finish the tabernacle. "For see," saith God, "that thou make all things according to the model shewed thee on the mount."

For the tabernacle was prepared; the first part, in which was both the candlestick, and the table, and the shew-bread, which is called the holy.

But behind the second vail was the tabernacle, called the holy of holies:

the Holy Ghost thus signifying, that the way into the holies was not yet made manifest, whilst the first tabernacle held its station;

Wherefore also that first testament was not consecrated without blood.

There was a necessity therefore that the representations of the things in heaven should be purified by these; but the celestial things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Any man who treated the law of Moses with neglect, was put to death, without mercy, on the deposition of two or three witnesses:

by how much, think ye, shall he be counted worthy of more condign punishment who hath trampled on the Son of God, and regarded the blood of his testament, by which he was sanctified, as an unclean thing, and hath treated the gracious Spirit contumeliously?

By faith Abel offered unto God a sacrifice of more excellence than Cain, by which he received a testimony that he was a righteous man, God bearing witness upon his gifts: and by this, though dead, he still speaketh.

By faith Enoch was translated, so as not to see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he was recorded to have been acceptable to God.

By faith Abraham, called to go forth unto a place which he should in future obtain as an heritage, obeyed; and he went forth, not knowing whither he was going.

By faith also that very Sarah, who was barren, received ability for the conception of seed, and past the usual time of life brought forth a child, because she accounted that he who promised it, would be true to his promise.

reasoning that God was able to raise him up again, even from the dead; from whence also figuratively he had received him.

By faith Moses, after he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw the child singularly beautiful; and they were not intimidated by the command of the king.

of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered up and down in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caverns of the earth.

For ye know, that when afterwards he wished to inherit the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place for a change of [his father's] mind, though he sought it earnestly with tears.

and so terrible was the appearance, that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling: