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,

at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son, whom he has established heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

He is the reflection of God's glory, and the representation of his being, and bears up the universe by his mighty word. He has effected man's purification from sin, and has taken his seat on high at the right hand of God's Majesty,

having become as much superior to angels, since He has inherited a more excellent and glorious name than they [that is, Son—the name above all names].

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

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 angels has the Father ever said,

“Sit at My right hand [together with me in royal dignity],
Until I make your enemies
A footstool for your feet [in triumphant conquest]”?

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 habitable world which is to come, of which we speak;

but one has testified somewhere, saying, What is man, that thou rememberest him, or son of man that thou visitest him?

Thou hast made him some little inferior to the angels; thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, and hast set him over the works of thy hands;

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.

And again, I will trust in him. And again, Behold, I and the children which God has given me.

Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also, in like manner, took part in the same, that through death he might annul him who has the might of death, that is, the devil;

for, in that himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to help those that are being tempted.

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

For he has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, by how much he that has built it has more honour than the house.

For every house is built by some one; but he who has built all things 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 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 said somewhere of the seventh day thus, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works:

and He has also declared, "They shall not be admitted to My rest."

again he determines a certain day, saying, in David, 'To-day,' after so long a time; (according as it has been said before), To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

For he that has entered into his rest, he also has 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 hold fast the confession.

For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] 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 certainly enough time has elapsed so that [by now] you ought to be teachers, [but instead] you are in need of having someone teach you again the basic principles of God's message. You have become people who need "milk" and not "solid food." [Note: The fundamental truths of Christianity are here figuratively spoken of as "milk," while the more advanced teaching, such as Christ's priesthood being like Melchizedek's, is called "solid food"].

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

For soil that drinks the rain which often falls on it and produces crops useful to those for whose benefit it is cultivated, receives 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;

where Jesus has entered [in advance] as a forerunner for us, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

He has no father, mother, or genealogy, no birth date recorded for him, nor a date of death. Like the Son of God, he continues to be a priest forever.

but he who has no genealogy from them has tithed Abraham, and blessed him who had 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, through Abraham, Levi also, who received tithes, has been made to pay tithes.

For he, of whom these things are said, belongs to a different tribe, of which no one has ever been attached to the service of 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 been constituted not according to law of fleshly commandment, but according to power of indissoluble life.

For it has been testified:

You are a priest forever
in the order of Melchizedek.

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

(for they are become priests without the swearing of an oath, but he with the swearing of an oath, by him who said, as to him, The Lord has sworn, and will not repent of it, Thou art priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec;)

And so [because of the oath’s greater strength and force] Jesus has become the certain guarantee of a better covenant [a more excellent and more advantageous agreement; one that will never be replaced or annulled].

but he, because of his continuing for ever, 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 not day by day need, as the high priests, first to offer up sacrifices for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this he did once for all in having offered up himself.

For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak [frail, sinful, dying men], but the word of the oath [of God], which came after [the institution of] the Law, permanently appoints [as priest] a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Now a summary of the things of which we are speaking is, We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens;

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

(who serve the representation and shadow of heavenly things, according as Moses was oracularly told when about to make the tabernacle; for See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern which has been shewn to thee in the mountain.)

But now he has got a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is mediator of a better covenant, which is established on the footing of better promises.

In that he says New, he has made the first old; but that which grows old and aged is near disappearing.

the Holy Spirit shewing this, that the way of the holy of holies has not yet been made manifest while as yet the first tabernacle has its standing;

But Christ has arrived [as] a high priest of the good [things] to come. Through the greater and more perfect tent not made by hands, that is, not of this creation,

nor by blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, has entered in once for all into the holy of holies, having found an eternal redemption.

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?

For this reason He is the Mediator and Negotiator of a new covenant [that is, an entirely new agreement uniting God and man], so that those who have been called [by God] may receive [the fulfillment of] the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has taken place [as the payment] which redeems them from the sins committed under the obsolete first covenant.

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

for a will and testament takes effect [only] at death, since it is never in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without blood.

saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined to 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:

since he had then been obliged often to suffer from the foundation of the world. But now once in the consummation of the ages he has been manifested for the putting away of sin by his sacrifice.

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.