For I had much joy and comfort in thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee, brother.

So, although through union with Christ I have full freedom to order you to do your duty,

rather through love I entreat, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Yes, brother, I would like some return myself from you in the Lord's work. Through Christ refresh my heart.

But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.

There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;

along with [John] Mark [Note: This shows that Mark was now back in the good graces of Paul. See Acts 15:36-40], Aristarchus, Demas [Note: This man later deserted Paul. See II Tim. 4:10] and Luke, who are [also] my fellow-workers. [Note: These men, unlike Epaphras who was imprisoned with Paul, were free to minister for Christ there in Rome].

God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his'son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds;

who being the brightness of the glory, and the impress of His subsistence, bearing up also the all things by the saying of his might -- through himself having made a cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the highest,

They will come to their end; but you are for ever; they will become old as a robe;

Are they not all spirits to do service, sent for to minister for their sakes, which shall be heirs of salvation?

For this reason there is the more need for us to give attention to the things which have come to our ears, for fear that by chance we might be slipping away.

For if the word spoken through angels proved stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard;

while God corroborated their testimony by signs and marvels and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed in accordance with His own will.

But there is a place where someone has testified, "What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him?

Thou hast placed all things beneath his feet.' This 'placing of everything' under man means that there was nothing which was not placed under him. As yet, however, we do not see everything placed under man.

But Jesus--who was made a little inferior to the angels in order that through God's grace He might taste death for every human being--we already see wearing a crown of glory and honour because of His having suffered death.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

for He says [Psa. 22:22], [Note: In the following three Old Testament quotations the writer represents Christ as the speaker] "I will declare your [i.e., God's] name to my brothers, [and] in the presence of the assembly I will sing [a hymn of] praise to you."

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Do not harden your hearts as [your fathers did] in the rebellion [of Israel at Meribah],
On the day of testing in the wilderness,

Where your fathers tried Me by testing [My forbearance and tolerance],
And saw My works for forty years
[And found I stood their test].

Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

for certain having heard did provoke, but not all who did come out of Egypt through 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?

So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest—the promised land] because of unbelief and an unwillingness to trust in God.

Therefore let us fear, [while there] remains a promise of entering into his rest, that none of you appear to fall short of [it].

For we have had good news preached to us, just as they did, but the message they heard did them no good because they did not agree through faith with what they heard.

and again in this, “They shall not enter My rest.”

Therefore, since it is still true that some will enter it, and since those who once heard the good news failed to enter it because of their disobedience,

He again sets a definite day, [a new] “Today,” [providing another opportunity to enter that rest by] saying through David after so long a time, just as has been said before [in the words already quoted],

“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”

[This mention of a rest was not a reference to their entering into Canaan.] For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak about another day [of opportunity] after that.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

For all who are admitted to God's Rest rest after their work, just as God did after his.

Let it then be our earnest endeavour to be admitted to that rest, so that no one may perish through following the same example of unbelief.

For the word of God is living and full of power, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through and making a division even of the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For every high priest selected from among men is appointed to officiate on their behalf in matters relating to God, that is, to offer 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.

through being a Son, did learn by the things which he suffered -- the obedience,

Concerning whom there is much word to us, and difficult to speak, since you are dull of hearing.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

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

and then have fallen away—it is impossible to bring them back again to repentance, since they again nail the Son of God on the cross [for as far as they are concerned, they are treating the death of Christ as if they were not saved by it], and are holding Him up again to public disgrace.

And we desire for each one of you to show the same diligence [all the way through] so as to realize and enjoy the full assurance of hope until the end,

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

For when God made his oath to Abraham, because there was no greater oath, he made it by himself,

For men at all times make their oaths by what is greater; and any argument is ended by the decision of the oath.

that through two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, a strong comfort we may have who did flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us,

Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

He was without a father, or mother or a list of ancestors [i.e., there was no record of his family tree] and no [record of his] birth or death. Like the Son of God, he [appeared to] remain a priest perpetually.

And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:

But this person [Melchizedek] who is not from their Levitical ancestry received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who possessed the promises [of God].

But there is no doubt that the less gets his blessing from the greater.

And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.

And, so to say, through Abraham even Levi, who receiveth tithes, hath paid tithes;

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

for he who was there mention'd was of another tribe, none of whom ever gave attendance at the altar.

For it is plain that our Lord ad sprung from the tribe of Judah, though of that tribe Moses said nothing about their being priests.

And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

(for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw nigh unto God.

and he with an oath through Him who is saying unto him, 'The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest -- to the age, according to the order of Melchisedek;')

By so much is it a better agreement which we have through Jesus.

And they have been appointed priests many in number, because death prevents their continuance in office:

Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all when He offered Himself.

For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak [frail, sinful, dying men], but the word of the oath [of God], which came after [the institution of] the Law, permanently appoints [as priest] a Son who has been made perfect forever.

For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

But now his position as priest is higher. because through him God has made a better agreement with man, based on the giving of better things.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one or an attempt to institute another one [the new covenant].

For, being dissatisfied with His people, God says, "'There are days coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new Covenant--

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith 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 write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

And there shall be no need for them to teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For all will know Me from the least of them to the greatest;

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

For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.

Behind the second veil there was another tabernacle [the inner one or second section] known as the Holy of Holies,

It contained the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which there was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

And over it were the winged ones of glory with their wings covering the mercy-seat; about which it is not possible now to say anything in detail.

Now when these things have been prepared in this way, the priests continually enter the outer [or first section of the] tabernacle [that is, the Holy Place] performing [their ritual acts of] the divine worship,

but only the high priest could enter the inner part, and he but once a year, and never without taking some victim's blood, to offer on his own behalf and for the sins committed through ignorance by the people.

The Holy Spirit making this evident - that, not yet, hath been manifested, the way through the Holy place, so long as the first tent hath a standing.

For their efficacy depends only on meats and drinks and various washings, ceremonies pertaining to the body and imposed until a time of reformation.

But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve 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.

For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth.

And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

There was, therefore, a necessity that the copies of the things in Heaven should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves, with better sacrifices than these.