for that is the meaning of the declaration-- 'Thou art for all time a priest of the order of Melchizedek.'

Then the commandment that went afore, is disannulled, because of her weakness and unprofitableness.

And indeed it was not without the taking of an oath [that Christ was made priest]

(For those were made priests without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord gave his oath, which he will not take back, that you are a priest for ever);

so that Jesus was made guarantee of an alliance so much the more excellent, as it was not without the solemnity of an oath.

And it is true that there have been a great number of those priests, because death does not let them go on for ever;

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

Hence also he is able to continue saving to the uttermost those who are ever drawing near to God through him, seeing that he is ever living to intercede for them.

For such a high priest is fitting for us, devout, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and having become higher than the heavens.

Who hath no daily necessity, like the high-priests, beforehand, over his own sins, to be offering sacrifices, after that, over those, of the people, - for, this, he did once for all when, himself, he offered up.

For the Law appoints human beings to be high priests, men with all their weakness; but the word of the oath, which was later than the Law, appoints a Son, perfected forevermore.

The pith of all that we have been saying is this; we do have such a High Priest; and he has taken his seat on the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens,

as officiating Priest in that sanctuary, which is also the true tent of worship, which the Lord and not man set up.

For every high priest is appointed in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices, whereupon it is necessary for this man also have something that he may 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 for an example and shadow of the heavenly things. Just as Moses who was divinely warned while going to complete the tabernacle, for he says, See thou make all things according to the pattern that was shown thee on the mou

But as it is, Christ has acquired a [priestly] ministry which is more excellent [than the old Levitical priestly ministry], for He is the Mediator (Arbiter) of a better covenant [uniting God and man], which has been enacted and rests on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second.

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For 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 on their heart also will I write them: And I will be to them a God, And they shall be to me a people:

In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.

That first tabernacle verily had ordinances and servings of God, and worldly holiness.

for the disposition of the tabernacle was such, that in the first part named the sanctuary, were placed the candlestick, the table, and the shew-bread;

But behind the second curtain is the tent that is called the holy of holies,

having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was a golden pot holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;

but into the inner tent the high priest only goes alone, once a year, and that not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the ignorances of the people.

the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing;

which is a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect,

since they deal only with food and drink and various washings, that is, with mere material regulations which are in force only until the time of setting things straight.

But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

not made with hands, that is, not of this building, And not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh:

how much more surely will the blood of Christ, who with an eternal Spirit gave Himself a spotless offering to God, purify your consciences from works that mean mere death, to serve the ever living God?

And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it.

For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth.

Accordingly we find that not without blood was the first testament enacted.

For of every commandment according to law that was spoken by Moses to all the people, after taking the blood of the calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, he sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God made for you.

And in the same way he also sprinkled with the blood the Tabernacle and all the things that were used in public worship.

Indeed we may almost say that in obedience to the Law everything is sprinkled with blood, and that apart from the outpouring of blood there is no remission of sins.

It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For it was not a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, that Christ entered, but it was into heaven itself that He went, in order now to appear for us in the very presence of God.

nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place year by year with blood not his own;

for, if that had been the case, He would have had to suffer over and over again, ever since the creation of the world. But, as it is, once at the close of the ages He has appeared, to put away sin by His sacrifice.

Indeed, just as men must die but once and after that be judged,

so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.

Else would they not, in that case, have ceased being offered, by reason of those rendering the divine service having no further conscience at all of sins, being once for all purified?

For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

It is for this reason that the Christ, on coming into the world, declared. Sacrifice and offerings thou dost not desire, But a body didst thou prepare for me;

Then I said, 'Lo I come.' In the chiefest of the book it is written of me, that I should do thy will, o God."

saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and for sin thou did not desire, nor were thou pleased with things that are offered according to the law.

then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

It is by this will of God that we are consecrated through the offering of Jesus' body once for all.

Every priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over, which are never able to strip away sins [that envelop and cover us];

whereas Christ, having offered the one sacrifice [the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself] for sins for all time, sat down [signifying the completion of atonement for sin] at the right hand of God [the position of honor],

from that time waiting till His enemies should be made the footstool of His feet.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, And upon their mind also will I write them; then saith he,

Seeing, brethren, that by the means of the blood of Jesus, we may be bold to enter into that holy place,

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

And seeing also that we have a high priest which is ruler over the house of God,

let us approach [God] with a true and sincere heart in unqualified assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised:

and let us consider one another that we may excite to love and good works,

Let us stop neglecting our meeting together, as some do, but let us continue to encourage one another, and all the more because you see that the great day is drawing near.

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,

but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and of fire, a fervor that is going to devour the opposition.

A man that hath set at nought Moses law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses:

How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Call to remembrance the days that are passed in the which, after ye had received light, ye endured a great fight in adversities,

partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used.

For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of you possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.

don't therefore quit that resolution you have, which will be attended with so great a reward.

For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.

But it is by faith that my Righteous One will live, And if he draws back, my soul takes no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the sign that the things not seen are true.

and it was for their faith that our fore-fathers acquired so great a reputation.

By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing unto God:

And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him ; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.

By faith Noah, on being divinely warned about things not seen as yet, in reverence prepared an ark for saving his family, and by his faith condemned the world and became possessor of the uprightness that results from faith.

By faith Abraham, when called, obeyed to go out to the place that he was going to take for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he made his temporary home in the land that God had promised him, although a land inhabited by others, living merely in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were to share the promise with him.

For he anticipated the city that has the foundations, whose builder and architect is God.

By faith Sarah received strength to become pregnant, and actually gave birth to a child, although she was past the time of life for it, because she thought that He who made her the promise was to be trusted.

And so there sprang from one man, and that dead as to any prospects for offspring, a people as numberless as the stars in the sky and as the sands beside the seashore.

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

For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.

And if indeed they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

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

By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten'son ;

of whom it had been said, It is through Isaac that your posterity will be traced.