Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

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."

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; because of this God, your God, has anointed you with the olive oil of joy more than your companions.

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

And God was a witness with them, by signs and wonders, and by more than natural powers, and by his distribution of the Holy Spirit at his pleasure.

For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

“Therefore I was angered with this generation,
And I said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways [nor become progressively better and more intimately acquainted with them]’;

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

For certainly enough time has elapsed so that [by now] you ought to be teachers, [but instead] you are in need of having someone teach you again the basic principles of God's message. You have become people who need "milk" and not "solid food." [Note: The fundamental truths of Christianity are here figuratively spoken of as "milk," while the more advanced teaching, such as Christ's priesthood being like Melchizedek's, is called "solid food"].

For everyone who lives on milk is [doctrinally inexperienced and] unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a spiritual infant.

Such persons are mere babes. But solid food is for adults--that is, for those who through constant practice have their spiritual faculties carefully trained to distinguish good from evil.

Wherefore, let us leave the doctrine pertaining to the beginning of a Christian man, and let us go unto perfection, and now no more lay the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

And we will do so [i.e., go on to more advanced teaching] if God allows us to. For it is impossible to get people who have [completely] fallen away [from God] to repent again, because they [continue to] crucify for themselves God's Son all over again, and hold Him up to contempt.

But though we speak in this manner, my dear brethren, we expect better things of you, and such as are more suitable to your salvation.

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

Now without any dispute the inferior is blessed by the more prominent.

And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

And so [because of the oath’s greater strength and force] Jesus has become the certain guarantee of a better covenant [a more excellent and more advantageous agreement; one that will never be replaced or annulled].

And of course those who have become priests are more, because of being prevented to continue by death,

Now were he on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law??5 those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle. "See", he says, "that you make everything on the pattern showed you on the mountain."

who serve the mere delineation and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was admonished by God when he was about to make the tabernacle; for, "See," saith he, "that thou make all things according to the pattern which was shown thee in the mount."

But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the mean man of them unto the great among them.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

And all this looked toward the present time and was symbolic of the fact that the mere offering of material gifts and sacrifices cannot inwardly qualify the worshiper to approach God,

For they [the gifts, sacrifices, and ceremonies] deal only with [clean and unclean] food and drink and various ritual washings, [mere] external regulations for the body imposed [to help the worshipers] until the time of reformation [that is, the time of the new order when Christ will establish the reality of what these things foreshadow—a better covenant].

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

For if the sprinkling of [ceremonially] defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a [burnt] heifer is sufficient for the cleansing of the body,

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

It was needful therefore that the copies of the things in Heaven should be cleansed in this way, but that the heavenly things themselves should be cleansed with more costly sacrifices.

For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a [mere] copy of the true [one], but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf,

For as the Law has a mere shadow of the bliss that is to be, instead of representing the reality of that bliss, it never can perfect those who draw near with the same annual sacrifices that are perpetually offered.

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

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

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God's Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace?

For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned, but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain.

By faith we understand that the worlds were created, beautifully coordinated, and now exist, at God's command; so the things that we see did not develop out of mere matter.

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.

But the truth is that they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. For that reason God is not ashamed [of them or] to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]; for He has prepared a city for them.

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings; yes, more, of bonds and imprisonments.

Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we submitted and respected them [for training us]; shall we not much more willingly submit to the Father of spirits, and live [by learning from His discipline]?

And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant [uniting God and man], and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance].

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

We have a victim, whereof they, who still serve at the tabernacle, have no more right to eat,

Pray for us: for we have confidence that we maintain a good conscience, in all things desirous to conduct ourselves with propriety.??19 But I entreat you the rather to do this, that I may the more speedily be restored to you.

And I exhort you the more exceedingly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Know ye that the brother Timotheus is released, with whom, if he may come more shortly, I will see you.