Are not the angels all spirits in service, whom he sends on his errands for the good of those who are destined to possess salvation?

For it was not for angels that he destined the control of that world to be, that we are speaking of.

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,

For both he who purifies them and they who are purified spring from one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

For of course it was not angels but the descendants of Abraham that he came to help.

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

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 who was it that heard him speak and yet provoked him? Was it not all those who had escaped from Egypt under Moses' leadership?

And who was it with whom God was angry forty whole years? Was it not with those who had sinned, who dropped dead in the desert?

And who was it to whom God made oath that they should not be admitted to his Rest, if it was not to those who had disobeyed him?

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.

Since then it is still true that somebody will be admitted to it, and those who had a gospel preached to them before were not admitted because of their disobedience,

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 if Joshua had really brought them rest God would not afterward have spoken of another day.

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.

So let us come with courage to God's throne of grace to receive his forgiveness and find him responsive when we need his help.

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

So even Christ did not claim for himself the dignity of the high priesthood, but he was appointed to it by him who said to him, "You are my Son! I have today become your Father!"

For although from the length of your Christian experience you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very elements of Christian truth, and you have come to need milk instead of solid food.

Let us therefore leave elementary Christian teaching alone and advance toward maturity. We must not be always relaying foundations, of repentance for wrong-doing, and of faith in God,

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.

But this man, whose ancestry is not connected with theirs, collected tithes from Abraham himself, and gave his blessing to the man who had received the promises from God.

Now if anything final had been really accomplished through the Levitical priesthood, for even the giving of the Law was based upon it, what further need would there have been of appointing a different priest of the priesthood of Melchizedek, instead of choosing one of the priesthood of Aaron?

for he is appointed not for possessing any legal physical qualifications, but by virtue of a life that cannot end.

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

for God took no oath in appointing the old priests, but he made oath to his appointment, when he said to him, "The Lord has sworn it and he will not change; You are a priest forever!"

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.

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

Further, if he were still on earth, he would not be a priest at all, for there are priests enough provided to offer the gifts the Law prescribes??5 though the service they engage in is only a shadow and imitation of that in heaven. For when Moses was going to make the tent of worship he was warned, "Be sure to make it all just like the pattern you were shown on the mountain."

Not like the one that I made with their forefathers, On the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt, For they would not abide by their agreement with me, So I paid no attention to them,' says the Lord.

And they will not have to teach their townsmen and their brothers to know the Lord, For they will all know me, From the lowest to the highest.

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,

So even the old agreement could not be ratified without the use of blood.

For it was not a sanctuary made by human hands and only copied after the true one that Christ entered, but he went into heaven itself, in order to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God.

Nor does he go in to offer himself over and over again, like the high priest who enters the sanctuary year after year, taking with him blood that is not his own,

For while the Law foreshadowed the blessings that were to come, it did not fully express them, and so the priests by offering the same sacrifices endlessly year after year cannot wholly free those who come to worship from their sins.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to offer these sacrifices, because those who offered them, having once been purified, would have had no further consciousness of sin?

That is why the Christ, when he was coming into the world, said, "You have not wished sacrifice or offering, but you have provided a body for me.

But when these are forgiven, there is no more need of offerings for sin.

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.

You must not lose your courage, for it will be richly rewarded,

but you will need endurance if you are to carry out God's will and receive the blessing he has promised.

For "In a very little while He who is to come will come and not delay,

But we will not draw back and perish, but we will have faith and save our souls.

It is faith that enables us to see that the universe was created at the command of God, so that the world we see did not simply arise out of matter.

Faith caused Enoch to be taken up from the earth without experiencing death; he could not be found, because God had taken him up. For before he was taken up there is evidence that he pleased God,

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 led Moses' parents to hide him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child and they would not respect the edict of the king.

They were stoned to death, they were tortured to death, they were sawed in two, they were killed with the sword. Clothed in the skins of sheep or goats, they were driven from place to place, destitute, persecuted, misused??38 men of whom the world was not worthy wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground.

for God had resolved upon something still better for us, that they might not reach the fulfilment of their hopes except with us.

Think of the opposition that he encountered from those sinners against themselves, if you would not grow weary and faint-hearted.

You have not yet resisted unto death in your struggle with sin,

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?

But if you have none of that discipline which all sons undergo, you are illegitimate children, and not true sons.

When our earthly fathers disciplined us we treated them with respect; should we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so have life?

And keep your feet in straight paths, so that limbs that are lame may not be dislocated but instead be cured.

for they could not bear the order, "Even a wild animal, if it touches the mountain, must be stoned to death,"

Take care not to refuse to listen to him who is speaking. For if they could not escape because they would not listen to him who warned them here on earth, how much less can we, who reject him who is from heaven!

Then his voice shook the earth, but now his promise is, "But once more I will make not only the earth but the very heaven to tremble!"

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

You must not be avaricious; you must be content with what you have, for God himself has said, "I will never let go of you or desert you!"

So that we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can men do to me?"

Do not forget your former leaders, the men who brought you God's message. Remember how they ended their lives and imitate their faith.

You must not be carried away with strange varieties of teaching. The true way to steadfastness of heart is through God's mercy, not through scruples about food, which have never done their adherents any good.

But do not forget to be helpful and generous, for that is the kind of sacrifice that pleases God.

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.