For to which of the angels did God ever say-- 'Thou art my Son; this day I have become thy Father'? or again-- 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son'?

Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity; Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the festal oil more abundantly than thy peers.'

Again-- 'Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

They shall perish, but thou remainest; As a garment they shall all grow old;

As a mantle thou wilt fold them up, And as a garment they shall be changed, But thou art the same, and thy years shall know no end.'

To which of the angels has God ever said-- 'Sit thou at my right hand until I put thy enemies as a stool for thy feet'?

No; a writer has declared somewhere-- 'What is Man that thou shouldst remember him? Or a Son of Man that thou shouldst regard him?

Thou hast made him, for a while, lower than angels; With glory and honour thou hast crowned him; Thou hast set him over all that thy hands have made;

Thou hast placed all things beneath his feet.' This 'placing of everything' under man means that there was nothing which was not placed under him. As yet, however, we do not see everything placed under man.

In the same way, even the Christ did not take the honour of the High Priesthood upon himself, but he was appointed by him who said to him-- 'Thou art my Son; this day I have become thy Father';

and on another occasion also-- 'Thou art a priest for all time of the order of Melchizedek.'

for that is the meaning of the declaration-- 'Thou art for all time a priest of the order of Melchizedek.'

but his appointment was ratified by an oath, when God said to him-- 'The Lord has sworn, and will not change, "Thou art a priest for all time."'

(These priests, it is true, are engaged in a service which is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly realities, as is shown by the directions given to Moses when he was about to construct the Tabernacle. 'Look to it,' are the words, 'that thou make every part in accordance with the pattern shown thee on the mountain.')

That is why, when he was coming into the world, the Christ declared-- 'Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire, but thou dost provide for me a body;

Thou dost take no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.

First come the words-- 'Thou dost not desire, nor dost thou take pleasure in, sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin' (offerings regularly made under the Law),