[Although] God spoke long ago in many parts and in many ways to the fathers by the prophets,

in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all [things], through whom also he made the world,

who is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, sustaining all [things] by the word of power. [When he] had made purification for sins through him, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

having become by so much better than the angels, by as much as he has inherited a more excellent name than theirs.

For to which of the angels did he ever say, "You are my son, today I have begotten you," and again, "I will be {his father}, and he will be {my son}"?

and like a robe you will roll them up, and like a garment they will be changed; but you are the same, and your years will not run out."

Because of this, [it is] all the more necessary [that] we pay attention to the [things] we have heard, lest we drift away.

how will we escape [if we] neglect so great a salvation which had [its] beginning [when it] was spoken through the Lord [and] was confirmed to us by those who heard,

[while] God was testifying at the same time by signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his will.

Therefore he was obligated to be made like his brothers in all [respects], in order that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things relating to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.

For every house is built by someone, but the one who built all [things] [is] God.

And Moses [was] faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony to the things that would be spoken,

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.

where your fathers tested [me] by trial and saw my works

Watch out, brothers, lest there be in some of you an evil, unbelieving heart, [with the result that you] fall away from the living God.

But encourage one another {day by day}, as long as it is called "today," so that {none of you become hardened} by the deception of sin.

again he ordains a certain day, today, speaking by David after so long a time, just as had been said before, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

being able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and led astray, since he himself also is surrounded by weakness,

And someone does not take for himself the honor, but is called by God, just as Aaron also [was].

being designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

For indeed, [although you] ought to be teachers {by this time}, you have need of someone to teach you again the beginning elements of the oracles of God, and {you have need of} milk, not solid food.

For God [is] not unjust, [so as] to forget your work and the love which you demonstrated for his name [by] having served the saints, and continuing to serve [them].

in order that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and patience.

For [when] God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself,

And so, [by] persevering, he obtained the promise.

For people swear by what is greater [than themselves], and the oath for confirmation [is the] end of all dispute for them.

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

Thus if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood, for on the basis of it the people received the law, what further need [is there] for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not said to be according to the order of Aaron?

And by as much as [this was] not without an oath (for these on the one hand {have become priests} without an oath,

but he with an oath by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You [are] a priest {forever}'"),

by so much more Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

And indeed many {have become} priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing [in office],

Now if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, [because there] are those who offer the gifts according to the law,

But now he has attained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted upon better promises.

not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took hold of them by my hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

For this [is] the covenant that I will decree with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I am putting my laws in their minds and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be {their} God and they will be {my} people.

For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings, and I will not remember their sins [any] longer."

In calling [it] new, he has declared the former [to be old]. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old [is] near to disappearing.

But Christ has arrived [as] a high priest of the good [things] to come. Through the greater and more perfect tent not made by hands, that is, not of this creation,

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

For where [there is] a will, [it is] a necessity [for] the death of the one who made the will to be established.

For [when] every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, [he] took the blood of calves with water and scarlet wool and hyssop [and] sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,

Therefore [it was] necessary [for] the sketches of the [things] in heaven to be purified with these [sacrifices], but the heavenly [things] themselves [to be purified] with better sacrifices than these.

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,

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,

since it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

For the law, possessing a shadow of the good [things] that are about to come, not the form of things itself, [is] never able {year by year} by means of the same sacrifices which they offer without interruption to make perfect those who draw near.

For otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the ones who worship, having been purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

But in them [there is] a reminder of sins {year by year}.

by which will we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.

Therefore, brothers, [since we] have confidence for the entrance into the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,

[by the] new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh,

not abandoning {our meeting together}, as [is] the habit of some, but encouraging [each other], and by so much more as you see the day drawing near.

How much worse punishment do you think the person will be considered worthy of who treats with disdain the Son of God and who considers ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy and who insults the Spirit of grace?

But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul is not well pleased with him."

For by this the people of old were approved.

By faith we understand the worlds were created by the word of God, in order that what is seen did not come into existence from what is visible.

By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain, by which he was approved that he was righteous, [because] God approved [him] for his gifts, and through it he still speaks, [although he] is dead.

By faith Enoch was taken up, so that he did not experience death, and he was not found, because God took him up. For before his removal, he had been approved {as having been pleasing} to God.

By faith Noah, having been warned about things not yet seen, out of reverence constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family, by which he pronounced sentence on the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith Abraham, [when he] was called, obeyed to go out to a place that he was going to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived in the land of promise as a stranger, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise.

By faith also, {with Sarah}, he received {the ability to procreate} even {past the normal age}, because he regarded the one who had promised [to be] faithful.

And therefore these were fathered from one man, and [he] being as good as dead, as the stars of heaven in number and like the innumerable sand by the shore of the sea.

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

By faith Abraham, [when he] was tested, offered Isaac, and the one who received the promises was ready to offer his one and only [son],

with reference to whom it was said, "In Isaac your descendants will be named,"

By faith also Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things that were going to happen.

By faith Jacob, [as he] was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, [leaning] on the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph, [as he] was dying, mentioned about the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave instructions about his bones.

By faith Moses, [when he] was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw the child [was] handsome, and they were not afraid of the edict of the king.

By faith Moses, [when he] was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

choosing instead to be mistreated with the people of God [rather] than to experience the transitory enjoyment of sin,

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the anger of the king, for he persevered as [if he] saw the invisible one.

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

By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; the Egyptians, {when they made the attempt}, were drowned.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down [after they] had been marched around for seven days.

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, [because she] welcomed the spies in peace.

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

They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by murder with a sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, impoverished, afflicted, mistreated,

[because] God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

For consider the one who endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary in your souls [and] give up.

And have you completely forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons? "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, or give up [when you] are corrected by him.

Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.

and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Take care [that] no one falls short of the grace of God; [that] no one growing up [like] a root of bitterness causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;

[that] no one [be] a sexually immoral or totally worldly [person] like Esau, who for one meal traded his own birthright.

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

and to the noise of a trumpet, and to the sound of words which those who heard begged [that] not [another] word be spoken to them.

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

Therefore, [since we] are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence.

Marriage [must be] held in honor by all, and the marriage bed [be] undefiled, because God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.

Your lifestyle [must be] free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, "I will never desert you, and I will never abandon you."

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

Do not be carried away by various and strange teachings, for [it is] good [for] the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods by which those who participate have not benefited.

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sins are burned up outside the camp.

Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, in order that he might sanctify the people by his own blood.

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 especially urge [you] to do this, so that I may be restored to you more quickly.