For since the Law has only a shadow [just a pale representation] of the good things to come—not the very image of those things—it can never, by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year, make perfect those who approach [its altars].

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

then I said, Lo, I come in the volume of the Book it has been written of me to do thy will, O God.

After saying the words I have just quoted, "Sacrifices and offerings or whole burnt-offerings and sin-offerings Thou hast not desired or taken pleasure in" --all such being offered in obedience to the Law--

then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first in order to establish the second,

And it is by this will that we are consecrated, because Jesus Christ once for all has offered up his body.

And truly every priest has stood daily, serving and bringing in many times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

But Christ has offered for all time one sacrifice for sin, and has taken his seat at God's right hand,

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 has perfected in perpetuity the sanctified.

Now where forgiveness of sins has taken place, there is no longer [a need for an] offering for sin.

the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh,

and since we have a great Priest who has authority over the house of God,

Let us hold fast the confession of the hope unwavering, (for he is faithful who has promised;)

Any one that has disregarded Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses:

of how much worse punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and esteemed the blood of the covenant, whereby he has been sanctified, common, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know the One who has said, Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge His people.

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense.

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

But My righteous one [the one justified by faith] shall live by faith [respecting man’s relationship to God and trusting Him];
And if he draws back [shrinking in fear], My soul has no delight in him.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he has the testimony that he had pleased God.

And unless one has faith, it is impossible for him to be pleasing to God, for the person who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

By faith [with confidence in God and His word] Noah, being warned by God about events not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his family. By this [act of obedience] he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.

for he waited for the city which has foundations, of which God is the artificer and constructor.

but now they seek a better, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city.

By faith Abraham, when tried, has offered up Isaac; yea, he who gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten son,

By faith he has instituted the passover, and the applying of the blood, lest the destroyer of the first-born should touch them.

Therefore, [since] we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and {the sin that so easily ensnares us}, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don't grow weary, fainting in your souls.

For the Lord sends punishment on his loved ones; everyone whom he takes as his son has experience of his rod.

And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards, and not true sons.

And to Jesus by whom the new agreement has been made between God and man, and to the sign of the blood which says better things than Abel's blood.

whose voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, saying, Yet once will I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

Now this [expression], “Yet once more,” indicates the removal and final transformation of all those things which can be shaken—that is, of that which has been created—so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Let your conversation be without love of money, satisfied with your present circumstances; for he has said, I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee.

Never let yourselves be carried away with a variety of novel doctrines; for the right thing is to have one's heart strengthened by grace, not by the eating of food ??that has never been any use to those who have had recourse to it.

May God, the giver of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus who through the blood by which he ratified the everlasting agreement has become the great shepherd of the sheep,

Notice that our brother Timothy has been released [from prison]. If he comes soon, I will see you [along with him].

But let him ask in faith and have no doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed into spray.

For the sun has risen with its burning heat, and has withered the grass, and its flower has fallen, and the comeliness of its look has perished: thus the rich also shall wither in his goings.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for, having been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which He has promised to them that love him.

Then when the illicit desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin has run its course, it gives birth to death.

In accordance with His will He made us His children through the Message of the truth, so that we might, in a sense, be the Firstfruits of the things which He has created.

Therefore, have done with all filthiness and whatever wickedness still remains, and in a humble spirit receive that Message which has been planted in your hearts and is able to save your souls.

for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like.

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.

and if you have respect to him who has the fancy clothing and say to him, You sit here in a good place, and say to the poor, You stand there, or sit here under my footstool;

Hear, my beloved brethren: Has not God chosen the poor as to the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to them that love him?

And do not they blaspheme the excellent name which has been called upon you?

For whoever shall keep the whole law and shall offend in one point, he has come under the guilt of breaking all.

for He who is saying, 'Thou mayest not commit adultery,' said also, 'Thou mayest do no murder;' and if thou shalt not commit adultery, and shalt commit murder, thou hast become a transgressor of law;

for judgment will be without mercy to him that has shewn no mercy. Mercy glories over judgment.

What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works.]

If some brother or sister has no clothes and has not food enough for a day,

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

For we often stumble and fall, all of us. If there is any one who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity of character and is able to curb his whole nature.

So too the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions. Think how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze.

And the tongue is [like] a fire [i.e., like that spark]. [For] the tongue, as a part of the body, is [like] the world of evil. It corrupts the entire life [of a person] and inflames the course of nature itself [i.e., it affects a person throughout his whole earthly existence], and is ignited by hell itself [i.e., the evil produced by the fiery tongue has hell as its source and destiny].

For every species both of beasts and of birds, both of creeping things and of sea animals, is tamed and has been tamed by the human species;

Who has wisdom and good sense among you? let him make his works clear by a life of gentle wisdom.

You people desire something and yet do not have it, [so] you murder [to get it]. You are envious [of what someone has] and [yet] are not able to obtain it, [so] you fight and quarrel [over it]. You do not have [what you want] because you do not ask [God for it].

You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure.

Think ye that the scripture speaks in vain? Does the Spirit which has taken his abode in us desire enviously?

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy [the one God who has the absolute power of life and death]; but who are you to [hypocritically or self-righteously] pass judgment on your neighbor?

The man who has knowledge of how to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Your wealth has rotted and is ruined and your [fine] clothes have become moth-eaten.

Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who reaped your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. You have stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day of slaughter has come.

Be patient therefore, brethren, until the Coming of the Lord. Notice how eagerly a farmer waits for a valuable crop! He is patient over it till it has received the early and the later rain.

Be ye also patient; establish your hearts, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.

Murmur not against one another, brethren, that ye be not judged: behold, The Judge has taken His stand before the doors!

and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be one who has committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.

Confess therefore your offences to one another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The fervent supplication of the righteous man has much power.

My brothers, if one of you has gone out of the way of the true faith and another has made him see his error,

Be certain that he through whom a sinner has been turned from the error of his way, keeps a soul from death and is the cause of forgiveness for sins without number.

PETER an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the foreigners dispers'd thro' Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, whom God the father has chosen in pursuance of his decree,

whom God the Father has predestined and chosen, by the consecration of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: may grace and peace be multiplied to you.

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

to an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading, which has been reserved in Heaven for you,

At the thought of this you are full of exultation, though (if it has been necessary) you have suffered for the moment somewhat from various trials;

that the genuineness of your faith--a thing far more precious than gold, which is perishable, yet has to be tested by fire--may win praise and glory and honour at the Appearing of Jesus Christ.

to them it was revealed that they got this intelligence not for themselves but for you, regarding all that has now been disclosed to you by those who preached the gospel to you through the holy Spirit sent from heaven. The very angels long to get a glimpse of this!

but as he who has called you is holy, be ye also holy in all your conversation;

Because it has been said in the Writings, You are to be holy, for I am holy.

And if you give the name of Father to him who, judging every man by his acts, has no respect for a man's position, then go in fear while you are on this earth:

foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but who has been manifested at the end of times for your sakes,

who by him do believe on God, who has raised him from among the dead and given him glory, that your faith and hope should be in God.

Now that your obedience to the Truth has purified your souls for a brotherly love that is sincere, love one another heartily and steadily.

since your new Life has come, not from perishable, but imperishable, seed, through the Message of the Everliving God.

Because all flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass has withered and its flower has fallen;

but the word of the Lord endures {forever}." And this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

Because it is said in the Writings, See, I am placing a keystone in Zion, of great and special value; and the man who has faith in him will not be put to shame.

This precious value, then, is for you who believe [in Him as God’s only Son—the Source of salvation]; but for those who disbelieve,“The [very] stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief Cornerstone,”

But ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light;

In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.