For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my son! Today I have fathered you"? And in another place he says, "I will be his father and he will be my son."

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing."

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

"Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, 'Their hearts are always wandering and they have not known my ways.'

For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end.

Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my anger, 'They will never enter my rest!'" And yet God's works were accomplished from the foundation of the world.

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

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

For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.

So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, who said to him, "You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,"

On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing.

For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God's utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food.

For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

and then have committed apostasy, to renew them again to repentance, since they are crucifying the Son of God for themselves all over again and holding him up to contempt.

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name, in having served and continuing to serve the saints.

so that we who have found refuge in him may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which reaches inside behind the curtain,

And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen, although they too are descendants of Abraham.

So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood -- for on that basis the people received the law -- what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron's order?

And since this was not done without a sworn affirmation -- for the others have become priests without a sworn affirmation,

For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

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

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.

for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice.

For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin?

"Then I said, 'Here I am: I have come -- it is written of me in the scroll of the book -- to do your will, O God.'"

then he says, "Here I am: I have come to do your will." He does away with the first to establish the second.

By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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

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

let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls.

In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.

You have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed in your struggle against sin.

And have you forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons? "My son, do not scorn the Lord's discipline or give up when he corrects you.

But if you do not experience discipline, something all sons have shared in, then you are illegitimate and are not sons.

Besides, we have experienced discipline from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life?

For you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind

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

and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect,

Do not neglect hospitality, because through it some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Your conduct must be free from the love of money and you must be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you and I will never abandon you."

Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, which have never benefited those who participated in them.

We have an altar that those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat from.

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

And do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to conduct ourselves rightly in every respect.

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, bear with my message of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you briefly.