has at the end of these days spoken to us through a Son, who is the pre-destined Lord of the universe, and through whom He made the Ages.

He brightly reflects God's glory and is the exact representation of His being, and upholds the universe by His all-powerful word. After securing man's purification from sin He took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

having become as far superior to the angels as the Name He possesses by inheritance is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, "My Son art Thou: I have this day become Thy Father;" and again, "I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be My Son"?

But speaking of the time when He once more brings His Firstborn into the world, He says, "And let all God's angels worship Him."

Moreover of the angels He says, "He changes His angels into winds, and His ministering servants into a flame of fire."

But of His Son, He says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and for ever, and the sceptre of Thy Kingdom is a sceptre of absolute justice.

To which of the angels has He ever said, "Sit at My right hand till I make Thy foes a footstool for Thy feet"?

Are not all angels spirits that serve Him--whom He sends out to render service for the benefit of those who, before long, will inherit salvation?

how shall *we* escape if we are indifferent to a salvation as great as that now offered to us? This, after having first of all been announced by the Lord Himself, had its truth made sure to us by those who heard Him,

But, as we know, a writer has solemnly said, "How poor a creature is man, and yet Thou dost remember him, and a son of man, and yet Thou dost come to him!

But Jesus--who was made a little inferior to the angels in order that through God's grace He might taste death for every human being--we already see wearing a crown of glory and honour because of His having suffered death.

For it was fitting that He for whom, and through whom, all things exist, after He had brought many sons to glory, should perfect by suffering the Prince Leader who had saved them.

For both He who sanctifies and those whom He is sanctifying have all one Father; and for this reason He is not ashamed to speak of them as His brothers;

as when He says: "I will proclaim Thy name to My brothers: in the midst of the congregation I will hymn Thy praises;"

Since then the children referred to are all alike sharers in perishable human nature, He Himself also, in the same way, took on Him a share of it, in order that through death He might render powerless him who had authority over death, that is, the Devil,

For assuredly it is not to angels that He is continually reaching a helping hand, but it is to the descendants of Abraham.

And for this purpose it was necessary that in all respects He should be made to resemble His brothers, so that He might become a compassionate and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, in order to atone for the sins of the people.

For inasmuch as He has Himself felt the pain of temptation and trial, He is also able instantly to help those who are tempted and tried.

Therefore, holy brethren, sharers with others in a heavenly invitation, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whose followers we profess to be.

How faithful He was to Him who appointed Him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house!

For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, in so far as he who has built a house has higher honour than the house itself.

And to whom did He swear that they should not be admitted to His rest, if it was not to those who were disobedient?

Therefore let us be on our guard lest perhaps, while He still leaves us a promise of being admitted to His rest, some one of you should be found to have fallen short of it.

We who have believed are soon to be admitted to the true rest; as He has said, "As I swore in My anger, they shall not be admitted to My rest," although God's works had been going on ever since the creation of the world.

For, as we know, when speaking of the seventh day He has used the words, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works;"

and He has also declared, "They shall not be admitted to My rest."

He again definitely mentions a certain day, "To-day," saying long afterwards, by David's lips, in the words already quoted, "To-day, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."

For He who has been admitted to His rest, has rested from His works as God did from His.

Inasmuch, then, as we have in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High Priest who has passed into Heaven itself, let us hold firmly to our profession of faith.

For we have not a High Priest who is unable to feel for us in our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in every respect just as we are tempted, and yet did not sin.

For every High Priest is chosen from among men, and is appointed to act on behalf of men in matters relating to God, in order to offer both gifts and sin-offerings,

and must be one who is able to bear patiently with the ignorant and erring, because he himself also is beset with infirmity.

And for this reason he is required to offer sin-offerings not only for the people but also for himself.

So Christ also did not claim for Himself the honour of being made High Priest, but was appointed to it by Him who said to Him, "My Son art Thou: I have to-day become Thy Father;"

as also in another passage He says, "Thou art a priest for ever, belonging to the order of Melchizedek."

For Jesus during his earthly life offered up prayers and entreaties, crying aloud and weeping as He pleaded with Him who was able to bring Him in safety out of death, and He was delivered from the terror from which He shrank.

Although He was God's Son, yet He learned obedience from the sufferings which He endured;

and so, having been made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the source and giver of eternal salvation.

For God Himself addresses Him as a High Priest for ever, belonging to the order of Melchizedek.

and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away--

For God is not unjust so that He is unmindful of your labour and of the love which you have manifested towards Himself in having rendered services to His people and in still rendering them.

For when God gave the promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,

In the same way, since it was God's desire to display more convincingly to the heirs of the promise how unchangeable His purpose was,

He added an oath, in order that, through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for Him to prove false, we may possess mighty encouragement--we who, for safety, have hastened to lay hold of the hope set before us.

where Jesus has entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having become, like Melchizedek, a High Priest for ever.

For this man, Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the Most High God--he who when Abraham was returning after defeating the kings met him and pronounced a blessing on him--

Now think how great this priest-king must have been to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth part of the best of the spoil.

Moreover here frail mortal men receive tithes: there one receives them about whom there is evidence that he is alive.

He, however, to whom that prophecy refers is associated with a different tribe, not one member of which has anything to do with the altar.

for these men hold office without any oath having been taken, but He holds it attested by an oath from Him who said to Him, "The Lord has sworn and will not recall His words, Thou art a Priest for ever" --

but He, because He continues for ever, has a priesthood which does not pass to any successor.

Hence too He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, seeing that He ever lives to plead for them.

Moreover we needed just such a High Priest as this--holy, guileless, undefiled, far removed from sinful men and exalted above the heavens;

who, unlike other High Priests, is not under the necessity of offering up sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and afterwards for those of the people; for this latter thing He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

For the Law constitutes men High Priests--men with all their infirmity--but the utterance of the oath, which came later than the Law, constitutes High Priest a Son who has been made for ever perfect.

Now in connexion with what we have been saying the chief point is that we have a High Priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God's Majesty in the heavens,

Every High Priest, however, is appointed to offer both bloodless gifts and sacrifices. Therefore this High Priest also must have some offering to present.

If then He were still on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since here there are already those who present the offerings in obedience to the Law,

But, as a matter of fact, the ministry which Christ has obtained is all the nobler a ministry, in that He is at the same time the negotiator of a sublimer covenant, based upon sublimer promises.

By using the words, "a new Covenant," He has made the first one obsolete; but whatever is decaying and showing signs of old age is not far from disappearing altogether.

But into the second, the High Priest goes only on one day of the year, and goes alone, taking with him blood, which he offers on his own behalf and on account of the sins which the people have ignorantly committed.

But Christ appeared as a High Priest of the blessings that are soon to come by means of the greater and more perfect Tent of worship, a tent which has not been built with hands--that is to say does not belong to this material creation--

how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ, who strengthened by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God, free from blemish, purify your consciences from lifeless works for you to serve the ever-living God?

And because of this He is the negotiator of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which has been promised to them.

And a will is only of force in the case of a deceased person, being never of any avail so long as he who made it lives.

For when Moses had proclaimed to all the people every commandment contained in the Law, he took the blood of the calves and of the goats and with them water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

And in the same way he also sprinkled blood upon the Tent of worship and upon all the vessels used in the ministry.

For not into a Holy place built by men's hands--a mere copy of the reality--did Christ enter, but He entered Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor did He enter for the purpose of many times offering Himself in sacrifice, just as the High Priest enters the Holy place, year after year, taking with him blood not his own.

In that case Christ would have needed to suffer many times, from the creation of the world onwards; but as a matter of fact He has appeared once for all, at the Close of the Ages, in order to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

so the Christ also, having been once offered in sacrifice in order that He might bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, separated from sin, to those who are eagerly expecting Him, to make their salvation complete.

That is why, when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering Thou has not desired, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me.

He then adds, "I have come to do Thy will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

For by a single offering He has for ever completed the blessing for those whom He is setting free from sin.

And the Holy Spirit also gives us His testimony; for when He had said,

He adds, "And their sins and offences I will remember no longer."

by the new and ever-living way which He opened up for us through the rending of the veil--that is to say, of His earthly nature--

Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our hope, for He is faithful who gave us the promises.

How much severer punishment, think you, will he be held to deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, has not regarded as holy that Covenant-blood with which he was set free from sin, and has insulted the Spirit from whom comes grace?

But it is by faith that My righteous servant shall live; and if he shrinks back, My soul takes no pleasure in him."

Through faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain did, and through this faith he obtained testimony that he was righteous, God giving the testimony by accepting his gifts; and through it, though he is dead, he still speaks.

Through faith Enoch was taken from the earth so that he did not see death, and he could not be found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken we have evidence that he truly pleased God.

But where there is no faith it is impossible truly to please Him; for the man who draws near to God must believe that there is a God and that He proves Himself a rewarder of those who earnestly try to find Him.

Through faith Noah, being divinely taught about things as yet unseen, reverently gave heed and built an ark for the safety of his family, and by this act he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which depends on faith.

Through faith Abraham, upon being called to leave home and go into a land which he was soon to receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he was going to.

Through faith he came and made his home for a time in a land which had been promised to him, as if in a foreign country, living in tents together with Isaac and Jacob, sharers with him in the same promise;

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

but, as it is, we see them eager for a better land, that is to say, a heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has now prepared a city for them.

Through faith Abraham, as soon as God put him to the test, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had joyfully welcomed the promises was on the point of sacrificing his only son

with regard to whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that your posterity shall be traced."

For he reckoned that God is even able to raise a man up from among the dead, and, figuratively speaking, it was from among the dead that he received Isaac again.

Through faith Joseph, when he was near his end, made mention of the departure of the descendants of Israel, and gave orders about his own body.

Through faith Moses, when he grew to manhood, refused to be known as Pharaoh's daughter's son,

because he deemed the reproaches which he might meet with in the service of the Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt; for he fixed his gaze on the coming reward.

Through faith he left Egypt, not being frightened by the king's anger; for he held on his course as seeing the unseen One.

Through faith he instituted the Passover, and the sprinkling with blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.

simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself-- where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God.

and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as sons, and which say, "My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, and do not faint when He corrects you;

for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines: and He scourges every son whom He acknowledges."