You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you.

But of which of the angels has he said at any time, Take your seat at my right hand till I put all those who are against you under your feet?

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?

how shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation, which, having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard;

God also testified, along with those people, by [giving them] both signs and wonders and various miracles, and by [supernatural] gifts distributed [to them] by the Holy Spirit, as He desired.

For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

and might set free all those who through fear of death through the whole of their life were subject to bondage.

Wherefore he ought in all things to be made like to his brethren, in order to become a merciful and faithful high-priest in those things which relate to God, to make a propitiation for the sins of the people:

for, in that himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to help those that are being tempted.

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

For who were they who heard and yet provoked Him [with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

And with whom was he wroth forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to those who had not hearkened to the word?

For indeed we have had glad tidings presented to us, even as they also; but the word of the report did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard.

For we who believe [that is, we who personally trust and confidently rely on God] enter that rest [so we have His inner peace now because we are confident in our salvation, and assured of His power], just as He has said,

“As I swore [an oath] in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,”

[this He said] although His works were completed from the foundation of the world [waiting for all who would believe].

Seeing therefore it remains that some enter into it, and those who first received the glad tidings did not enter in on account of not hearkening to the word,

For the one who has once entered His rest has also rested from [the weariness and pain of] his [human] labors, just as God rested from [those labors uniquely] His own.

Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience [as those who died in the wilderness].

Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.

able to be gentle to those ignorant and going astray, since himself also is compassed with infirmity;

and because of this [human weakness] he is required to offer sacrifices for sins, for himself as well as for the people.

And though he were God's son, yet learned he obedience, by those things which he suffered,

and having been made perfect, he did become to all those obeying him a cause of salvation age-during,

For though ye ought for the time to be teachers of others, ye have again need that some one teach you the leading principles of the oracles of God; and are become as those who need milk, and not solid food.

By people who live on milk I mean those who are imperfectly acquainted with the teaching concerning righteousness.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Therefore omitting for the present the principles of the christian doctrine, we shall proceed to something more sublime, without mentioning those fundamental articles of repentance from destructive vices, and of divine faith:

for it is impossible that those,

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

if those, I say, fell away, it would be impossible to bring them again to repentance; they would be crucifying the Son of God over again for themselves, and exposing him to open contempt.

For ground which drinks the rain which comes often upon it, and produces useful herbs for those for whose sakes also it is tilled, partakes of blessing from God;

that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience have been inheritors of the promises.

In the same way God, in His desire to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His purpose, intervened and guaranteed it with an oath,

which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. Which hope also entereth in, into those things which are within the veil,

and those, indeed, out of the sons of Levi receiving the priesthood, a command have to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, their brethren, even though they came forth out of the loins of Abraham;

And inasmuch as it is not apart from oath, (for those indeed apart from oath are become priests,

(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)

and those indeed are many who have become priests, because by death they are hindered from remaining;

Whence also he is able to save completely those who approach by him to God, always living to intercede for them.

Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

Now the principal thing among those of which we are speaking is this: We have such a highpriest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the law;

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

but into the second once a year only the chief priest [enters], not without blood, which he offers for his errors and those of the people,

for if the blood of bulls, and goats, and ashes of an heifer, sprinkling those defiled, doth sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,

And because of this, of a new covenant he is mediator, that, death having come, for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, those called may receive the promise of the age-during inheritance,

For a will [is] in force concerning those who are dead, since [it is] never in force when the one who made the will is alive.

It is then need that the similitudes of heavenly things, be purified with such things: but the heavenly things themselves are purified with better sacrifices than are those.

thus the Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear to those that look for him the second time without sin for salvation.

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

since, would they not have ceased to be offered, because of those serving having no more conscience of sins, having once been purified?

But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

Previously saying, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn't desire, neither had pleasure in them" (those which are offered according to the law),

for by one offering he hath perfected to the end those sanctified;

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

but a kind of awful and terrifying expectation of [divine] judgment and the fury of a fire and burning wrath which will consume the adversaries [those who put themselves in opposition to God].

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 you must continue to remember those earlier days, how after you were enlightened you endured a hard and painful struggle.

on the one hand, when ye were made a spectacle both in reproaches and afflictions; and on the other, when ye became partakers with those who were passing through them.

For you showed sympathy and deep concern for those who were imprisoned, and you joyfully accepted the [unjust] seizure of your belongings and the confiscation of your property, conscious of the fact that you have a better possession and a lasting one [prepared for you in heaven].

and we are not of those drawing back to destruction, but of those believing to a preserving of soul.

and apart from faith it is impossible to please well, for it behoveth him who is coming to God to believe that He is, and to those seeking Him He becometh a rewarder.

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.

for those saying such things make manifest that they seek a country;

By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood [on the doorposts], so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them (the firstborn of Israel).

by faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who disbelieved, having received the spies with peace.

Need I add anything more? Time would fail me if I attempted to relate the stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, and those of David, Samuel, and the Prophets.

Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted, compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured such hostility directed against Him by sinners.

for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines: and He scourges every son whom He acknowledges."

For those men indeed for a few days chastened us according to that which seemed good to them, but he for that which is advantageous, in order to be partakers of his holiness.

But no chastening at the time seems to be matter of joy, but of grief; but afterwards yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.

and a sound of a trumpet, and a voice of sayings, which those having heard did entreat that a word might not be added to them,

For those people could not stand [hearing] the command [Ex. 19:12f], "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned [to death]."

To the great meeting and church of the first of those who are named in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of good men made complete,

See that ye refuse not him that speaks. For if those did not escape who had refused him who uttered the oracles on earth, much more we who turn away from him who does so from heaven:

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Remember prisoners, as bound with them; those that are evil-treated, as being yourselves also in the body.

Let marriage be kept honorable in every way, and the marriage bed undefiled. For God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery.

Be mindful of those leading you, who did speak to you the word of God, whose faith -- considering the issue of the behaviour -- be imitating,

Be not carried away with various and strange doctrines; for it is good that the heart be confirmed with grace, not meats; those who have walked in which have not been profited by them.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle (sacred tent) have no right to eat.

For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.

For by him offer we the sacrifice of praise always to God: that is to say, the fruit of those lips, which confess his name.

Obey your leaders, and be submissive; for they watch over your souls as those that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.

Salute all those leading you, and all the saints; salute you doth those from Italy: