He is the reflection of God's glory, and the representation of his being, and bears up the universe by his mighty word. He has effected man's purification from sin, and has taken his seat on high at the right hand of God's Majesty,

For to what angel did God ever say, "You are my Son! I have today become your Father"? Or again, "I will become his Father, and he shall become my Son"?

But of the time when he is to bring his firstborn Son back to the world he says, "And let all God's angels bow before him."

But to what angel did he ever say, 'Sit at my right hand, Until I make your enemies a footstool for you"?

while God himself corroborated their testimony with signs, portents, and various wonders, and by impartations of the holy Spirit when he saw fit.

You have put everything under his feet!" In thus making everything subject to man, God left nothing that was not subjected to him. But we do not as yet see everything made subject to him,

but we do see Jesus, who was "made for a little while inferior to angels, crowned with glory and honor" because he suffered death, so that by the favor of God he might taste the bitterness of death on behalf of every human being.

and say, "I will tell your name to my brothers, In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise";

And so he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might prove a compassionate high priest as well as one faithful in his service to God, in order to forgive the people's sins.

Now the faithfulness of Moses in all the house of God was that of a servant, in faithfully repeating what he was told to say;

but Christ's faithfulness was that of a son set over the house of God. And we are that house, if we keep up our courage and our triumphant hope to the very end.

Where your forefathers put my doings to the proof for forty years, Though they saw them all the time.

See to it, my brothers, that no one of you has a wicked, unbelieving heart, that turns away from the ever-living God,

but encourage one another every day, as long as we can still speak of Today, so that no one of you may have his heart hardened by the pleasantness of sin.

So while we can still speak of Today, if you hear him speak, do not harden your hearts, as they provoked him by doing.

So we see that it was their unbelief that kept them from being admitted to it.

For we who have believed are admitted to that Rest, of which he said, "As I made oath in my anger, They shall never be admitted to my Rest!" And yet God's work was finished at the creation of the world,

So there must still be a promised Sabbath of Rest for God's people.

For all who are admitted to God's Rest rest after their work, just as God did after his.

Let us, therefore, make every effort to be admitted to that Rest, so that none of us may fail through such disobedience as theirs.

No being created can escape God's sight, but everything is bare and helpless before the eyes of him with whom we have to reckon.

So let us come with courage to God's throne of grace to receive his forgiveness and find him responsive when we need his help.

So even Christ did not claim for himself the dignity of the high priesthood, but he was appointed to it by him who said to him, "You are my Son! I have today become your Father!"

I have much to say to you about this, but it is difficult to make it clear to you, because you have become so slow of apprehension.

Ground that drinks in frequent showers and produces vegetation that is of use to those for whom it is cultivated receives God's blessing.

But about you, dear friends, even though we say this, we are sure of better things that promise salvation.

For God is not so unjust as to forget the work you have done and the love you have showed for his cause, in giving help to your fellow-Christians as you still do.

so that you may never grow careless, but may learn to follow the example of those who through their faith and endurance are the possessors of God's promises.

For when God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to make oath by, he did so by himself,

And so after waiting patiently, he received what God had promised him.

so that by these two unalterable things, which make it impossible for God to break his promise, we who have taken refuge with him may be greatly encouraged to seize upon the hope that is offered to us.

Now see how great this man must have been to have the patriarch Abraham give him a tenth of the spoil.

for none of Abraham's posterity was yet begotten at the time of his meeting with Melchizedek.

So an earlier regulation is abrogated because it was poor and ineffective

And in proportion as Jesus was not appointed priest without God's making oath to it,

But he continues forever, and so his priesthood is untransferable.

Now the main point in what I am saying is this: We have such a high priest as this, and he has taken his seat in heaven at the right hand of God's Majesty,

But every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so this high priest also must have some sacrifice to offer.

But in his dissatisfaction with them he says, " 'See! the time is coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will conclude a new agreement with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

Not like the one that I made with their forefathers, On the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt, For they would not abide by their agreement with me, So I paid no attention to them,' says the Lord.

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;

but only the high priest could enter the inner part, and he but once a year, and never without taking some victim's blood, to offer on his own behalf and for the sins committed through ignorance by the people.

So even the old agreement could not be ratified without the use of blood.

so the Christ too, after being offered in sacrifice once for all to carry away the sins of many, will appear again but without any burden of sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him to come and save them.

For while the Law foreshadowed the blessings that were to come, it did not fully express them, and so the priests by offering the same sacrifices endlessly year after year cannot wholly free those who come to worship from their sins.

So I said, 'See, I have come! as the Book of the Law says of me, O God, to do your will!' "

At first he says, "You never wished or cared for sacrifices or offerings, or burnt-offerings or sacrifices for sin"??ll of which the Law prescribes??9 and then he adds, "See, I have come to do your will!" He is taking away the old to put the new in its place.

And it is through his doing of God's will that we have been once for all purified from sin through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ in sacrifice.

Every other priest stands officiating day after day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices, though they were powerless ever to remove people's sins.

But Christ has offered for all time one sacrifice for sin, and has taken his seat at God's right hand,

By observing one another, let us arouse ourselves to rival one another's love and good deeds.

Let us not neglect meeting together as some do, but let us encourage one another, all the more as you can see that the great Day is coming nearer.

For if we choose to go on sinning after we have so fully learned the truth, there is no sacrifice left to be offered for our sins,

but only the dreadful prospect of judgment and that blazing indignation which is to devour God's enemies.

How much worse a punishment do you think will anyone deserve who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and treats as worthless the blood of the agreement by which he has been purified, and outrages God's spirit of mercy?

but you will need endurance if you are to carry out God's will and receive the blessing he has promised.

Faith means the assurance of what we hope for; it is our conviction about things that we cannot see.

For it was by it that the men of old gained God's approval.

It is faith that enables us to see that the universe was created at the command of God, so that the world we see did not simply arise out of matter.

Faith made Abel's sacrifice greater in the sight of God than Cain's; through faith he gained God's approval as an upright man, for God himself approved his offering, and through faith even when he was dead he still spoke.

Faith led Noah, when he was warned by God of things no one then saw, in obedience to the warning to build an ark in which to save his family, and by such faith he condemned the world, and came to possess that uprightness which faith produces.

And so from one man, for any prospect of descendants as good as dead, there sprang a people in number like the stars in the heavens or the countless sands on the seashore.

All these people lived all their lives in faith, and died without receiving what had been promised; they only saw it far ahead and welcomed the sight of it, recognizing that they themselves were only foreigners and strangers here on earth.

Faith enabled Abraham, when he was put to the test, to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had accepted God's promises was ready to sacrifice his only son,

Faith made Jacob when he was dying give a blessing to each of Joseph's sons, and bow in worship even while leaning on his staff.

Faith led Moses' parents to hide him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child and they would not respect the edict of the king.

Faith made Moses, when he was grown up, refuse to be known as a son of Pharaoh's daughter,

for he preferred sharing the hardships of God's people to a short-lived enjoyment of sin,

Faith made him leave Egypt, unafraid of the king's anger, for he persevered as though he saw him who is unseen.

Faith enabled them to cross the Red Sea as though it were dry land, although the Egyptians when they tried to follow them across it were drowned.

Yet though they all gained God's approval by their faith, they none of them received what he had promised,

and you have forgotten the challenge addressed to you as God's sons, "My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, Or give up when he corrects you.

When our earthly fathers disciplined us we treated them with respect; should we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so have life?

So tighten your loosening hold! Stiffen your wavering stand!

And keep your feet in straight paths, so that limbs that are lame may not be dislocated but instead be cured.

Try to be at peace with everyone, and strive for that consecration without which no one can see the Lord.

Be careful that no one fails to gain God's favor, or some poisonous root may come up to trouble and contaminate you all??16 some immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his very birthright for one single meal.

and so awful was the sight that Moses said, "I am aghast and appalled!"

to the solemn gathering of all God's elder sons, enrolled as citizens in heaven, to a judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of upright men now at last enjoying the fulfilment of their hopes,

to Jesus the negotiator of a new agreement, and to sprinkled blood that speaks more powerfully than even Abel's.

Let us, therefore, be thankful that the kingdom given to us cannot be shaken, and so please God by worshiping him with reverence and awe;

Do not forget to be hospitable to strangers, for by being so some, without knowing it, have had angels as their guests.

So that we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can men do to me?"

Do not forget your former leaders, the men who brought you God's message. Remember how they ended their lives and imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same today that he was yesterday, and he will be so forever.

You must not be carried away with strange varieties of teaching. The true way to steadfastness of heart is through God's mercy, not through scruples about food, which have never done their adherents any good.

And so Jesus too, in order to purify the people by his blood, suffered death outside the city gate.

In his name let us continually offer praise as our sacrifice to God??he utterance of lips that glorify God's name.

You must know that our brother Timothy has been released from prison. If he comes here soon, we will see you together.