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

They will perish, but you continue. They all will grow old like a garment does.

As a cloak, you will roll them up, and like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will have no end."

Are not they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

You made him a little bit lower than the angels [i.e., a little less exalted]. [Note: Although these Psalms passages referred to mankind, they are here applied to Jesus. See verse 9]. You crowned him with splendor and honor {{some ancient manuscripts add "and placed him as ruler over what you made"}}.

For both he that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

and might free those who were slaves all their lives because they were terrified by death.

For having been put to the test himself, he is able to give help to others when they are tested.

You must not harden your hearts as they did in provoking me, as on the day in the desert they tested me,

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

Therefore I was displeased with this generation, and said, 'They always err in their heart, but they did not know my ways;'

as I swore in my wrath, 'They will not enter into my rest.'"

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

For who, when they heard, rebelled? No, did not all those who came out of Egypt by Moses?

Were they not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them who had sinned?

To whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard did not profit them, because they were not united by faith with those who heard.

For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he saith thus in a certain place, of the seventh day, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works: And in this again, They shall not enter into my rest.

and in this place again, "They will not enter into my rest."

Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter therein, and they to whom the good news was before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience,

[Now] we have many things to say about Melchizedek, but because of your slowness to grasp things, they are hard to explain.

And we will do so [i.e., go on to more advanced teaching] if God allows us to. For it is impossible to get people who have [completely] fallen away [from God] to repent again, because they [continue to] crucify for themselves God's Son all over again, and hold Him up to contempt.

For it is impossible to arouse people to a fresh repentance when they have once for all come into the light and had a taste of the gift from heaven, and shared in the holy Spirit

who tasted the goodness of God's word and the powers of the world to come, and then fell away ??6 it is impossible to make them repent afresh, since they crucify the Son of God in their own persons and hold him up to obloquy.

and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame.

but that which bringeth forth thorns and briars, is rejected and near to a curse, (whose end is burning) so are they.

For men make oath by something greater than themselves, and they accept an oath as settling finally any disagreement they may have.

They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the Law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham,

besides here they that receive tithes are men who die: but there 'twas he of whom it is testified that he liveth.

Now if the crowning blessing was attainable by means of the Levitical priesthood--for as resting on this foundation the people received the Law, to which they are still subject-- what further need was there for a Priest of a different kind to be raised up belonging to the order of Melchizedek instead of being said to belong to the order of Aaron?

And as he was not [constituted] without swearing,??21 for they were made priests without swearing, but he with swearing by him who says to him, The Lord swore, and he will not change, You are a priest forever;??22 by so much is Jesus the pledge of a better covenant.

(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him, "The Lord swore and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever.'"

Many, indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death.

For the law constitutes men high-priests, though they have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which is since the law, constitutes the Son, unto eternity completely perfect.

Further, if he were still on earth, he would not be a priest at all, for there are priests enough provided to offer the gifts the Law prescribes??5 though the service they engage in is only a shadow and imitation of that in heaven. For when Moses was going to make the tent of worship he was warned, "Be sure to make it all just like the pattern you were shown on the mountain."

and yet they officiate in a sanctuary that is a mere copy and shadow of the heavenly one, as Moses, when he was about to make the tent of worship, was warned, for, said He, "See to it that you make it all just like the pattern shown you on the mountain."

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them," says the Lord.

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent {continually} [as they] accomplish their service,

for it is merely a symbol of the present time in connection with which gifts and sacrifices are repeatedly offered though they cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect,

but deal only with foods and drinks and various washings; they are regulations for the flesh imposed until the time of setting things right.

And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that, death being suffered for the redemption of transgressions committed against the first testament, they who are called might receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.

And because by God's law death comes to men once, and after that they are judged;

For the Law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

Or else would not they have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?

They really only serve to remind the people annually of the sins they have committed,

after having said, "victims, oblations, holocausts, and sacrifice for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein," tho' they are all prescrib'd by the law;

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.

now where they are remitted, there is no need of any further oblation for sin.

How much worse then, think you, will be the punishment deserved by those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have treated the blood that rendered the Covenant valid--the very blood by which they were purified--as of no account, and who have outraged the Spirit of Love?

But faith is, of things hoped for, a confidence, of facts, a conviction, when they are not seen;

Therefore indeed they were born of one, and those things of one having died, as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sands which are by the sea, which are innumerable.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.

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

By [having] faith, when Joseph was about to die, he mentioned the Israelites' departure [from Egypt] and gave [them] instructions concerning his bones [i.e., that they were to take them back to Palestine. See Gen. 50:25].

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.

By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.

Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, received promises, shut the mouths of lions,

extinguished the force of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, they were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in battle, routed the armies of aliens.

Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

others, again, had to experience scoffs and scourging, aye chains and imprisonment ??37 they were stoned, sawn in two, and cut to pieces; they had to roam about in sheepskins and goatskins, forlorn, oppressed, ill-treated

They were stoned. They were sawed apart. They were killed with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, mistreated

of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered up and down in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caverns of the earth.

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

God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

For they indeed, for a few days, disciplined us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they who heard, earnestly begged that the discourse might not be directed to them:

for they could not stand that which was commanded, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned;"

See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,

But, the saying, Yet once for all, maketh clear the removal of the things which can be shaken, as of things done with, - that they may remain, which cannot be shaken.

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were in prison with them, as well as those who are mistreated, since they also are only mortal.

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

Be not tossed about by various and strange doctrines: for it is good to have the heart firmly established by grace, not by meats, in which observances they who have walked have found no manner of advantage.

We have an altar, of which they have no right to eat, who perform the service in the tabernacle.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Salute all your presiding ministers, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.

They of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all.