showing himself to be as much greater than the angels as his title is superior to theirs.

And you will fold them up like a mantle, And change them as one changes his coat. But you are always the same, and your years will have no end!"

how can we escape if we pay no attention to such a salvation as this? It was first proclaimed by the Lord himself, and it was guaranteed to us by those who heard him,

You have put everything under his feet!" In thus making everything subject to man, God left nothing that was not subjected to him. But we do not as yet see everything made subject to him,

And so he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might prove a compassionate high priest as well as one faithful in his service to God, in order to forgive the people's sins.

has been to the God who appointed him, just as Moses was, in all the house of God.

For Jesus is entitled to as much more honor than Moses as the builder of a house is than the house he builds.

Therefore, as the holy Spirit says, "If you hear his voice today,

Do not harden your hearts as your forefathers provoked me by doing, As in that time of trial in the desert,

But as I made oath in my anger, They shall never be admitted to my Rest!"

but encourage one another every day, as long as we can still speak of Today, so that no one of you may have his heart hardened by the pleasantness of sin.

So while we can still speak of Today, if you hear him speak, do not harden your hearts, as they provoked him by doing.

For we have had good news preached to us, just as they did, but the message they heard did them no good because they did not agree through faith with what they heard.

For we who have believed are admitted to that Rest, of which he said, "As I made oath in my anger, They shall never be admitted to my Rest!" And yet God's work was finished at the creation of the world,

he again fixes a new Today, saying long afterward through David, as already quoted, "If you hear his voice today, Do not harden your hearts!"

For all who are admitted to God's Rest rest after their work, just as God did after his.

Let us, therefore, make every effort to be admitted to that Rest, so that none of us may fail through such disobedience as theirs.

For our high priest is not one who is incapable of sympathy with our weaknesses, but he has been tempted in every way just as we have, without committing any sin.

and on this account he is obliged to offer sacrifices for sin, not only for the people but for himself as well.

And no one takes the office upon himself, but men assume it only when called to it by God, as Aaron was.

For God is not so unjust as to forget the work you have done and the love you have showed for his cause, in giving help to your fellow-Christians as you still do.

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

For this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was on his way back from defeating the kings, and gave him his blessing,

to whom Abraham apportioned one tenth of all the spoil, who is first, as his name shows, king of righteousness and then king of Salem, which means king of peace??3 with no father or mother or ancestry, and with no beginning to his days nor end to his life, but like no one but the Son of God, continues as priest forever.

For when there is a change in the priesthood, a change necessarily takes place in the Law as well.

And in proportion as Jesus was not appointed priest without God's making oath to it,

who does not need, as the old high priests did, to offer sacrifices every day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people??or this last he has done once for all, in offering up himself.

Now the main point in what I am saying is this: We have such a high priest as this, and he has taken his seat in heaven at the right hand of God's Majesty,

to officiate as priest in the sanctuary and in that true tent of worship which not man but the Lord himself set up.

But, as it is, the priestly service to which Christ has been appointed is as much better than the old as the agreement established by him and the promises on which it is based are superior to the former ones.

Now when he speaks of a new agreement, he is treating the first one as obsolete; but whatever is obsolete and antiquated is almost ready to disappear.

But when Christ came, as the high priest of the better system under which we live, he went once for all, through that greater, more perfect tent of worship not made by human hands nor a part of our material creation, into the sanctuary,

And this is why he is the negotiator of a new agreement, in order that as someone has died to deliver them from the offenses committed under the old agreement, those who have been offered it may receive the unending inheritance they have been promised.

for a will is valid only in the case of a person who is dead; it has no force as long as the testator is alive.

for then he would have had to suffer death over and over, ever since the creation of the world. But, as it is, once for all at the close of the age he has appeared, to put an end to sin by his sacrifice.

And just as men are destined to die once and after that to be judged,

So I said, 'See, I have come! as the Book of the Law says of me, O God, to do your will!' "

Let us not neglect meeting together as some do, but let us encourage one another, all the more as you can see that the great Day is coming nearer.

How much worse a punishment do you think will anyone deserve who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and treats as worthless the blood of the agreement by which he has been purified, and outrages God's spirit of mercy?

sometimes being actually exposed as a public spectacle to insults and violence, and sometimes showing yourselves ready to share the lot of those in that condition.

And he whom I accept as righteous will find life through his faith. But if a man draws back, my heart can take no pleasure in him."

Faith made Abel's sacrifice greater in the sight of God than Cain's; through faith he gained God's approval as an upright man, for God himself approved his offering, and through faith even when he was dead he still spoke.

Faith led him to make a temporary home as a stranger in the land he had been promised, and to live there in his tents, with Isaac and Jacob, who shared the promise with him.

And so from one man, for any prospect of descendants as good as dead, there sprang a people in number like the stars in the heavens or the countless sands on the seashore.

But, as it is, their aspirations are for a better, a heavenly country! That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city to receive them.

Faith enabled Abraham, when he was put to the test, to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had accepted God's promises was ready to sacrifice his only son,

Faith made Moses, when he was grown up, refuse to be known as a son of Pharaoh's daughter,

and thought such contempt as the Christ endured was truer wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking forward to the coming reward.

Faith made him leave Egypt, unafraid of the king's anger, for he persevered as though he saw him who is unseen.

Faith enabled them to cross the Red Sea as though it were dry land, although the Egyptians when they tried to follow them across it were drowned.

and you have forgotten the challenge addressed to you as God's sons, "My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, Or give up when he corrects you.

You must submit to it as discipline. God is dealing with you as his sons. For where is there a son whom his father does not discipline?

For they disciplined us for a short time and as they thought proper, but he does it for our good, to make us share his holiness.

to the solemn gathering of all God's elder sons, enrolled as citizens in heaven, to a judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of upright men now at last enjoying the fulfilment of their hopes,

Now the words "But once more" indicate the final removal of all that is shaken, as only created, leaving only what is unshaken to be permanent.

Do not forget to be hospitable to strangers, for by being so some, without knowing it, have had angels as their guests.

Remember those who are in prison as though you were in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated as being yourselves liable to the same trials.

In his name let us continually offer praise as our sacrifice to God??he utterance of lips that glorify God's name.

Obey your leaders and give way to them, for they are keeping watch in defense of your souls, as men accountable for the trust. Make their work a joy and not a grief, for that would be the worse for you.

I ask this of you more especially that I may be brought back to you the sooner.