You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness;
this is why God, Your God,
has anointed You
with the oil of joy
rather than Your companions.

for 40 years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known My ways.”

for somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way:

And on the seventh day
God rested from all His works.

Because of this, he must make a sin offering for himself as well as for the people.

No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand.

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.

And we will do this if God permits.

Even though we are speaking this way, dear friends, in your case we are confident of the better things connected with salvation.

We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

For this Melchizedek—

King of Salem, priest of the Most High God,
who met Abraham and blessed him
as he returned from defeating the kings,

Now consider how great this man was—even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunder to him!

But one without this lineage collected tenths from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.

And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears,

None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath,

For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all when He offered Himself.

Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

But 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 minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be My people.

With these things set up this way, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry.

This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.

But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation),

saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.

He did not do this to offer Himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.

And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—

By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after He says:

This is the covenant I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws on their hearts
and write them on their minds,

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.

By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned.

This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain.

Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.

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 grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Brothers, I urge you to receive this message of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.