Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?

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

For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels.

You put all things under his control." For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control,

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,

For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham's descendants.

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess,

"Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.

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

As it says, "Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses' leadership?

And against whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?

So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith.

Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience.

So God again ordains a certain day, "Today," speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, "O, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts."

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

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.

Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.

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,"

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.

Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,

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 you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.

But Melchizedek who does not share their ancestry collected a tithe from Abraham and blessed the one who possessed the promise.

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?

who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent but by the power of an indestructible life.

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

but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever'" --

He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all.

a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.

Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.

"It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.

"And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, 'Know the Lord,' since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.

And above the ark were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Now is not the time to speak of these things in detail.

But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent, and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the holy place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle was standing.

This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation,

and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption.

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands -- the representation of the true sanctuary -- but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God's presence for us.

And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own,

so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.

For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.

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?

So when he came into the world, he said, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.

When he says above, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them" (which are offered according to the law),

not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.

So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward.

For you need endurance in order to do God's will and so receive what is promised.

For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay.

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

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God.

By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

But as it is, they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him for three months, because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the one who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

and women received back their dead raised to life. But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life.

(the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.

And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.

Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

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.

Endure your suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

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?

Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.

and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

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

For they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."

Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven?

Then his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven too."

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

So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

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.

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

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. Let them do this with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.