But now, at the end of these days, it has come to us through his Son, to whom he has given all things for a heritage, and through whom he made the order of the generations;

Who, being the outshining of his glory, the true image of his substance, supporting all things by the word of his power, having given himself as an offering making clean from sins, took his seat at the right hand of God in heaven;

And of the angels he says, Who makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire:

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 helping spirits, who are sent out as servants to those whose heritage will be salvation?

What will come on us, if we do not give our minds to such a great salvation? a salvation of which our fathers first had knowledge through the words of the Lord, and which was made certain to us by those to whom his words came;

But we see him who was made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, crowned with glory and honour, because he let himself be put to death so that by the grace of God he might undergo death for all men.

Because it was right for him, for whom and through whom all things have being, in guiding his sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation complete through pain.

For he who makes holy and those who are made holy are all of one family; and for this reason it is no shame for him to give them the name of brothers,

And because the children are flesh and blood, he took a body himself and became like them; so that by his death he might put an end to him who had the power of death, that is to say, the Evil One;

And let those who all their lives were in chains because of their fear of death, go free.

Who kept faith with God who gave him his place, even as Moses did in all his house.

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

And with whom was he angry for forty years? was it not with those who did evil, who came to their deaths in the waste land?

And to whom did he make an oath that they might not come into his rest? was it not to those who went against his orders?

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 the man who comes into his rest has had rest from his works, as God did from his.

Because of this, let us have a strong desire to come into that rest, and let no one go after the example of those who went against God's orders.

And there is nothing made which is not completely clear to him; there is nothing covered, but all things are open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Having then a great high priest, who has made his way through the heavens, even Jesus the Son of God, let us be strong in our faith.

For we have not a high priest who is not able to be touched by the feelings of our feeble flesh; but we have one who has been tested in all points as we ourselves are tested, but without sin.

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.

He is able to have feeling for those who have no knowledge and for those who are wandering from the true way, because he himself is feeble;

And no man who is not given authority by God, as Aaron was, takes this honour for himself.

In the same way Christ did not take for himself the glory of being made a high priest, but was given it by him who said, You are my Son, this day I have given you being:

Who in the days of his flesh, having sent up prayers and requests with strong crying and weeping to him who was able to give him salvation from death, had his prayer answered because of his fear of God.

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

Of whom we have much to say which it is hard to make clear, because you are slow of hearing.

And though by this time it would be right for you to be teachers, you still have need of someone to give you teaching about the first simple rules of God's revelation; you have become like babies who have need of milk, and not of solid food.

For everyone who takes milk is without experience of the word of righteousness: he is a child.

As for those who at one time saw the light, tasting the good things from heaven, and having their part in the Holy Spirit,

For a land, drinking in the frequent rain and producing good plants for those for whom it is worked, has a blessing from God:

So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.

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;

So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false;

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,

And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace;

Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight.

And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham.

But this man, who was not of their family, took the tenth from Abraham, and gave a blessing to him to whom God had given his undertaking.

Now at the present time, men over whom death has power take the tenth; but then it was taken by one of whom it is witnessed that he is living.

And we may say that in Abraham, even Levi, who has a right to take the tenth part, gave it;

Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?

For he of whom these things are said comes of another tribe, of which no man has ever made offerings at the altar.

And this is even more clear if a second priest has come up who is like Melchizedek,

(For those were made priests without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord gave his oath, which he will not take back, that you are a priest for ever);

So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.

It was right for us to have such a high priest, one who is holy and without evil, doing no wrong, having no part with sinners, and made higher than the heavens:

Who has no need to make offerings for sins every day, like those high priests, first for himself, and then for the people; because he did this once and for ever when he made an offering of himself.

The law makes high priests of men who are feeble; but the word of the oath, which was made after the law, gives that position to a Son, in whom all good is for ever complete.

Now of the things we are saying this is the chief point: We have such a high priest, who has taken his place at the right hand of God's high seat of glory in heaven,

If he had been on earth he would not have been a priest at all, because there are other priests who make the offerings ordered by the law;

How much more will the blood of Christ, who, being without sin, made an offering of himself to God through the Holy Spirit, make your hearts clean from dead works to be servants of the living God?

And for this cause it is through him that a new agreement has come into being, so that after the errors under the first agreement had been taken away by his death, the word of God might have effect for those who were marked out for an eternal heritage.

Because where there is a testament, there has to be the death of the man who made it.

For a testament has effect after death; for what power has it while the man who made it is living?

So Christ, having at his first coming taken on himself the sins of men, will be seen a second time, without sin, by those who are waiting for him, for their salvation.

For the law, being only a poor copy of the future good things, and not the true image of those things, is never able to make the people who come to the altar every year with the same offerings completely clean.

And has been waiting there from that time, till all who are against him are made a foot-rest for his feet.

Because by one offering he has made complete for ever those who are made holy.

Let us keep the witness of our hope strong and unshaking, for he is true who has given his word:

A man who has gone against the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the word of two or three witnesses:

But will not the man by whom the Son of God has been crushed under foot, and the blood of the agreement with which he was washed clean has been taken as an unholy thing, and who has had no respect for the Spirit of grace, be judged bad enough for a very much worse punishment?

For we have had experience of him who says, Punishment is mine, I will give reward. And again, The Lord will be judge of his people.

In part, in being attacked by angry words and cruel acts, before the eyes of everyone, and in part, in being united with those who were attacked in this way.

For you had pity on those who were in prison, and had joy in the loss of your property, in the knowledge that you still had a better property and one which you would keep for ever.

In a very little time he who is coming will come; he will not be slow.

But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.

And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for him.

By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage:

And by faith Sarah herself had power to give birth, when she was very old, because she had faith in him who gave his word;

So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.

For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves.

By faith Abraham made an offering of Isaac, when he was tested: and he with whom the agreement had been made gave up as an offering the only son of his body,

Of whom it had been said, From Isaac will your seed take their name:

By faith he went out of Egypt, not being turned from his purpose by fear of the wrath of the king; for he kept on his way, as seeing him who is unseen.

By faith Rahab, the loose woman, was not put to death with those who had gone against God's orders, because she had taken into her house in peace those sent to see the land.

Who through faith overcame kingdoms, did righteousness, got their reward, kept the mouths of lions shut,

Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.

Having our eyes fixed on Jesus, the guide and end of our faith, who went through the pains of the cross, not caring for the shame, because of the joy which was before him, and who has now taken his place at the right hand of God's seat of power.

Give thought to him who has undergone so much of the hate of sinners against himself, so that you may not be tired and feeble of purpose.

For the Lord sends punishment on his loved ones; everyone whom he takes as his son has experience of his rod.

At the time all punishment seems to be pain and not joy: but after, those who have been trained by it get from it the peace-giving fruit of righteousness.

And that there may not be any evil liver, or any man without respect for God, like Esau, who let his birthright go for a plate of food.

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,

And to Jesus by whom the new agreement has been made between God and man, and to the sign of the blood which says better things than Abel's blood.

Keep in mind those who are in chains, as if you were chained with them, and those who are in trouble, as being yourselves in the body.

Keep in mind those who were over you, and who gave you the word of God; seeing the outcome of their way of life, let your faith be like theirs.

Do not be turned away by different strange teachings, because it is good for your hearts to be made strong by grace, and not by meats, which were of no profit to those who took so much trouble over them.

We have an altar from which those priests who are servants in the Tent may not take food.

Give ear to those who are rulers over you, and do as they say: for they keep watch over your souls, ready to give an account of them; let them be able to do this with joy and not with grief, because that would be of no profit to you.

Now may the God of peace, who made that great keeper of his flock, even our Lord Jesus, come back from the dead through the blood of the eternal agreement,

Give words of love from me to those who are rulers over you, and to all the saints. Those who are in Italy send you their love.