but in these days at the end he has spoken to us by a Son ??a Son whom he appointed heir of the universe, as it was by him that he created the world.

While he says of angels, 'Who makes his angels into winds, his servants into flames of fire,'

Are not all angels merely spirits in the divine service, commissioned for the benefit of those who are to inherit salvation?

how shall we escape the penalty for neglecting a salvation which was originally proclaimed by the Lord himself and guaranteed to us by those who heard him,

what we do see is Jesus who was put lower than the angels for a little while to suffer death, and who has been crowned with glory and honour that by God's grace he might taste death for everyone.

In bringing many sons to glory, it was befitting that He for whom and by whom the universe exists, should perfect the Pioneer of their salvation by suffering.

Since the children then share blood and flesh, he himself participated in their nature, so that by dying he might crush him who wields the power of death (that is to say, the devil)

and release from thraldom those who lay under a life-long fear of death.

Holy brothers, you who participate in a heavenly calling, look at Jesus then, at the apostle and high priest of our confession;

he is faithful to Him who appointed him. For while Moses also was faithful in every department of God's house,

Who heard and yet provoked him? Was it not all who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?

And with whom was he exasperated for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the desert?

And to whom did he swear that they would never enter his Rest? To whom but those who disobeyed?

Since then it is reserved for some to enter it, and since those who formerly got the good news failed to enter owing to their disobedience,

And no created thing is hidden from him; all things lie open and exposed before the eyes of him with whom we have to reckon.

As we have a great high priest, then, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession;

for ours is no high priest who is incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every respect like ourselves, yet without sinning.

Every high priest who is selected from men and appointed to act on behalf of men in things divine, offering gifts and sacrifices for sins,

can deal gently with those who err through ignorance, since he himself is beset with weakness ??3 which obliges him to present offerings for his own sins as well as for those of the People.

Similarly Christ was not raised to the glory of the high priesthood by himself but by Him who declared to him, Thou art my son, to-day have I become thy father.

In the days of his flesh, with bitter cries and tears, he offered prayers and supplications to Him who was able to save him from death; and he was heard, because of his godly fear.

and by being thus perfected he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

(For anyone who is fed on milk is unskilled in moral truth; he is a mere babe.

Whereas solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by exercise to distinguish good and evil.)

For in the case of people who have been once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly Gift, who participated in the holy Spirit,

who tasted the goodness of God's word and the powers of the world to come, and then fell away ??6 it is impossible to make them repent afresh, since they crucify the Son of God in their own persons and hold him up to obloquy.

For land which absorbs the rain that often falls on it, and bears plants that are useful to those for whom it is tilled, receives a blessing from God;

so that instead of being slack you may imitate those who inherit the promises by their stedfast faith.

For Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham on his return from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him ??2 who had a tenth part of everything assigned him by Abraham ??this Melchizedek is primarily a king of righteousness (that is the meaning of his name); then, besides that, king of Salem (which means, king of peace).

Those sons of Levi who receive the priestly office are indeed ordered by law to tithe the people (that is, their brothers), although the latter are descended from Abraham;

but he who had no Levitical genealogy actually tithed Abraham and blessed the possessor of the promises!

(And there is no question that it is the inferior who is blessed by the superior.)

Again, it is mortal men in the one case who receive tithes, while in the other it is one of whom the witness is that 'he lives.'

He who is thus described belongs to another tribe, no member of which ever devoted himself to the altar;

one who has become a priest by the power of an indissoluble Life and not by the law of an external command;

Previous priests became priests apart from any oath, but he has an oath from Him who said to him, The Lord has sworn, and he will not change his mind, thou art a priest for ever.

Hence for all time he is able to save those who approach God through him, as he is always living to intercede on their behalf.

one who has no need, like yonder high priests, day by day to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for those of the People ??he did that once for all in offering up himself.

For the Law appoints human beings in their weakness to the priesthood; but the word of the Oath appoints a Son who is made perfect for ever.

The point of all this is, we do have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens,

and who officiates in the sanctuary or true tabernacle set up by the Lord and not by man.

(men who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly ??as Moses was instructed, when he was about to execute the building of the tabernacle: see, God said, that you make everything on the pattern shown you upon the mountain).

how much more shall the blood of Christ, who in the spirit of the eternal offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve a living God?

He mediates a new covenant for this reason, that those who have been called may obtain the eternal inheritance they have been promised, now that a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions involved in the first covenant.

so Christ, after being once sacrificed to bear the sins of many, will appear again, not to deal with sin but for the saving of those who look out for him.

For as the Law has a mere shadow of the bliss that is to be, instead of representing the reality of that bliss, it never can perfect those who draw near with the same annual sacrifices that are perpetually offered.

let us hold the hope we avow without wavering (for we can rely on him who gave us the Promise);

Anyone who has rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy, on the evidence of two or of three witnesses.

How much heavier, do you suppose, will be the punishment assigned to him who has spurned the Son of God, who has profaned the covenant-blood with which he was sanctified, who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

We know who said, Vengeance is mine, I will exact a requital: and again, The Lord will pass sentence on his people.

partly by being held up yourselves to obloquy and anguish, partly by making common cause with those who fared in this way;

and apart from faith it is impossible to satisfy him, for the man who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he does reward those who seek him.

It was by faith that he sojourned in the promised land, as in a foreign country, residing in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob who were co-heirs with him of the same promise;

It was by faith that even Sara got strength to conceive, bearing a son when she was past the age for it ??because she considered she could rely on Him who gave the promise.

Now people who speak in this way plainly show they are in search of a fatherland.

It was by faith that he left Egypt, not from any fear of the king's wrath; like one who saw the King Invisible, he never flinched.

It was by faith that Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, as she had welcomed the scouts peaceably.

And what more shall I say? Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak and Samson and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets ??33 men who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouth of lions,

(men of whom the world was not worthy), wanderers in the desert and among the hills, in caves and gullies.

our eyes fixed upon Jesus as the pioneer and the perfection of faith ??upon Jesus who, in order to reach his own appointed joy, steadily endured the cross, thinking nothing of its shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Compare him who steadily endured all that hostility from sinful men, so as to keep your own hearts from fainting and failing.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for where is the son who is not disciplined by his father?

Discipline always seems for the time to be a thing of pain, not of joy; but those who are trained by it reap the fruit of it afterwards in the peace of an upright life.

that no one turns to sexual vice or to a profane life as Esau did ??Esau, who for a single meal parted with his birthright.

to the blare of a trumpet and to a Voice whose words made those who heard it refuse to hear another syllable

to Jesus who mediates the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood whose message is nobler than Abel's.

See that you do not refuse to listen to His voice. For if they failed to escape, who refused to listen to their instructor upon earth, much less shall we escape, if we discard Him who speaks from heaven.

Remember prisoners, as if you were in prison yourselves; remember those who are being ill-treated, since you too are in the body.

Remember your leaders, the men who spoke the word of God to you; look back upon the close of their career, and copy their faith.

Never let yourselves be carried away with a variety of novel doctrines; for the right thing is to have one's heart strengthened by grace, not by the eating of food ??that has never been any use to those who have had recourse to it.

Obey your leaders, submit to them; for they are alive to the interests of your souls, as men who will have to account for their trust. Let their work be a joy to them and not a grief ??which would be a loss to yourselves.

May the God of peace who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, with the blood of the eternal covenant,