In the past God spoke to our fathers by the prophets at many times and in various ways,

For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my son, today I have begotten you"? And again, "I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me"?

And again, when God brings the first-born into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."

But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions."

while God also bore witness, by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will.

But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Here am I, and the children God has given me."

Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

He was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,

but Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold fast to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

Take care, brethren, lest there be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

For we also have had the good news preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had the good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,

God again set a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later of another day.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God;

for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

And no one takes the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was.

being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of God's word. You need milk, not solid food;

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their sense trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

And this we will do, if God permits.

and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

and then have fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put him to an open shame.

For land which drinks the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.

For God is not so unjust as to forget your work and the love which you have shown for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath,

so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest continually.

(for the law made nothing perfect); and on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Therefore he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary; for when Moses was about to erect the tabernacle, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain."

This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation.

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you."

For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

For since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near.

Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,' as it is written of me in the roll of the book."

But when he had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

How much severer punishment do you think a man will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as an unclean thing the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

By faith Abel offered God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his gifts. And through faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. For before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, for anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in godly fear prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.

for he was looking forward to the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

because God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness spring up and cause trouble, and by it many become defiled;

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the joyful assembly

and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe,

for our God is a consuming fire.

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said, "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you."

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith.

Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant,

equip you with every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.