And, Thou, O Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundations of the earth, And the heavens are the work of thy hands.

And again, I myself will put my trust in God. And again, Lo, I and the children God has given me.

Now those of the sons of Levi who are appointed to the priesthood, are authorized by the Law to take tithes of the people, that is, of their brothers, and that too, although these are descended from Abraham.

Now if there were perfection through the Levitical priesthood, (and it was under it that the people received the Law) why was it still necessary for another kind of priest to arise, after the order of Melchizedek, instead of being reckoned according to the order of Aaron?

For when the priesthood changes, of necessity the law also changes.

who has become such, not according to the law of a transitory enactment, but according to the energy of an indissoluble life.

(for the Law brought nothing to perfection); and there is the bringing in of a better hope by which we draw near to God;

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.

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."

For after every commandment according to the law had been spoken by Moses to the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.

Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of service he sprinkled likewise, and indeed, according to the Law,

For the Law, being only a shadow of the good things to come, and not their very substance, its priests cannot with the same sacrifice which year after year they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

(offerings regularly made under the law), and then it is added, Lo, I come to do thy will, he does away with the first, in order that he may establish the second.

Any one who set at naught the law of Moses was put to death without pity, on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Seeing then that we are encircled with this great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings about us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,