Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.

When He again brings His firstborn into the world, He says, And all God’s angels must worship Him.

but to the Son:

Your throne, God,
is forever and ever,
and the scepter of Your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.

You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness;
this is why God, Your God,
has anointed You
with the oil of joy
rather than Your companions.

At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.

But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering in death.

Again, I will trust in Him. And again, Here I am with the children God gave Me.

Therefore, He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was in all God’s household.

Now every house is built by someone, but the One who built everything is God.

Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.

Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.

For we also have received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith

for somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way:

And on the seventh day
God rested from all His works.

Since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience,

Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people.

For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His.

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession.

For every high priest taken from men is appointed in service to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

and He was declared by God a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.

But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God,

And we will do this if God permits.

tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age,

and who have fallen away, because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt.

For ground that has drunk the rain that has often fallen on it and that produces vegetation useful to those it is cultivated for receives a blessing from God.

For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself:

Because God wanted to show His unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath,

so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

For this Melchizedek—

King of Salem, priest of the Most High God,
who met Abraham and blessed him
as he returned from defeating the kings,

without father, mother, or genealogy,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life,
but resembling the Son of God—

remains a priest forever.

(for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Therefore, He is always able to save those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

But 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 write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be My people.

But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation),

how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?

saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.

For the Messiah did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that He might now appear in the presence of God for us.

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the actual form of those realities, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.

Then I said, “See—
it is written about Me
in the volume of the scroll—
I have come to do Your will, God!”

But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

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

And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works,

How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.

By faith Enoch was taken away so he did not experience death, and he was not to be found because God took him away. For prior to his removal he was approved, since he had pleased God.

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.

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

Therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore.

But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back.

and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin.

since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness.

Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many.

Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels in festive gathering,

to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to God who is the Judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect,

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,

for our God is a consuming fire.

Marriage must be respected by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge immoral people and adulterers.

Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.

Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by foods, since those involved in them have not benefited.

Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that He might sanctify the people by His own blood.

Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name.

Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant,

equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen.