For to which of the heavenly agents did he ever say, Thou are my Son, today I have begotten thee? And again, I will be to him for a Father, and he will be to me for a Son?

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."

But regarding the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, will stand forever and ever; a righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.

They will perish, but you always remain; they all will grow old like a coat,

And you will fold them up just like a robe, and they will be changed like the changing of one's coat, but you are the same, and your years will never cease."

Are they not all helping spirits, who are sent out as servants to those whose heritage will be salvation?

We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.

how will we escape, having neglected so great a salvation? Which first, having taken to be spoken by the Lord, was verified for us by those who heard;

while God continued to confirm their testimony with signs, marvels, and various sorts of wonder-works, and with gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed in accordance with His will.

For both he that sanctifieth, and all they that are sanctified, are of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name to my brethren;

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

and again, "I too will put my trust in God"; and again, "Here I am and the children God has given me."

Besides, while Moses was faithful in every department of God's house as an attendant ??by way of witness to the coming revelation ??6 Christ is faithful as a Son over God's house. Now we are this house of God, if we will only keep confident and proud of our hope.

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you hear His voice,

if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,

So I swore in my wrath, They will not enter into my rest.

Watch, brothers, lest there will be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in withdrawing from the living God.

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

while it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

So, as long as God's promise of entering into a state of rest with Him [still] remains, we should fear that someone among you will appear [in the end] to have fallen short of [attaining] it. [Note: In this section "entering into rest" refers to Israel entering Canaan (verses 6, 8) and to Christians entering heaven (verses 3, 9). The "Sabbath day rest" is represented as a type of both].

For those who believe enter into that rest, just as he said, So I swore in my wrath, They will not enter into my rest, although the works occurred from the foundation of the world.

for, in a passage referring to the seventh day, you will find these words-- 'God rested upon the seventh day after all his work.'

and in this again, They will not enter into my rest.

Since then it is still true that somebody will be admitted to it, and those who had a gospel preached to them before were not admitted because of their disobedience,

again he appoints a certain day, Today, saying in David after so long a time (as it is said), Today if ye will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

then he that enters into divine rest, will indeed rest from his works, as God did from his.

Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

For everyone who lives on milk is [doctrinally inexperienced and] unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a spiritual infant.

and of faith in God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and laying on of hands, and of the resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgement: (tho' we will do this also, if God permit:)

And this we will do, if of course God will permit.

but if it produces thorns and thistles, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and its end will be to be burned.

But, my dearly loved ones, even though we talk this way, we are persuaded that you will do better than that [i.e., you will not fall away from God], and will end up being saved.

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

But our great desire is that every one of you should be equally earnest to attain to a full conviction that our hope will be fulfilled, and that you should keep that hope to the end.

We do not want you people to be [spiritually] slack, but to imitate those who will inherit [God's] promises because of their faith and patience.

saying, Surely indeed, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

And thus God, designing more abundantly to demonstrate to the heirs of promise the immutability of his will, pledged himself by oath,

In the one case, men who will die receive tenths, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that he lives.

And as he was not [constituted] without swearing,??21 for they were made priests without swearing, but he with swearing by him who says to him, The Lord swore, and he will not change, You are a priest forever;??22 by so much is Jesus the pledge of a better covenant.

but he with an oath, because of him who says to him, The Lord swore and will not change his mind, Thou are a priest into the age according to the order of Melchizedek.

Who serve the pattern and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was given an intimation of the divine will, being about to complete the tent: for, See, says he, thou make all things according to the type shewed thee in the mount.

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
On the day when I took them by the hand
To lead them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not abide in My covenant,
And so I withdrew My favor and disregarded them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, And on their heart also will I write them: And I will be to them a God, And they shall be to me a people:

And they will, no, not teach each man his fellow citizen, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, because all will know me, from their small as far as their great.

For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And their sins will I remember no more.

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.

Over the ark were the cherubims of glory shadowing the seat of grace. Of which things, we will not now speak particularly.

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.

how much more the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself unblemished to God, will cleanse your conscience from dead works in order to serve a living God?

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

For a will is valid only after a man is dead, since it has no force whatever while the one who made it is alive.

So even the first covenant was not put in force without [the shedding of] blood.

so also the Christ, having been offered once in order to take up the sins of many, will appear a second time, independent of sin, to those waiting for him for salvation.

Wherefore, coming into the world, he saith, 'Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not will, and a body Thou didst prepare for me,

Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God.

saying above -- 'Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and concerning sin-offering Thou didst not will, nor delight in,' -- which according to the law are offered --

then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

From that time onward He will wait until His enemies are placed [in full subjection] under His feet.

This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, And upon their mind also will I write them; then saith he,

And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Let us maintain the confession of our hope unshaken, for he who has given us his promise will not fail us.

But only a great fear of being judged, and of the fire of wrath which will be the destruction of the haters of God.

By how much worse punishment do ye think he will deserve who has trampled the Son of God, and who considered profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who treated the Spirit of grace contemptuously?

For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned, but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain.

So do not give up your hope which will be greatly rewarded.

For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

For yet a very little while, he who is coming will come, and will not delay.

But the righteous man will live from faith, and if he should withdraw, my soul is not pleased with him.

But we will not draw back and perish, but we will have faith and save our souls.

Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.

By faith Noah, having an intimation of the divine will of things not yet seen, being circumspect, prepared an ark for the salvation of his house; by which he condemned the world, and by faith became an heir of justice.

about whom it was said, The seed by thee will be called in Isaac.

And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the prophets:

[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].

For consider the one who endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary in your souls [and] give up.

Besides, we indeed have had chastisers--the fathers of our flesh--and we were turned around. Shall we not much more be subordinate to the Father of the spirits, and we will live?

For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose].

and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord.

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled.

for they did not try to bear the order, "Even if a wild animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death,"

See to it that you do not refuse [to listen to] Him who is speaking [to you now]. For if those [sons of Israel] did not escape when they refused [to listen to] him who warned them on earth [revealing God’s will], how much less will we escape if we turn our backs on Him who warns from heaven?

whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven.

And the words, Still one more, make it clear that there will be a taking away of those things which are shaking, as of things which are made, so that there may be only those things of which no shaking is possible.

If then, we have a kingdom which will never be moved, let us have grace, so that we may give God such worship as is pleasing to him with fear and respect:

Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee.

So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: What shall man do unto me?

Jesus Christ is the same today that he was yesterday, and he will be so forever.

Have confidence in those who lead you, and yield yourselves, for they watch for your souls as men who will render account, so that they may do this with joy, and not groaning, for this is unprofitable for you.

make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Know ye that our brother Timothy hath been set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.