in these last days did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He did make the ages;

having become so much better than the messengers, as he did inherit a more excellent name than they.

For to which of the angels did the Father ever say,

“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten (fathered) You [established You as a Son, with kingly dignity]”?

And again [did He ever say to the angels],

“I shall be a Father to Him
And He shall be a Son to Me”?

And again, when God sent the Firstborn One [i.e., Jesus. See Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15, 18; Rev. 1:5] into the world, He said [Deut. 32:43 LXX], "And all of God's angels should worship Him."

thou didst love righteousness, and didst hate lawlessness; because of this did He anoint thee -- God, thy God -- with oil of gladness above thy partners;'

And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
And the heavens are the works of Your hands;

But to which of the angels did he ever say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?

for if the word being spoken through messengers did become stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience did receive a just recompense,

For not unto angels did he subject the world to come, whereof we speak.

and one in a certain place did testify fully, saying, 'What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or a son of man, that Thou dost look after him?

You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands:

all things Thou didst put in subjection under his feet,' for in the subjecting to him the all things, nothing did He leave to him unsubjected, and now not yet do we see the all things subjected to him,

and again, 'Behold I and the children that God did give to me.'

Seeing, then, the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself also in like manner did take part of the same, that through death he might destroy him having the power of death -- that is, the devil --

For, as we all know, He (Christ) does not take hold of [the fallen] angels [to give them a helping hand], but He does take hold of [the fallen] descendants of Abraham [extending to them His hand of deliverance].

wherefore it did behove him in all things to be made like to the brethren, that he might become a kind and stedfast chief-priest in the things with God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people,

being stedfast to Him who did appoint him, as also Moses in all his house,

for every house is builded by some one, and He who the all things did build is God,

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you hear His voice,

do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did in the time of the provocation on the day of the temptation in the Desert,

in which tempt Me did your fathers, they did prove Me, and saw My works forty years;

Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways;

But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication].

For we are become comrades of the Christ, if we hold our first title deed firm until the very end.

while it is said,

“Today [while there is still opportunity] if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your heart, as when they provoked Me [in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].”

For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

but with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with those who did sin, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?

and to whom did He swear that they shall not enter into His rest, except to those who did not believe? --

Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still remains and is freely offered today, let us fear, in case any one of you may seem to come short of reaching it or think he has come too late.

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

for we do enter into the rest -- we who did believe, as He said, 'So I sware in My anger, If they shall enter into My rest -- ;' and yet the works were done from the foundation of the world,

For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

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,

He again sets a definite day, [a new] “Today,” [providing another opportunity to enter that rest by] saying through David after so long a time, just as has been said before [in the words already quoted],

“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given the Israelites rest, God would not have spoken about another day later on [i.e., "Today" in Psa. 95:7].

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

For we have not a High Priest who is unable to feel for us in our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in every respect just as we are tempted, and yet did not sin.

And besides, one does not appropriate for himself the honor [of being high priest], but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

so also the Christ did not glorify himself to become chief priest, but He who spake unto him: 'My Son thou art, I to-day have begotten thee;'

Which in the days of his flesh, did offer up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death: and was also heard, because of his godliness.

through being a Son, did learn by the things which he suffered -- the obedience,

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

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

and did taste the good saying of God, the powers also of the coming age,

For God is not unjust; he will not forget the work that you did, and the love that you showed for his Name, in sending help to your fellow Christians--as you are still doing.

For to Abraham God, having made promise, seeing He was able to swear by no greater, did swear by Himself,

and so, having patiently endured, he did obtain the promise;

in which God, more abundantly willing to shew to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, did interpose by an oath,

that through two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, a strong comfort we may have who did flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us,

whither a forerunner for us did enter -- Jesus, after the order of Melchisedek chief priest having become -- to the age.

For this Melchisedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who did meet Abraham turning back from the smiting of the kings, and did bless him,

to whom also a tenth of all did Abraham divide, (first, indeed, being interpreted, 'King of righteousness,' and then also, King of Salem, which is, King of Peace,)

He has no father, mother, or genealogy, no birth date recorded for him, nor a date of death. Like the Son of God, he continues to be a priest forever.

And see how great this one is, to whom also a tenth Abraham the patriarch did give out of the best of the spoils,

But the one who did not trace [his] descent from them collected tithes from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.

For it is, very evident, that out of Judah hath sprung our Lord, - respecting which tribe, concerning priests, nothing did Moses speak,

For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever'" --

For such a chief priest did become us -- kind, harmless, undefiled, separate from the sinners, and become higher than the heavens,

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.

And the sum concerning the things spoken of is: we have such a chief priest, who did sit down at the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens,

of the holy places a servant, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord did set up, and not man,

not according to the covenant which I made to their fathers in the day of my taking their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not regard them, saith the Lord.

Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

For they [the gifts, sacrifices, and ceremonies] deal only with [clean and unclean] food and drink and various ritual washings, [mere] external regulations for the body imposed [to help the worshipers] until the time of reformation [that is, the time of the new order when Christ will establish the reality of what these things foreshadow—a better covenant].

neither through blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, did enter in once into the holy places, age-during redemption having obtained;

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

for every command having been spoken, according to law, by Moses, to all the people, having taken the blood of the calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, he both the book itself and all the people did sprinkle,

saying, as he did so-- "This is the blood that renders valid the Covenant which God has commanded to be made with you."

and both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the service with blood in like manner he did sprinkle,

for not into holy places made with hands did the Christ enter -- figures of the true -- but into the heaven itself, now to be manifested in the presence of God for us;

nor did He [enter into the heavenly sanctuary to] offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.

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.

Therefore, [when he] came into the world, he said, "Sacrifice and offering you did not want, but a body you prepared for me;

you did not delight in whole burnt offerings and [offerings] for sins.

[When he] says above, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and [offerings] for sin you did not want, nor did you delight in," which are offered according to the law,

And He, for sin one sacrifice having offered -- to the end, did sit down on the right hand of God, --

which way he did initiate for us -- new and living, through the vail, that is, his flesh --

may we hold fast the unwavering profession of the hope, (for faithful is He who did promise),

any one who did set at nought a law of Moses, apart from mercies, by two or three witnesses, doth die,

of how much sorer punishment shall he be counted worthy who the Son of God did trample on, and the blood of the covenant did count a common thing, in which he was sanctified, and to the Spirit of the grace did despite?

For we know God, who said [Deut. 32:35], "Revenge belongs to me; I will pay back [for wrongdoing]." And again [Deut. 32:36], "The Lord will judge His people."

And call to your remembrance the former days, in which, having been enlightened, ye did endure much conflict of sufferings,

for also with my bonds ye sympathised, and the robbery of your goods with joy ye did receive, knowing that ye have in yourselves a better substance in the heavens, and an enduring one.

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].

By faith we understand the worlds were created by the word of God, in order that what is seen did not come into existence from what is visible.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

By faith Enoch was translated -- not to see death, and was not found, because God did translate him; for before his translation he had been testified to -- that he had pleased God well,

By faith Noah, having been divinely warned concerning the things not yet seen, having feared, did prepare an ark to the salvation of his house, through which he did condemn the world, and of the righteousness according to faith he became heir.

By faith Abraham, being called, did obey, to go forth to the place that he was about to receive for an inheritance, and he went forth, not knowing whither he doth go;

by faith he did sojourn in the land of the promise as a strange country, in tabernacles having dwelt with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the same promise,

By faith also Sarah herself did receive power to conceive seed, and she bare after the time of life, seeing she did judge Him faithful who did promise;

Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

All these people died having faith. They did not receive the things that were promised, yet they saw them in the distant future and welcomed them, acknowledging that they were strangers and foreigners on earth.

Now those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.

but now they long for a better, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He did prepare for them a city.

By faith Abraham hath offered up Isaac, being tried, and the only begotten he did offer up who did receive the promises,

and had been told that it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be reckoned ??19 for he considered that God was able even to raise men from the dead. Hence he did get him back, by what was a parable of the resurrection.