Even as to the messengers, indeed, he saith - Who maketh his messengers, winds, and his ministers of state, a fiery flame;

For if the word uttered through angels stood firm, so that every transgression and act of disobedience met with its just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

'Tis not therefore to the angels that he has subjected the gospel state of which we are treating.

Since then the children were made subject to a state of mortality, so he himself likewise was subject to the same condition: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

and deliver them who thro' fear of death were all their life-time in a state of slavery.

for having himself stood the test of sufferings, he is capable of being moved to relieve those who undergo such tryals.

Where your fathers tried Me by testing [My forbearance and tolerance],
And saw My works for forty years
[And found I stood their test].

So I vowed in my anger, 'They will not enter a state of rest with me.'"

And to whom did God vow that they would not enter a state of rest with Him? [Was it not] those who were disobedient to Him?

And [so] we see that they were not able to enter [a state of rest with God] because of [their] unbelief.

So, as long as God's promise of entering into a state of rest with Him [still] remains, we should fear that someone among you will appear [in the end] to have fallen short of [attaining] it. [Note: In this section "entering into rest" refers to Israel entering Canaan (verses 6, 8) and to Christians entering heaven (verses 3, 9). The "Sabbath day rest" is represented as a type of both].

Now we who have believed [will someday] enter that rest, even as God has said [Psa. 95:11], "So, I vowed in my anger, 'They will not enter a state of rest with me,'" although God's works were completed since the creation of the world.

And again, this [is recorded, Psa. 95:11], "They will not enter a state of rest with me."

There remains, therefore, a sabbath state for the people of God.

For the person who has entered into a state of rest with God has rested from his own work also, just as God rested from His.

So, we should do our best to enter into that state of rest, so that no one fails [to do so] by following the same example of disobedience [i.e., as seen in the Israelites. See verses 2, 6].

For although you ought to be teachers of others because you have been Christians so long, you actually need someone to teach you over and over again the very elements of the truths that God has given us, and you have gotten into such a state that you are in constant need of milk instead of solid food.

but he, by virtue of his immortal state, hath a priesthood that does not pass by succession.

Behind the second veil there was another tabernacle [the inner one or second section] known as the Holy of Holies,

stood the gold incense-altar and the chest that contained the agreement, entirely covered with gold, with the gold jar in it that held the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets containing the agreement;

Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

For the law being only an allusion to a future dispensation that was more excellent, and not an exact imitation of such a state, cannot by the anniversary sacrifices, which are offered, entirely purify those that present themselves.

and every priest, indeed, hath stood daily serving, and the same sacrifices many times offering, that are never able to take away sins.

Still others stood the test of taunts and tortures, and even chains and prisons.

Marriage is every where honourable, and that state is innocent: but the licentious and adulterers God will punish.