For it was not to angels that He gave authority over that world to be, of which we are speaking.

so that by these two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge with Him may have encouragement strong enough to make us seize upon the hope that lies ahead of us.

This hope we have as an anchor for our souls, secure and safe, which reaches up behind the heavenly veil,

to whom Abraham contributed a tenth of all his spoils, who first of all, in accordance with the meaning of his name, is king of righteousness, and then king of Salem, which means king of peace;

For He of whom this is said became a member of a different tribe no member of which ever officiated at the altar.

For it is very clear that our Lord sprang from Judah, a tribe about which Moses said nothing as to priests.

for the law had never made anything perfect -- and so a better hope is brought to us, through which we have approach to God.

For the law appoints imperfect men as high priests, but the assertion about the taking of an oath, which was spoken after the time of the law, appoints a Son who is perfectly qualified to be High Priest forever.

as officiating Priest in that sanctuary, which is also the true tent of worship, which the Lord and not man set up.

But, as the case with Him now stands, He has entered upon a priestly service as much superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is the Mediator is superior to theirs, superior because it has been enacted upon superior promises.

For the first or outer part of the tent, which is called the holy place, was equipped with the lamp and table and the presentation bread.

with its golden incense-altar and the chest for the covenant, completely covered with gold, and in it a golden jar which held the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets on which the covenant was written;

and above the chest were the winged creatures, the symbols of God's glorious presence, overshadowing the mercy seat, of which I cannot now speak in detail.

but into the second or inner part nobody but the high priest may go, and he only once a year, and never without blood which he offers for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people.

for it is merely a symbol of the present time in connection with which gifts and sacrifices are repeatedly offered though they cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect,

since they deal only with food and drink and various washings, that is, with mere material regulations which are in force only until the time of setting things straight.

saying, "This is the blood that ratifies the covenant which God commanded me to make with you."

Although at first He said, "You never wished or took delight in sacrifices and offerings, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings" -- all of which are repeatedly offered in accordance with the law --

the new and living way which He opened for us, through the curtain, that is, His physical nature,

but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and that fiery indignation which is going to devour God's enemies.

How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

By faith Abraham, on being called, obeyed in starting off for a country which he was to receive as his own, and he did it in spite of the fact that he did not know where he was going.

Therefore, as we have so vast a crowd of spectators in the grandstands, let us throw off every impediment and the sin that easily entangles our feet, and run with endurance the race for which we are entered,

keeping our eyes on Jesus, the perfect leader and example of faith, who, instead of the joy which lay before Him, endured the cross with no regard for its shame, and since has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

and you have forgotten the encouragement which is addressed to you as sons: "My son, refrain from thinking lightly of the discipline the Lord inflicts, and giving up when you are corrected by Him.

Now if you are without any discipline, in which all true sons share, you are only illegitimate children and not true sons.

Now for the time being no discipline seems to be pleasant; it is painful; later on, however, to those who are trained by it, it yields the fruit of peace which grows from upright character.

Continue to live in peace with everybody and strive for that consecration without which no one can see the Lord.

to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks a better message than even Abel's did.

You must stop being carried away with varied and strange teachings. For it is a good thing for the heart to be strengthened by God's spiritual strength, not by special kinds of food, from which those adhering to them have gotten no good.

We Christians have an altar at which the ministers of the Jewish tent of worship have no right to eat.

for we have no permanent city here, but we are searching for that city which is to be ours.

May God, who gives us peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, who through the blood by which He ratified the everlasting covenant, is now the Great Shepherd of the sheep,