And that, from a babe, those sacred letters, thou hast known which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus:

But be self-controlled in all things, do without comfort, go on preaching the good news, completing the work which has been given you to do.

My life, indeed, is already ebbing out, and the time has come for me to sail away.

So, now there is a crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, who is a just Judge, will award me on that day [i.e., the judgment day], and not to me only, but also to everyone who has loved [the prospect of] His appearing.

for Demas has forsaken me because he loved the present world, and has gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia;

Alexander the blacksmith has done me a lot of harm: the Lord will pay him back for what he has done (beware of him),

You too must be on your guard against him, for he has vigorously opposed my teaching.

Erastus has remained at Corinth; I left Trophimus sick at Miletus.

Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to arouse faith in those whom God has chosen, and the comprehension of religious truth,

and at the appointed time has made known His word and revealed it as His message, through preaching, which was entrusted to me according to the command of God our Savior—

if any one is blameless, the husband of one wife, if he has faithful children that are not accused of riotous living, or disobedient.

attach'd to the truth, that has been taught him, that he may be able to teach others sound doctrine, and to convince those who oppose it.

One of them, a prophet of their own countrymen, has said, "Cretans are always liars, wicked brutes, lazy bellies."

Everything is pure [i.e., ceremonially acceptable] to the person who is pure [i.e., who has been cleansed by the blood of Christ], but to those who are [spiritually] corrupt, and do not believe [in Christ], nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted. [Note: This statement was intended to remove the physical restrictions imposed by the law of Moses].

sound message beyond reproach, in order that {an opponent} may be put to shame, [because he] has nothing bad to say concerning us.

For God's favor has appeared with its offer of salvation to all mankind,

It teaches us to reject ungodliness and worldly (immoral) desires, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives [lives with a purpose that reflect spiritual maturity] in this present age,

which he has poured out upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

well aware that such a person is twisted and is sinning; he is convicted and self-condemned [and is gratified by causing confusion among believers].

I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, (Hearing of thy faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus,

Hearing of thy love, and of the faith which thou hast towards the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints, -

so that the fellowship that thou hast in the faith is fruitful through knowledge of all good things, which are in you by Jesus Christ.

Once you found him useless, but now he has become useful to you and to me,

but I did not want to do anything without first getting your consent, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.

for perhaps for this reason he has been separated from thee for a time, that thou mightest possess him fully for ever;

If, then, with me thou hast fellowship, receive him as me,

And if he has done you any wrong and owes you anything, charge it to my account,

On many occasions and in many ways in the olden time, God having spoken to the fathers through the prophets, at the last of these days has spoken to us through his Son,

but in these latter days He has spoken to us through a Son, whom He had appointed lawful owner of everything, and through whom He had made the worlds.

He being an emanation of God's glory and stamp of his substance, and upholding the universe by the utterances of his power, after by himself making purification of our sins, has taken his seat on the right hand of the Majesty on High.

thus proving Himself to be as much superior to angels as the title He has inherited is superior to theirs.

Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore did God, thy God, anoint thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy comrades.

And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

But to which of the heavenly agents has he ever said, Sit thou by my right hand until I place thine enemies a footstool of thy feet?

how shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation, which, having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard;

For He has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about.

For someone somewhere has solemnly said: "What is man that you should think of him, or the Son of Man that you should care for Him?

Thou hast made him only a little lower that the angels; With glory and honor hast thou crowned him; And hast set him to govern the works of thy hands;

Thou hast put all things under his feet. For this putting all things under man means leaving nothing not subject to him. But we do not yet see all things subject to him.

But we see Jesus who has been made a little something less than the heavenly agents, who, because of the suffering of death, has been crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he would taste of death for every man.

and again, "I too will put my trust in God"; and again, "Here I am and the children God has given me."

Since then the children mentioned share our mortal nature, He too took on Himself a full share of the same, in order that He by His death might put a stop to the power of him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

For inasmuch as He has suffered Himself by being tempted, He is able to give immediate help to any that are tempted.

who is faithful to him that has constituted him, as Moses also in all his house.

For just as the man who builds a house has greater glory than the house, by just so much is Jesus judged to be worthy of greater glory than Moses.

For every house has its builder; but he who built the universe is God.

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God.

For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end,

As it has been said [Psa. 95:7], "Today, if you hear His [i.e., God's] voice, do not have a stubborn heart like you did when you provoked [God]."

Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still remains and is freely offered today, let us fear, in case any one of you may seem to come short of reaching it or think he has come too late.

For Good News has been brought to us as truly as to them; but the message they heard failed to benefit them, because they were not one in faith with those who gave heed to it.

For we who have believed are being admitted to that rest, just as He has said: "As in my anger I took oath, they shall not be admitted to my rest," although God's works had been completed at the creation of the world.

For in one place he has said of the seventh day, And God had rest from all his works on the seventh day;

And in this again he has said, They shall not enter into my rest.

He again fixes a definite day, saying long afterward through David, as has been quoted: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts."

For a man who has entered into his rest, he has also rested from his works, as God did from his own.

Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of the affirmation.

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.

And being feeble, he has to make sin-offerings for himself as well as for the people.

Nor does any one take that high office upon himself, till he has been called to do so by God, as Aaron was.

Thus the Christ also has not glorified himself to be made a high priest; but he who had said to him, Thou art my Son, I have to-day begotten thee.

For although you ought to be teachers of others because you have been Christians so long, you actually need someone to teach you over and over again the very elements of the truths that God has given us, and you have gotten into such a state that you are in constant need of milk instead of solid food.

For everyone who has to drink "milk" is inexperienced in the teaching about righteousness, for he is [still] a [spiritual] baby.

For the soil that has drunk the rain often coming upon it, and bringing forth vegetation useful for those by whom also it is cultivated, partakes of a blessing from God.

So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.

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;

(6:19) where Jesus has blazed the way for us and became a High Priest with the rank of Melchizedek.

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time.

But the man who did not descend from them has received tithes from Abraham, and has blessed the man having the promises.

Now at the present time, men over whom death has power take the tenth; but then it was taken by one of whom it is witnessed that he is living.

And, so to speak, Levi also, the man who receives tithes, has paid tithes through Abraham,

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

For it is clear that our Lord has sprung out of Juda, as to which tribe Moses spake nothing as to priests.

And this is even more clear if a second priest has come up who is like Melchizedek,

who has become, not according to a law of a carnal commandment, but according to the power of an indestructible life.

For it has been witnessed of him, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Indeed, because it was weak and ineffective, the former commandment has been annulled,

(for those Levites who formerly became priests [received their office] without [its being confirmed by the taking of] an oath, but this One [was designated] with an oath through the One who said to Him,

“The Lord has sworn
And will not change His mind or regret it,
‘You (Christ) are a Priest forever’”).

By so much, Jesus has become the surety of a better covenant.

but he, because of his remaining into the age, has the priesthood unchangeable.

so that he has an uninterrupted power to save those, that come to God by him, because he ever lives to make intercession for them.

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.

Now the main point in what I am saying is this: We have such a High Priest as this, one who has taken His seat at the right hand of God's majestic throne in heaven

minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, and not man.

They serve as a pattern and foreshadowing of [what has its true existence and reality in] the heavenly things (sanctuary). For when Moses was about to erect the tabernacle, he was warned by God, saying, “See that you make it all [exactly] according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.”

But now he has obtained a superior ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a superior covenant, which has been enacted upon superior promises.

In saying, New, he has made the first old. And what is becoming old and obsolete is near disappearance.

The Holy Spirit teaching by this that the way into the Holiest has not yet been disclosed while the first tent is still standing.

But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things of the future, through this greater and better Tent, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this world,

And has gone once and for ever into the holy place, having got eternal salvation, not through the blood of goats and young oxen, but through his blood.

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal [Holy] Spirit willingly offered Himself unblemished [that is, without moral or spiritual imperfection as a sacrifice] to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the ever living God?

And because of this he is the Mediator of a new testament, in order that, since a death has taken place to atone for offenses committed under the first testament, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Because where there is a testament, there has to be the death of the man who made it.

For a will is valid only after a man is dead, since it has no force whatever while the one who made it is alive.

Whereupon neither has the first been dedicated without blood.

Saying, This blood is the sign of the agreement which God has made with you.

For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but [He entered] into heaven itself, now to appear in the very presence of God on our behalf;

Nor has he entered, that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with the blood of another:

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.