how can we, of all people, expect to escape, if we disregard so great a Salvation? It was the Master who at the outset spoke of this Salvation, and its authority was confirmed for us by those who heard him,

but Christ [was faithful] as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast to our confidence and the hope we can be proud of.

but encourage one another every day, as long as we can still speak of Today, so that no one of you may have his heart hardened by the pleasantness of sin.

So while we can still speak of Today, if you hear him speak, do not harden your hearts, as they provoked him by doing.

For God's Message is full of life and power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.

And there is, no created thing, can be secreted before him, but, all things, are naked and exposed to his eyes: - as to whom is, our discourse.

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

For we don't have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.

So, we should approach, with confidence, God's throne of unearned favor, so we can receive mercy and obtain that favor to help us when we need it.

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of people in the things relating to God, in order that he can offer both gifts and sacrifices on behalf of sins,

Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

he is obliged to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for those of the people. besides, no man can assume

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.

It is my heart's desire that each of you would prove equally keen upon realizing your full hope to the very end,

So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false;

That hope we have as an anchor of the soul--an anchor that can neither break nor drag. It passes in behind the veil,

Where Jesus has gone before us, as a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

without father, without mother, without kin, and hath neither beginning of his time, neither yet end of his life: but is likened unto the son of God, and continueth a priest forever.

Now no one can dispute that it is the superior who blesses the inferior.

We can say that through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes,

(for the Law made nothing perfect), and there is introduced a better Hope, by means of which we can draw near to God.

and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can't speak now in detail.

which, as a symbol, remains to the present time, in which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that can not make perfect, as it respects the conscience, him that does the service;

And has gone once and for ever into the holy place, having got eternal salvation, not through the blood of goats and young oxen, but through his blood.

For if the blood of goats and of bulls, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkled on the unclean, can cleanse them from external impurities;

Therefore, Christ is the Mediator of a New Agreement, so that [all] those people who have been called [by God] can receive the promise of the never ending inheritance. [This is possible because] a death has taken place for the redemption of [people's] sins who lived under the first Agreement.

and not in order that he can offer himself many times, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary {year by year} with blood not his own,

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

let us hold the hope we avow without wavering (for we can rely on him who gave us the Promise);

And we should consider how we can stir up one another to love [more] and to perform good deeds.

not neglecting--as some habitually do--to meet together, but encouraging one another, and doing this all the more since you can see the day of Christ approaching.

Remember, if we sin willfully after we have gained a full knowledge of the Truth, there can be no further sacrifice for sin;

A man who has gone against the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the word of two or three witnesses:

But remember the earlier days, when, after being [spiritually] enlightened, you [patiently] endured a great conflict of sufferings,

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

And through faith the Righteous man shall find his Life, But, if a man draws back, my heart can find no pleasure in him.'

But we are not people who shrink back and perish, but are among those who believe and gain possession of their souls.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

so that even a single person whose vigour was gone, gave rise to a posterity as numerous as the stars of the sky, or the sands on the sea-shore, which cannot be numbred.

And if they had been thinking of that country from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after the people had gone around them for seven days.

By faith Rahab, the loose woman, was not put to death with those who had gone against God's orders, because she had taken into her house in peace those sent to see the land.

And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

Women received back their dead by resurrection. But others were tortured, not accepting release, in order that they might gain a better resurrection.

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them [for it]; should we not much rather submit to the Father of our spirits [i.e., God], so we can live [spiritually]?

For they disciplined [us] for a few days according to what seemed [appropriate] to them, but he [does so] for our benefit, in order that [we] can have a share in his holiness.

make straight paths for your feet," so that crippled limbs will not remain [permanently] disabled, but rather will be healed. [Note: The idea here is "remove all barriers to spiritual growth so you can live a faithful life"].

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

Be careful that no one fails to gain God's favor, or some poisonous root may come up to trouble and contaminate you all??16 some immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his very birthright for one single meal.

For you have not come [as did the Israelites in the wilderness] to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging windstorm,

and to the church of the firstborn ones [i.e., those who have received an inheritance from their Father], whose names are recorded in heaven. [See Luke 10:20]. [You have come] to God, who is the Judge of all people, and to the spirits of righteous people who have become [morally] perfect [i.e., that great company of God's people who have gone on to their heavenly reward],

Take care not to refuse to listen to him who is speaking. For if they could not escape because they would not listen to him who warned them here on earth, how much less can we, who reject him who is from heaven!

Now this [expression], “Yet once more,” indicates the removal and final transformation of all those things which can be shaken—that is, of that which has been created—so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can't be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,

So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently say,

“The Lord is my Helper [in time of need], I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?”

Obey your leaders and submit [to them], for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not [with] groaning, for this [would be] unprofitable for you.

And I urge you people earnestly to do this [i.e., pray for me], so that I can be sent back to you sooner [i.e., by God's providence].