Now about the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire."

Now when God put everything under him, he left nothing outside his control. However, at the present time we do not yet see everything put under him. But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might experience death for everyone.

For it is clear that he did not come to help angels. No, he came to help Abraham's descendants,

See to it, my brothers, that no evil, unbelieving heart is found in any of you, as shown by your turning away from the living God.

Now who heard him and provoked him? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fail by following their example of disobedience.

No creature can hide from him, but everyone is exposed and helpless before the eyes of the one to whom we must give a word of explanation.

No one takes this honor upon himself but he is called to it by God, just as Aaron was.

In the same way, the Messiah did not take upon himself the glory of being a high priest. No, it was God who said to him, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father."

In fact, though by now you should be teachers, you still need someone to teach you the basic truths of God's word. You have become people who need milk instead of solid food.

For everyone who lives on milk is still a baby and does not yet know the difference between right and wrong.

For when God made his promise to Abraham, he swore an oath by himself, since he had no one greater to swear by.

Now this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham and blessed him when he was returning from defeating the kings.

He has no father, mother, or genealogy, no birth date recorded for him, nor a date of death. Like the Son of God, he continues to be a priest forever.

Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood for on this basis the people received the Law what further need would there be to speak of appointing another kind of priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not one according to the order of Aaron?

For the person we are talking about belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar.

Now none of this happened without an oath. Others became priests without any oath,

He has no need to offer sacrifices every day like high priests do, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he sacrificed himself.

Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we do have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven

Now if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because other men offer the gifts prescribed by the Law.

However, Jesus has now obtained a more superior ministry, since the covenant he mediates is founded on better promises.

If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one,

but God found something wrong with his people when he said, "Look! The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Never again will everyone teach his neighbor or his brother by saying, "Know the Lord,' because all of them will know me, from the least important to the most important.

In speaking of a "new" covenant, he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.

Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of atonement. (We cannot discuss these things in detail now.)

This is why the Messiah is the mediator of a new covenant; so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance promised them, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the offenses committed under the first covenant.

In fact, under the Law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of the blood there is no forgiveness.

For the Messiah did not go into a sanctuary made by human hands that is merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, to appear now in God's presence on our behalf.

Then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the creation of the world. But now, at the end of the ages, he has appeared once for all to remove sin by his sacrifice.

Otherwise, would they not have stopped offering them, because the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer be aware of any sins?

Now where there is forgiveness of these sins, there is no longer any offering for sin.

the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),

For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

For we know the one who said, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."

For you sympathized with the prisoners and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, because you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.

but my righteous one will live by faith, and if he turns back, my soul will take no pleasure in him."

Now, we do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, reverently prepared an ark to save his family, and by faith he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God's sons.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled.

No one should be immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he could not find any opportunity to repent, even though he begged to repent with tears.

to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than Abel's.

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven."

We have an altar, and those who serve in the tent have no right to eat at it.

For here we have no permanent city but are looking for the one that is coming.

Now may the God of peace, who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep,

You should know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, he will be with me when I see you.