For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father"? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"?

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. That is why God, your God, anointed you rather than your companions with the oil of gladness."

For this reason we must pay closer attention to the things we have heard, or we may drift away,

because both the one who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified all have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers

Therefore, since the children have flesh and blood, he himself also shared the same things, so that by his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death (that is, the Devil)

even though they had seen my actions for 40 years. That is why I was indignant with that generation and said, "They are always going astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.'

because we have had the good news told to us as well as to them. But the message they heard did not help them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened to it.

We who have believed are entering that rest, just as he has said, "So in my anger I swore a solemn oath that they would never enter my rest,"

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

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us live our lives consistent with our confession of faith.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. Instead, we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet he never sinned.

In the same way, the Messiah did not take upon himself the glory of being a high priest. No, it was God who said to him, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father."

We have much to say about this, but it is difficult to explain because you have become too lazy to understand.

In fact, though by now you should be teachers, you still need someone to teach you the basic truths of God's word. You have become people who need milk instead of solid food.

For it is impossible to keep on restoring to repentance time and again people who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have become partners with the Holy Spirit,

who have tasted the goodness of God's word and the powers of the coming age,

and who have fallen away, as long as they continue to crucify the Son of God to their own detriment by exposing him to public ridicule.

For God is not so unjust as to forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have ministered to the saints and continue to minister to them.

so that by these two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge in him might be encouraged to seize the hope set before us.

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.

Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood for on this basis the people received the Law what further need would there be to speak of appointing another kind of priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not one according to the order of Aaron?

There have been many priests, since each one of them had to stop serving in office when he died.

Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we do have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven

If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one,

But when the Messiah came as a high priest of the good things that have come, he went through the greater and more perfect tent that was not made by human hands and that is not a part of this creation.

Then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the creation of the world. But now, at the end of the ages, he has appeared once for all to remove sin by his sacrifice.

Otherwise, would they not have stopped offering them, because the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer be aware of any sins?

Then I said, "See, I have come to do your will, O God' In the volume of the scroll this is written about me."

Then he says, "See, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

By God's will we have been sanctified once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah.

Therefore, my brothers, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,

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

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.

For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

For you sympathized with the prisoners and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, because you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.

For you need endurance, so that after you have done God's will you can receive what he has promised.

Now, we do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

If they had been thinking about what they had left behind, they would have had an opportunity to go back.

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

You have forgotten the encouragement that is addressed to you as sons: "My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline or give up when you are corrected by him.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

You have not come to something that can be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, to gloom,

Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to tens of thousands of angels joyfully gathered together,

to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to a judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect,

Stop neglecting to show hospitality to strangers, for by showing hospitality some have had angels as their guests without being aware of it.

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."

Remember your leaders, those who have spoken God's word to you. Think about the impact of their lives, and imitate their faith.

Stop being carried away by all kinds of unusual teachings, for it is good that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by food laws that have never helped those who follow them.

We have an altar, and those who serve in the tent have no right to eat at it.

For here we have no permanent city but are looking for the one that is coming.

Continue to follow and be submissive to your leaders, since they are watching over your souls as those who will have to give a word of explanation. By doing this, you will be letting them carry out their duties joyfully, and not with grief, for that would be harmful for you.

Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.

I urge you, brothers, to listen patiently to my encouraging message, for I have written you a short letter.