Hebrews 7:1-10 - The Greatness Of Melchizedek

¹ 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. ² Abraham measured out one tenth of everything he had [taken in battle] and gave it to Melchizedek. (Now "Melchizedek" means, first of all, "King of Righteousness," and then [since he was] King of Salem, it also means "King of Peace"). ³ He was without a father, or mother or a list of ancestors [i.e., there was no record of his family tree] and no [record of his] birth or death. Like the Son of God, he [appeared to] remain a priest perpetually.

⁴ Now consider how great this man was, to whom the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of what he had taken [in battle]. ⁵ For indeed, the descendants of Levi, who are appointed to the priesthood, are commanded by the law of Moses to collect a tenth [of the income] of the Israelites, who are their brothers, even though these brothers are [also] descendants of Abraham. ⁶ But Melchizedek, whose ancestry is not traced from the Levites, has collected a tenth [of the spoils] from Abraham, and blessed him who had received promises [from God]. ⁷ Without question [then], the lesser [of these two persons] is blessed by the greater one. ⁸ And in the one case, men here [on earth, that is, the Levites] who die, collect a tenth [from the rest of the Israelites], but there [i.e., in the case of Melchizedek] it is collected by someone about whom it is declared [by Scripture] that he continues to live. ⁹ And, so to speak, Levi, who collected a tenth [from the Israelites], paid a tenth through Abraham, ¹⁰ for when Melchizedek met him, he was still in Abraham's body [i.e., Levi had not yet been born as a descendant of Abraham].