Giving no attention to the fictions of the Jews and the rules of men who have no true knowledge.

They say that they have knowledge of God, while by their acts they are turning their backs on him; they are hated by all, hard-hearted, and judged to be without value for any good work.

Training the younger women to have love for their husbands and children,

So that, having been given righteousness through grace, we might have a part in the heritage, the hope of eternal life.

This is a true saying; and it is my desire that you may give certain witness about these things, so that those who have had faith in God may give attention to good works. These things are good and of profit to men;

But have nothing to do with foolish questionings, and lists of generations, and fights and arguments about the law; for they are of no profit and foolish.

Hearing of the love and the faith which you have to the Lord Jesus and to all the saints;

That the faith which you have in common with them may be working with power, in the knowledge of every good thing in you, for Christ.

For I had great joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been made strong again through you, brother.

Whom I have sent back to you, him who is my very heart:

For it is possible that for this reason he was parted from you for a time, so that you might have him for ever;

So brother, let me have joy of you in the Lord: give new life to my heart in Christ.

To which of the angels did God say at any time, You are my Son, this day I have given you being? or, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?

You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you.

They will be rolled up like a cloth, even like a robe, and they will be changed: but you are the same and your years will have no end.

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.

Because it was right for him, for whom and through whom all things have being, in guiding his sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation complete through pain.

For this reason, holy brothers, marked out to have a part in heaven, give thought to Jesus the representative and high priest of our faith;

And it was right for this man to have more honour than Moses, even as the builder of a house has more honour than the house.

So that I was angry with this generation, and I said, Their hearts are in error at all times, and they have no knowledge of my ways;

For if we keep the substance of the faith which we had at the start, even till the end, we have a part with Christ;

Let us then, though we still have God's word that we may come into his rest, go in fear that some of you may be unable to do so.

For those of us who have belief come into his rest; even as he has said, As I said in my oath when I was angry, They may not come into my rest: though the works were done from the time of the making of the world.

So that as it is clear that some have to go in, and that the first hearers of the good news were not able to go in because they went against God's orders,

For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have said anything about another day.

Because of this, let us have a strong desire to come into that rest, and let no one go after the example of those who went against God's orders.

And there is nothing made which is not completely clear to him; there is nothing covered, but all things are open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

For we have not a high priest who is not able to be touched by the feelings of our feeble flesh; but we have one who has been tested in all points as we ourselves are tested, but without sin.

Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.

He is able to have feeling for those who have no knowledge and for those who are wandering from the true way, because he himself is feeble;

In the same way Christ did not take for himself the glory of being made a high priest, but was given it by him who said, You are my Son, this day I have given you being:

Of whom we have much to say which it is hard to make clear, because you are slow of hearing.

And though by this time it would be right for you to be teachers, you still have need of someone to give you teaching about the first simple rules of God's revelation; you have become like babies who have need of milk, and not of solid food.

But, my loved ones, though we say this, we are certain that you have better things in you, things which go with salvation;

So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath;

So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false;

And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham.

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

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

It was right for us to have such a high priest, one who is holy and without evil, doing no wrong, having no part with sinners, and made higher than the heavens:

Now of the things we are saying this is the chief point: We have such a high priest, who has taken his place at the right hand of God's high seat of glory in heaven,

Now every high priest is given authority to take to God the things which are given and to make offerings; so that it is necessary for this man, like them, to have something for an offering.

If he had been on earth he would not have been a priest at all, because there are other priests who make the offerings ordered by the law;

For if that first agreement had been as good as possible, there would have been no place for a second.

And there will be no need for every man to be teaching his brother, or his neighbour, saying, This is the knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, great and small.

And I will have mercy on their evil-doing, and I will not keep their sins in mind.

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.

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.

And he did not have to make an offering of himself again and again, as the high priest goes into the holy place every year with blood which is not his;

For then he would have undergone a number of deaths from the time of the making of the world: but now he has come to us at the end of the old order, to put away sin by the offering of himself.

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?

Then I said, See, I have come to do your pleasure, O God (as it is said of me in the roll of the book).

Then he said, See, I have come to do your pleasure. He took away the old order, so that he might put the new order in its place.

By that pleasure we have been made holy, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for ever.

For if we do evil on purpose after we have had the knowledge of what is true, there is no more offering for sins,

For we have had experience of him who says, Punishment is mine, I will give reward. And again, The Lord will be judge of his people.

For, having done what was right in God's eyes, you have need of waiting before his word has effect for you.

But the upright man will be living by his faith; and if he goes back, my soul will have no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.

And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for him.

And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back.

Feeling that it was better to undergo pain with the people of God, than for a short time to have a taste of the pleasures of sin;

Women had their dead given back to them living; others let themselves be cruelly attacked, having no desire to go free, so that they might have a better life to come;

Till now you have not given your blood in your fight against sin:

And you have not kept in mind the word which says to you as to sons, My son, do not make little of the Lord's punishment, and do not give up hope when you are judged by him;

It is for your training that you undergo these things; God is acting to you as a father does to his sons; for what son does not have punishment from his father?

But if you have not that punishment of which we all have our part, then you are not true sons, but children of shame.

And again, if the fathers of our flesh gave us punishment and had our respect, how much more will we be under the authority of the Father of spirits, and have life?

At the time all punishment seems to be pain and not joy: but after, those who have been trained by it get from it the peace-giving fruit of righteousness.

For you have knowledge that even long after, when he was desiring the blessing for his heritage, he was turned away, though he made his request frequently and with weeping; because the past might not be changed.

You have not come to a mountain which may be touched, and is burning with fire, and to a black cloud, and a dark smoke, and a violent wind,

But you have come to the mountain of Zion, to the place of the living God, to the Jerusalem which is in heaven, and to an army of angels which may not be numbered,

See that you give ear to his voice which comes to you. For if those whose ears were shut to the voice which came to them on earth did not go free from punishment, what chance have we of going free if we give no attention to him whose voice comes from heaven?

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:

Take care to keep open house: because in this way some have had angels as their guests, without being conscious of it.

Be free from the love of money and pleased with the things which you have; for he himself has said, I will be with you at all times.

So that we say with a good heart, The Lord is my helper; I will have no fear: what is man able to do to me?

We have an altar from which those priests who are servants in the Tent may not take food.

For here we have no fixed resting-place, but our search is for the one which is to come.

But, brothers, take kindly the words which I have said for your profit; for I have not sent you a long letter.

Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope;

But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing.

There is a blessing on the man who undergoes testing; because, if he has God's approval, he will be given the crown of life, which the Lord has said he will give to those who have love for him.

You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;

But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts.

If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.

The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.

My brothers, if you have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, do not take a man's position into account.

Is there not a division in your minds? have you not become judges with evil thoughts?

Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which he has said he will give to those who have love for him?

But you have put the poor man to shame. Are not the men of wealth rulers over you? do they not take you by force before their judges?

But if you keep the greatest law of all, as it is given in the holy Writings, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself, you do well:

For anyone who keeps all the law, but makes a slip in one point, is judged to have gone against it all.

And one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warm and full of food; but you do not give them the things of which their bodies have need, what profit is there in this?

But a man may say, You have faith and I have works; let me see your faith without your works, and I will make my faith clear to you by my works.

You have the belief that God is one, and you do well: the evil spirits have the same belief, shaking with fear.

Now if we put bits of iron into horses' mouths so that they may be guided by us, we have complete control of their bodies.

But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true.

You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it.

Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing.