The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority],

Or again, "I will become His Father, and He shall become my Son"? But when He brings again His first-born Son into the world, He says, "And let all the angels worship Him."

You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong, therefore God, your God [i.e., the Father], has placed you above your companions when He anointed you [i.e., specially chose you] with the oil of joy [i.e., your selection as king was a joyous occasion]."

how will we escape [if we] neglect so great a salvation which had [its] beginning [when it] was spoken through the Lord [and] was confirmed to us by those who heard,

while God himself corroborated their testimony with signs, portents, and various wonders, and by impartations of the holy Spirit when he saw fit.

You have put all things under His feet!" Now when He gave Him authority over everything, He did not leave a single thing that was not put under His authority. But as yet we do not see everything actually under His authority,

but Jesus, who was for a while inferior to the angels by his sufferings and death, we see was crown'd with glory and honour; when by the divine goodness, he had pass'd thro' death for every man.

For it was becoming in him - For the sake of whom are the all things, and by means of whom are the all things, - when, many sons, unto glory, he would lead, The Princely Leader of their salvation, through sufferings, to make perfect.

when He says: "I will announce your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise";

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

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider the Apostle and High Priest whom we confessed [as ours when we accepted Him as Savior], namely, Jesus;

Therefore, as the holy Spirit says, To-day, when you hear his voice,

Be not hard of heart, as when you made me angry, on the day of testing in the waste land,

When your forefathers tried my forbearance And saw my deeds for forty years.

As it is said, Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart, as when you made him angry.

Who made him angry when his voice came to them? was it not all those who came out of Egypt with Moses?

So let us fear that when the promise for us to be admitted to His rest is still remaining valid some one of you may be found to have missed it.

For indeed we have had the good news [of salvation] preached to us, just as the Israelites also [when the good news of the promised land came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not united with faith [in God] by those who heard.

For those of us who have belief come into his rest; even as he has said, As I said in my oath when I was angry, They may not come into my rest: though the works were done from the time of the making of the world.

For, as we know, when speaking of the seventh day He has used the words, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works;"

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.”

So let us continue coming with courage to the throne of God's unmerited favor to obtain His mercy and to find His spiritual strength to help us when we need it.

And, not unto himself, doth one take the honour, but when called by God, just as, even Aaron:

Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

And when he had been made complete, he became the giver of eternal salvation to all those who are under his orders;

For, even when ye ought to be teachers, by reason of the time, again, have ye, need, that one be teaching, you, what are the first principles of the oracles of God, and have become such as have, need, of milk, not, of strong food;

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

For when the ground soaks up rain that often falls on it and continues producing vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated, it receives a blessing from God.

For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them.

For when God made His promise to Abraham, He took an oath by Himself, since He had no one greater by whom He could take it,

And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect.

for when men swear by a superior, the ratifying what they say with an oath, puts an end to all further debate.

So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath;

There Jesus entered for us in advance, when he became high priest for ever with the rank of Melchizedek.

For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death,

To whom even a tenth of all Abraham apportioned, first, indeed, when translated, King of Righteousness, but, after that, King of Salem also, which is King of Peace, -

for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

For when a change in the priesthood takes place, a change in its law necessarily takes place.

And this becomes even more evident if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,

for the Levitical priests were appointed without His taking an oath, but He with His oath, when He said to Him: "The Lord took oath and will not change, You are a priest forever" --

There have been many priests, since each one of them had to stop serving in office when he died.

Who has no need to offer up sacrifices each day, as those high priests, first for his own sins, then for those of the people, for this he did, once, when he offered up himself.

Now were he on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law??5 those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle. "See", he says, "that you make everything on the pattern showed you 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."

For, because He was dissatisfied with His people, He said: "'See; the time is coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

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

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel when that day comes, saith the Lord; I will set my laws within their mind, inscribing them upon their hearts; I will be a God to them, and they shall be a People to me;

When he says, A new agreement, he has made the first agreement old. But anything which is getting old and past use will not be seen much longer.

Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

the high priest only enter'd, and that but once every year, when he carried the blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people.

And this is an image of the present time; when the offerings which are given are not able to make the heart of the worshipper completely clean,

Because they are only rules of the flesh, of meats and drinks and washings, which have their place till the time comes when things will be put right.

But when Christ came as the High Priest of good things that have already taken place, He went by way of that greater and more perfect tent of worship, not made by human hands, that is, not belonging to this material creation,

For if the blood of oxen, and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, when it was sprinkled, purified the unclean, as touching the purifying of the flesh:

For when a will is made, it is necessary that the death of him who makes it be proved.

For, a covenant over dead persons, is firm, - since it is not then of force when he is living that hath covenanted.

For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

for then must he have suffered several times since the beginning of the world, when in the consummation of the ages, he has appeared once for all to expiate sin by offering himself as a sacrifice.

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, when they had been once for all purged, would have had no more conscience of sin.

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me;

First when it is said, Thou hast no longing for, thou takest no delight in Sacrifices and offerings, or whole burnt offerings and sin offerings,

but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

And the Holy Spirit also gives his testimony, when he said:

This is the covenant I will make with them when that day comes, saith the Lord, I will set my laws upon their hearts, inscribing them upon their minds, he adds,

For when these are forgiven, there is no more need of an offering for sin.

For when we sin willfully after taking the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,

When a man disregarded the Law of Moses, he was, on the evidence of two or three witnesses, put to death without pity.

But you must continue to remember those earlier days when first you received the light and then endured so great a struggle with persecution,

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 for those who were in prison and accepted it joyfully when your [own] possessions were taken away, [because] you knew that you yourselves had a better and more permanent possession [in heaven].

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

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

By [having] faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. [And] because of his faith he was commended by God for being righteous, when God expressed approval of his offerings. By means of his faith, Abel still speaks [to us], even though he is dead.

By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised:

And so from one man--and that when his powers were dead--there sprang a people as numerous 'as the stars in the heavens or the countless grains of sand upon the shore.'

By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, offered Isaac as a sacrifice; that is, he who had received the promise was starting to offer as a sacrifice his only son,

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

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

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, though the Egyptians were overcome by the water when they made an attempt to do the same.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down when they had been surrounded seven days.

By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Put out the power of fire, got safely away from the edge of the sword, were made strong when they had been feeble, became full of power in war, and put to flight the armies of the nations.

and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;

when our natural parents corrected us, we gave them reverence: is it not much more reasonable to be in subjection to the father of spirits, in order to have life?

For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind in his father, though he sought is diligently with tears.

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth, much more'shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven:

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.

Bear with me, brethren, when I thus exhort you; for, in fact, it is but a short letter that I have written to you.

Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, he will be with me when I see you.