For of course it is not angels but descendants of Abraham that He is to help.

For when God made His promise to Abraham, He took an oath by Himself, since He had no one greater by whom He could take it,

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

to whom Abraham contributed a tenth of all his spoils, who first of all, in accordance with the meaning of his name, is king of righteousness, and then king of Salem, which means king of peace;

Now see how great this man must have been that even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils.

And those of the descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood are authorized by the law to collect a tenth from the people; that is, from their own brothers, though they have sprung from Abraham.

But in this case, the man whose ancestry is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham, and put his blessing on the man who had the promises from God.

And I might almost say, Levi too, who now collects the tenth, through Abraham paid the tenth,

By faith Abraham, on being called, obeyed in starting off for a country which he was to receive as his own, and he did it in spite of the fact that he did not know where he was going.

By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, offered Isaac as a sacrifice; that is, he who had received the promise was starting to offer as a sacrifice his only son,