He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact likeness of his being, and he holds everything together by his powerful word. After he had provided a cleansing from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Highest Majesty

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.

even though his actions had been finished since the creation of the world. Somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day as follows: "On the seventh day God rested from all his actions,"

because the one who enters God's rest has himself rested from his own actions, just as God did from his.

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.

For every high priest selected from among men is appointed to officiate on their behalf in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

As a mortal man, he offered up prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his devotion to God.

But solid food is for mature people, whose minds are trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teachings about the Messiah, let us continue to be carried along to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead actions, faith toward God,

For when the ground soaks up rain that often falls on it and continues producing vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated, it receives a blessing from God.

That hope, firm and secure like an anchor for our souls, reaches behind the curtain

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.

The descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood have a commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their own brothers, even though they are also descendants of Abraham.

But this man, whose descent is not traced from them, collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the man who had received the promises.

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

Furthermore, it is obvious that our Lord was a descendant of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests coming from that tribe.

We need such a high priest one who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

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.

how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead actions so that we may serve the living God!

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.

let us continue to come near with sincere hearts in the full assurance that faith provides, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

By faith we understand that time was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible.

Abraham was as good as dead, yet from this one man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

By faith he established the Passover and the sprinkling of blood to keep the destroyer of the firstborn from touching the people.

The world wasn't worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and from caves to holes in the ground.

Think about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not become tired and give up.

See to it that you do not ignore the one who is speaking. For if the hearers did not escape when they ignored the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who is from heaven!

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 or abandon you."

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,

Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who are from Italy greet you.