But apart from your consent, I wanted to do nothing, in order that your good [deed] might be not as according to necessity, but according to [your own] free will.

For perhaps because of this, he was separated [from you] for a time, in order that you might have him back forever,

but we see Jesus, for a short [time] made lower than the angels, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that apart from God he might taste death on behalf of everyone.

For both the one who sanctifies and the ones who are sanctified [are] all from one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

Watch out, brothers, lest there be in some of you an evil, unbelieving heart, [with the result that you] fall away from the living God.

For who, [when they] heard [it], were disobedient? Surely [it was] not all who went out from Egypt through Moses?

For we who have believed enter into rest, just as he has said, "As I swore in my anger, '{They will never enter} into my rest.'" And yet these works have been accomplished from the foundation of the world.

For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh [day] in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,"

For the one who has entered into his rest has also himself rested from his works, just as God [did] from his own [works].

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of people in the things relating to God, in order that he can offer both gifts and sacrifices on behalf of sins,

who in the days of his flesh offered up both prayers and supplications, with loud crying and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard as a result of his reverence.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered,

Therefore, leaving behind the elementary message about Christ, let us move on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God,

For ground that drinks the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth vegetation usable to those [people] {for whose sake} [it is] also cultivated, shares a blessing from God.

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham [as he] was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

But see how great this man [was], to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth from the spoils!

And indeed those of the sons of Levi who receive the priesthood have a commandment to collect a tenth from the people according to the law, that is, from their brothers, although {they are descended from Abraham}.

But the one who did not trace [his] descent from them collected tithes from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.

For the one about whom these [things] are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no one has officiated at the altar.

And indeed many {have become} priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing [in office],

For a high priest such as this indeed is fitting for us, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and having become exalted [above] the heavens,

And they will not teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve [the] living God?

Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

since it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

from now on waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.

let us approach with a true heart in the full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled [clean] from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

By faith we understand the worlds were created by the word of God, in order that what is seen did not come into existence from what is visible.

And therefore these were fathered from one man, and [he] being as good as dead, as the stars of heaven in number and like the innumerable sand by the shore of the sea.

These all died in faith without receiving the promises, but seeing them from a distance and welcoming [them], and admitting that they were strangers and temporary residents on the earth.

And if they remember that [land] from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

having reasoned that God [was] able even to raise [him] from the dead, from which he received him back also as a symbol.

extinguished the effectiveness of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in battle, put to flight enemy battle lines.

Watch out that you do not refuse the one who is speaking! For if those did not escape [when they] refused the one who warned [them] on earth, much less [will] we [escape], [if we] reject the [one who warns] from heaven,

Your lifestyle [must be] free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, "I will never desert you, and I will never abandon you."

We have an altar from which those who serve in the tabernacle do not have the right to eat.

Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for [it] from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him.

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of change.

But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

But do you want to know, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these [things] ought not to be so!

A spring does not pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter [water, does it]?

This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but [is] earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, nonjudgmental, without hypocrisy,

From where [are] conflicts and from where [are] quarrels among you? [Is it] not from this, from your pleasures that wage war among your members?

Therefore subject yourselves to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Behold, we consider blessed those who have endured. You have heard about the patient endurance of Job, and you saw the outcome from the Lord, that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

My brothers, if anyone among you should wander away from the truth and someone turns him back,

he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that person's soul from death, and will cover over a great number of sins.

Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

to whom it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you with reference to the same [things] which now have been announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, {things into which} angels desire to look.

[because you] know that you were redeemed from your futile way of life inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold,

who through him [are] believing in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently from the heart,

[because you] have been born again, not from perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Dear friends, I urge [you] as foreigners and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against your soul,

For "The one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and [his] lips must not speak deceit.

And he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.

And also, corresponding to [this], baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Therefore, [because] Christ suffered in the flesh, you also equip yourselves with the same way of thinking, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

For [it is] the time for the judgment to begin out from the household of God. But if [it begins] out from us first, what will be the outcome for those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?

through which things he has bestowed on us his precious and very great promises, so that through these you may become sharers of the divine nature [after] escaping from the corruption [that is] in the world because of evil desire,

For [he] received honor and glory from God the Father [when] a voice such as this was brought to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

And [we] ourselves heard this voice brought from heaven [when we] were with him on the holy mountain,

recognizing this above all, that every prophecy of scripture does not come about from one's own interpretation,

for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

And in greediness they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation [from] long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

[then] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to reserve the unrighteous to be punished at the day of judgment,

having eyes full of [desire for] an adulteress and unceasing from sin, enticing unstable persons, [and] having hearts trained for greediness. Accursed children!

{For by speaking high-sounding but empty words}, they entice with desires of the flesh [and] with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live in error,

For if, [after they] have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these [things] [and] succumb to [them], the last [state] has become worse for them than the first.

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known [it], to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them.

and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For {ever since} the fathers fell asleep, all [things] have continued just as they have been from the beginning of creation."

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched, concerning the word of life--

And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light and there [is] no darkness in him at all.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so that he will forgive us [our] sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the message which you have heard.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known the [One who is] from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one.

I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known the [One who is] from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

because everything [that is] in the world--the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions--is not from the Father, but is from the world.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they went out], in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.

And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

[As for] you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

And [as for] you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all [things], and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you reside in him.

The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this [reason] the Son of God was revealed: in order to destroy the works of the devil.

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another,

We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do [what is] pleasing {in his sight}.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [to determine] if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one [who is] in you is greater than the one [who is] in the world.

They are from the world; {therefore} they speak from the world and the world listens to them.

We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God.