For he of whom these things are spoken pertains to another tribe, from which no man has attended to the altar.

For it is evident that our Lord arose out of Judah, regarding which tribe Moses spoke nothing about the priesthood.

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

for he is appointed not for possessing any legal physical qualifications, but by virtue of a life that cannot end.

For he testifies, Thou are a priest into the age according to the order of Melchizedek.

For indeed there becomes an annulment of a preceding commandment because of its weakness and uselessness

(for the law made nothing fully perfect), and an introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God.

And inasmuch as it is not without an oath. For actually those who become priests are so without an oath,

for the Levitical priests were appointed without His taking an oath, but He with His oath, when He said to Him: "The Lord took oath and will not change, You are a priest forever" --

And for that cause was Jesus an establisher of a better testament.

And it is true that there have been a great number of those priests, because death does not let them go on for ever;

But this priest, because his life goes on for ever, is unchanging.

Therefore, because He Himself lives always to intercede for them always, He is able to save completely any and all who come to God through Him.

For such a high priest is fitting for us, devout, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and having become higher than the heavens.

Who has no need to offer up sacrifices each day, as those high priests, first for his own sins, then for those of the people, for this he did, once, when he offered up himself.

For the law appoints men high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath after the law, a Son who has been fully perfected into the age.

For every high priest is appointed in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices, whereupon it is necessary for this man also have something that he may offer.

For certainly if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, there being the priests who offer the gifts according to the law,

who serve for an example and shadow of the heavenly things. Just as Moses who was divinely warned while going to complete the tabernacle, for he says, See thou make all things according to the pattern that was shown thee on the mou

Now hath he obtained a more excellent office, inasmuch as he is the mediator of a better testament, which was made for better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second.

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 according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For 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 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 shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For all shall know me, From the least to the greatest of them.

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

When God speaks of “A new covenant,” He makes the first one obsolete. And whatever is becoming obsolete (out of use, annulled) and growing old is ready to disappear.

So indeed the first covenant had its regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

For there was a tabernacle prepared, the first, wherein were the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the Holy place.

with its golden incense-altar and the chest for the covenant, completely covered with gold, and in it a golden jar which held the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets on which the covenant was written;

above this were the cherubims of the Glory, overshadowing the mercy seat ??matters which it is impossible for me to discuss at present in detail.

Now while these things were in existence, the priests went into the first Tent at all times, for prayer and the making of offerings.

but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offereth for himself, and for the errors of the people:

which is a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect,

For they [the gifts, sacrifices, and ceremonies] deal only with [clean and unclean] food and drink and various ritual washings, [mere] external regulations for the body imposed [to help the worshipers] until the time of reformation [that is, the time of the new order when Christ will establish the reality of what these things foreshadow—a better covenant].

But Christ being come an high-priest of the good things to come, hath entered once for all into the holy places, through a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this building,

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.

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh:

How much more shall the blood of Christ - which through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God - purge your consciences from dead works, for to serve the living God?

And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it.

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

For which cause also, neither that first testament was ordained without blood.

For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God made for you.

In fact under the Law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [neither release from sin and its guilt, nor cancellation of the merited punishment].

Indeed therefore, a necessity was for the models of the things in the heavens themselves to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us:

Nor was it necessary for Him to offer Himself [to God] often, like the head priest does, who enters the Holy of Holies year after year with blood that belongs to others [i.e., the blood of animal sacrifices].

since it would be necessary for him to suffer often, from the foundation of the world. But now once, at the end of the ages, he was made known for an annulment of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And, inasmuch as it is in store for men - once for all to die, but after this, judgment,

so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.

For if this had been possible, would there not have been an end of those offerings, because the worshippers would have been made completely clean and would have been no longer conscious of sins?

But [as it is] these [continual] sacrifices bring a fresh reminder of sins [to be atoned for] year after year,

For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me;

In whole burnt offerings and'sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure:

Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and'sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law),

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

For while every priest stands, day after day, at his ministrations, and many times repeats the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,

but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

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

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us; for after he hath said,

"This [is] the covenant that I will decree for them after those days, says the Lord: I am putting my laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."

Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entrance into the holy things by the blood of Jesus,

by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

let us draw near with sincerity and unfaltering faith, having had our hearts sprinkled, once for all, from consciences oppressed with sin, and our bodies bathed in pure water.

let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised:

And let us examine each other for provocation of love and good works.

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,

but a kind of awful and terrifying expectation of [divine] judgment and the fury of a fire and burning wrath which will consume the adversaries [those who put themselves in opposition to God].

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

Call to remembrance the former times, in which after ye were illuminated, you were forc'd to struggle with sufferings,

partly while all men wondered and gazed at you for the shame and tribulation that was done unto you, and partly while ye became companions of them which so passed their time.

For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of you possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.

So you must never give up your confident courage, for it holds a rich reward for you.

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 that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.

But we are not of retreat for destruction, but of faith for the preservation of the soul.

Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

For therein the elders had witness borne to them.

By faith we understand the ages to have been prepared by the word of God. For the things that are seen do not come to be from that which is visible.

By faith Abel offered a sacrifice more acceptable to God than Cain did, for by it he was approved as an upright man, since God approved him for the offering he made; and by it he still continues to speak, though dead.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing unto God:

And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him ; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.

By faith Noah, being divinely warned about things not yet seen, moved with awe, prepared an ark for the salvation of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became an heir of righteousness according to faith.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Through faith he came and made his home for a time in a land which had been promised to him, as if in a foreign country, living in tents together with Isaac and Jacob, sharers with him in the same promise;

for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

By faith even Sarah herself received power for conception of seed, and she gave birth beyond the time of age, because she considered him faithful who promised.

And therefore from one man, and these things having become deadened, were begotten as the stars of the heaven for multitude, and as the sand of the seashore, countless.

For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.

But now they desire a better country , that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested [that is, as the testing of his faith was still in progress], offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises [of God] was ready to sacrifice his only son [of promise];

about whom it had been said, "It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you."

For he considered the fact that God was able to raise people from the dead; and so from the dead, in a figure, he did receive him back.