For we who have believed are admitted to that Rest, of which he said, "As I made oath in my anger, They shall never be admitted to my Rest!" And yet God's work was finished at the creation of the world,

so that by these two unalterable things, which make it impossible for God to break his promise, we who have taken refuge with him may be greatly encouraged to seize upon the hope that is offered to us.

to whom Abraham apportioned one tenth of all the spoil, who is first, as his name shows, king of righteousness and then king of Salem, which means king of peace??3 with no father or mother or ancestry, and with no beginning to his days nor end to his life, but like no one but the Son of God, continues as priest forever.

For he of whom all this was said was related to a tribe no member of which ever officiated at the altar.

For it is perfectly clear that our Lord sprang from the tribe of Judah, with reference to which Moses said nothing at all about priests.

(for there was nothing final about the Law), and a better hope begins to dawn, through which we may approach God.

the agreement which he guarantees is better than the old one,

For the Law appoints to the high priesthood men full of imperfection; but this utterance about the making of the oath, which came long after the Law, appoints a son, fully qualified to be high priest forever.

to officiate as priest in the sanctuary and in that true tent of worship which not man but the Lord himself set up.

But, as it is, the priestly service to which Christ has been appointed is as much better than the old as the agreement established by him and the promises on which it is based are superior to the former ones.

For a tent was erected, with the lamp and the table and the presentation bread in the outer part, which was called the sanctuary.

and above the chest were the winged creatures of the Divine Presence overshadowing the lid on which the blood was sprinkled??f which I cannot now speak in detail.

But when Christ came, as the high priest of the better system under which we live, he went once for all, through that greater, more perfect tent of worship not made by human hands nor a part of our material creation, into the sanctuary,

saying, "This blood ratifies the agreement which God has commanded me to make with you."

At first he says, "You never wished or cared for sacrifices or offerings, or burnt-offerings or sacrifices for sin"??ll of which the Law prescribes??9 and then he adds, "See, I have come to do your will!" He is taking away the old to put the new in its place.

by the new, living way which he has opened for us, through the curtain, that is, his physical nature,

but only the dreadful prospect of judgment and that blazing indignation which is to devour God's enemies.

How much worse a punishment do you think will anyone deserve who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and treats as worthless the blood of the agreement by which he has been purified, and outrages God's spirit of mercy?

Faith led Noah, when he was warned by God of things no one then saw, in obedience to the warning to build an ark in which to save his family, and by such faith he condemned the world, and came to possess that uprightness which faith produces.

Faith enabled Abraham to obey when God summoned him to leave his home for a region which he was to have for his own, and to leave home without knowing where he was going.

And if it had been the country from which they had come to which their thoughts turned back, they would have found an opportunity to return to it.

Therefore, let us too, with such a crowd of witnesses about us, throw off every impediment and the entanglement of sin, and run with determination the race for which we are entered,

But if you have none of that discipline which all sons undergo, you are illegitimate children, and not true sons.

Try to be at peace with everyone, and strive for that consecration without which no one can see the Lord.

You must not be carried away with strange varieties of teaching. The true way to steadfastness of heart is through God's mercy, not through scruples about food, which have never done their adherents any good.

Our altar is one at which those who serve the tent of worship have no right to eat.

Obey your leaders and give way to them, for they are keeping watch in defense of your souls, as men accountable for the trust. Make their work a joy and not a grief, for that would be the worse for you.

May God, the giver of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus who through the blood by which he ratified the everlasting agreement has become the great shepherd of the sheep,

Remember us to all your leaders and to all your fellow-Christians. The brothers from Italy wish to be remembered to you.