For if Joshua had really given them rest, He would not afterward have been speaking of another day.

Now if perfection had been reached through the Levitical priesthood -- for on it as a basis even the law was enacted for the people-- what further need would there have been of appointing a different priest, with the rank of Melchizedek, instead of designating one with the rank of Aaron?

However, if He were still on earth, He would not be a priest at all, because there are those who officiate in accordance with the law in offering the gifts;

for, if that had been the case, He would have had to suffer over and over again, ever since the creation of the world. But, as it is, once at the close of the ages He has appeared, to put away sin by His sacrifice.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased offering them, because those who offered them, having once been purified, would have had no further consciousness of sins?

And if they had been cherishing the memory of the country they had left, they would have had an opportunity to go back.

And why should I continue to mention more? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

Women by a resurrection received their dead again; others endured tortures, because they would not accept release, that they might rise to a better life.