as also in another passage He says: "You are a priest forever, belonging to the rank of Melchizedek." For during His human life He offered up prayers and entreaties, crying aloud with tears to Him who was always able to save Him out of death, and because of His beautiful spirit of worship His prayer was heard.

(6:19) where Jesus has blazed the way for us and became a High Priest with the rank of Melchizedek.

For the promise made to Abraham and his descendants, that he should own the world, was not conditioned on the law, but on the right standing he had with God through faith.

But there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is over them all, because He is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him.

(46:21) Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future -- they all belong to you.

There is no room for Jew or Greek, no room for slave or freeman, no room for male or female, for you are all one through union with Christ Jesus.

In this new relation there is no Greek and Jew, no circumcised and uncircumcised, no barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is everything and in us all.

For every high priest who is taken from men is appointed to officiate on behalf of men in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sin-offerings. Such a one is capable of dealing tenderly with the ignorant and erring ones, since he himself is subject to weakness, read more. and so is obliged to offer sin-offerings, not only for the people but for himself as well. And no one takes this honor upon himself but is called to it by God, as Aaron was.

For this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was coming back from the defeat of the kings, and put his blessing on him, to whom Abraham contributed a tenth of all his spoils, who first of all, in accordance with the meaning of his name, is king of righteousness, and then king of Salem, which means king of peace; read more. with no father, no mother, no ancestry; no beginning to his days, no end to his life, but, like the Son of God, as priest continues on and on with no successor.

with no father, no mother, no ancestry; no beginning to his days, no end to his life, but, like the Son of God, as priest continues on and on with no successor.

In the one case, mortal men collect the tenth, in the other, one who, as the witness states, lives on.

And it is still more overwhelmingly clear, since a different priest in the likeness of Melchizedek is appointed,

And it is still more overwhelmingly clear, since a different priest in the likeness of Melchizedek is appointed, who is appointed not on the basis of a physical qualification but on the basis of a power flowing from a life that cannot end.

And by so much as He was not appointed without God's taking an oath --

but He, on the other hand, because He Himself lives on forever, enjoys the only priesthood that has no successors in office.

For the law appoints imperfect men as high priests, but the assertion about the taking of an oath, which was spoken after the time of the law, appoints a Son who is perfectly qualified to be High Priest forever.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; so this High Priest too must have some sacrifice to offer,

"You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You must not murder,' and 'Whoever murders will have to answer to the court.' But I say to you: "Everyone who harbors malice against his brother, will have to answer to the court, and whoever speaks contemptuously to his brother, will have to answer to the supreme court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You cursed fool? will have to pay the penalty in the pit of torture. read more. So if, in the very act of presenting your gift at the altar, you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your grit right there at the altar, and first go and make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift. Be quick to come to terms with your opponent while you are on the road to court with him, so that he may not turn you over to the judge and the judge turn you over to the officer, and you be put in prison. I solemnly say to you, you will never get out at all until you have paid the last penny. "You have heard it was said, 'You must not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman so as to have an evil desire for her at once has already committed adultery with her in his heart, So if your right eye causes you to do wrong, pluck it out of your way; for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit. And if your right hand causes you to do wrong, cut it off and put it out of your way, for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit. "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that whoever divorces his wife for any other ground than unfaithfulness, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a wife who is thus divorced commits adultery. "Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You must not swear falsely, but you must perform your oaths as a religious duty.' But I tell you not to swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. Never swear by your own head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. But your way of speaking must be a simple 'Yes' or 'No.' Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist the one who injures you, but if anyone slaps you on one cheek, turn him the other, too; and if anyone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat, too. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. If anyone, whoever he may be, keeps on begging you, give to him; if anyone wants to borrow from you, do not turn him away. "You have heard that it was said, 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, practice loving your enemies and praying for your persecutors, to prove that you are sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on bad as well as good people, and makes the rain come down on doers of right and of wrong alike. For if you practice loving only those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax-collectors practice that? And if you say 'Good morning' to your brothers only, what more than others are you doing? So you, my followers, ought to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is."

The Pharisees met about Him, and also some scribes who had come from Jerusalem. They had noticed that some of His disciples were in the habit of eating their meals without first giving their hands a ceremonial washing to make them clean. read more. For the Pharisees and all the Jews practice the customs handed down to them from their forefathers, and will never eat until they have carefully washed their hands, and they never eat anything brought from the market until they wash it; and they have many other religious practices which they got from their forefathers, as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pans. And so the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why is it that your disciples do not practice the customs handed down from our forefathers, but eat their meals without purifying their hands?" But He answered them, "Isaiah beautifully prophesied about you hypocrites; as the Scripture says: "'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far, far away from me; Their worship of me is but an empty show; the things they teach are but men's precepts.' "You give up what God has commanded, you cling to what men hand down. You are fine teachers to cancel what God commanded, in order to keep what men have handed down! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and again, 'Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death,' but you say if a man tells his father or mother, 'Everything I have that may be of use to you is Corban,' that is, consecrated to God, you let him off from doing anything more for his father or mother; and so you set aside what God has said by what you have handed down. You have many other practices like these." Again He called the people to Him and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from the outside can make him foul, but the things that come from the inside of a man are the things that make him foul." Omitted Text. Now when He had left the crowd and gone home, His disciples were asking Him the meaning of this story. And He answered them, "Are you too without understanding yet? Do you not know that nothing from the outside that goes into a man can make him foul, because it does not reach his heart but only his stomach, and then passes off into the waste?" In thus speaking He made all foods clean. He kept on saying, "The thing that comes from the inside of a man is the thing that makes him foul, for from the inside, that is, from the hearts of men, designs for doing evil come, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, abusiveness, haughtiness, thoughtlessness. All these evils come from the inside of a man and make him foul." Then He left there and went into the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house and wanted no one to know that He was there. But He could not escape public notice. On the contrary, a woman, whose little daughter had a foul spirit, at once heard about Him and came and flung herself at His feet. She was a heathen who spoke Greek and had been born in Syro-Phenicia. And she kept begging Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. But He was saying to her, "Let the children first eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it out to the house dogs." But she answered Him, "Yes, Lord, and yet the house dogs under the table usually eat the crumbs the children drop."

But John too was baptizing people at Aenon, near Salim, for there was plenty of water there, and so the people were coming and being baptized.

since He had received from God the title of a High Priest with the rank of Melchizedek.

For this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was coming back from the defeat of the kings, and put his blessing on him, to whom Abraham contributed a tenth of all his spoils, who first of all, in accordance with the meaning of his name, is king of righteousness, and then king of Salem, which means king of peace; read more. with no father, no mother, no ancestry; no beginning to his days, no end to his life, but, like the Son of God, as priest continues on and on with no successor. Now see how great this man must have been that even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils. And those of the descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood are authorized by the law to collect a tenth from the people; that is, from their own brothers, though they have sprung from Abraham. But in this case, the man whose ancestry is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham, and put his blessing on the man who had the promises from God. Now beyond any contradiction, it is always the inferior that is blessed by the superior. In the one case, mortal men collect the tenth, in the other, one who, as the witness states, lives on. And I might almost say, Levi too, who now collects the tenth, through Abraham paid the tenth, for he was a vital part of his forefather though yet unborn, when Melchizedek met him. Now if perfection had been reached through the Levitical priesthood -- for on it as a basis even the law was enacted for the people-- what further need would there have been of appointing a different priest, with the rank of Melchizedek, instead of designating one with the rank of Aaron? For when a change in the priesthood takes place, a change in its law necessarily takes place. For He of whom this is said became a member of a different tribe no member of which ever officiated at the altar. For it is very clear that our Lord sprang from Judah, a tribe about which Moses said nothing as to priests. And it is still more overwhelmingly clear, since a different priest in the likeness of Melchizedek is appointed, who is appointed not on the basis of a physical qualification but on the basis of a power flowing from a life that cannot end.

For every high priest who is taken from men is appointed to officiate on behalf of men in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sin-offerings.

For every high priest who is taken from men is appointed to officiate on behalf of men in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sin-offerings.

For every high priest who is taken from men is appointed to officiate on behalf of men in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sin-offerings.

For every high priest who is taken from men is appointed to officiate on behalf of men in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sin-offerings.

For every high priest who is taken from men is appointed to officiate on behalf of men in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sin-offerings.

to whom Abraham contributed a tenth of all his spoils, who first of all, in accordance with the meaning of his name, is king of righteousness, and then king of Salem, which means king of peace;

And those of the descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood are authorized by the law to collect a tenth from the people; that is, from their own brothers, though they have sprung from Abraham.