and so might deliver all those who, from fear of death, had all their lives been living in slavery.

He has been deemed worthy of far higher honour than Moses, just as the founder of the House is held in greater regard than the House itself.

Our High Priest is not one unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has in every way been tempted, exactly as we have been, but without sinning.

Nor does any one take that high office upon himself, till he has been called to do so by God, as Aaron was.

But 'solid food' is for Christians of mature faith--those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish right from wrong.

If, then, Perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood--and it was under this priesthood that the people received the Law--why was it still necessary that a priest of a different order should appear, a priest of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?

To sum up what I have been saying:--Such is the High Priest that we have, one who 'has taken his seat at the right hand' of the throne of God's Majesty in Heaven,

If that first Covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

For, if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, purify those who have been defiled (as far as ceremonial purification goes),

For, when every command had been announced to all the people by Moses in accordance with the Law, he took the blood of the calves and of the goats, with water, scarlet wool, and a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled even the Book of the Law, as well as all the people,

Otherwise, would not the offering of these sacrifices have been abandoned, as the worshipers, having been once purified, would have had their consciences clear from sins?

And it is in the fulfillment of the will of God that we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, of the body of Jesus Christ.

and has since then been waiting 'for his enemies to be put as a stool for his feet.'

Sometimes, in consequence of the taunts and injuries heaped upon you, you became a public spectacle; and sometimes you suffered through having shown yourselves to be the friends of men who were in the very position in which you had been.

If they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they could have found opportunities to return.

of whom it had been said-- 'It is through Isaac that there shall be descendants to bear thy name.'

Faith enabled the people to cross the Red Sea, as if it had been dry land, while the Egyptians, when they attempted to do so, were drowned.

No discipline is pleasant at the time; on the contrary, it is painful. But afterwards its fruit is seen in the peacefulness of a righteous life which is the lot of those who have been trained under it.

You will be glad to hear that our Brother, Timothy, has been set free. If he comes here soon, we will visit you together.