But solid food is for men of full growth, even for those whose senses are trained by use to see what is good and what is evil.

and of teaching about immersions [Note: The use of the plural word here suggests teaching on the distinctions between Jewish washings and John's and Christian immersion, whether in water or the Holy Spirit. See Acts 19:1-7], and about placing hands on people [Note: This act was practiced in the appointment of church leaders, in healing sick people and to impart supernatural gifts], and about people being raised from the dead and about never ending judgment.

[These are people] who were once enlightened [by the Gospel message], who had experienced the gift from heaven [i.e., forgiveness, never ending life, etc. See Rom. 6:23], who had partaken of the Holy Spirit [See Acts 2:38],

Nevertheless dear friends, we trust to see better of you, and things which accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

For this Melchizedek was king of Salem [Note: This probably refers to Jerusalem], and a priest of the Most High God. He met Abraham returning [from battle] when he defeated the kings [See Gen. 14:1ff] and blessed him.

And see how great this one is, to whom also a tenth Abraham the patriarch did give out of the best of the spoils,

For the Lord [See next verse], about whom these things are being said, belonged to another tribe, from which no one has [ever] been appointed to serve at the Altar.

For the law of Moses appoints [morally] weak men to be head priests, but the message of [God's] oath, which came after that law [Note: The quotation from Psa. 110:4 (See verse 21) was written after the law of Moses was given] appointed the Son, who was made perfect [in every way] forever.

Now were he on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law??5 those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle. "See", he says, "that you make everything on the pattern showed you on the mountain."

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

But Jesus, as we see, has obtained a ministry as far excelling theirs, as the Covenant of which he is the intermediary, based, as it is, on better promises, excels the former Covenant.

For, protesting against them, he says, See, the days are coming when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;

When he says, A new agreement, he has made the first agreement old. But anything which is getting old and past use will not be seen much longer.

But when Christ became the Head Priest of the good things that have come, He entered the greater and more complete Tabernacle, not made by hand, that is, not part of this creation [i.e., heaven, See 8:2].

From which we see that neither was the first covenant dedicated without blood.

For Christ did not enter the Holy of Holies made by hand, which is [only] a counterpart of the true one, but into heaven itself, where He now appears in God's presence for us. [See verse 12].

So Christ, having at his first coming taken on himself the sins of men, will be seen a second time, without sin, by those who are waiting for him, for their salvation.

Then I said, “See—
it is written about Me
in the volume of the scroll—
I have come to do Your will, God!”

At first he says, "You never wished or cared for sacrifices or offerings, or burnt-offerings or sacrifices for sin"??ll of which the Law prescribes??9 and then he adds, "See, I have come to do your will!" He is taking away the old to put the new in its place.

He then says, See, I have come to do Your will. He takes away the first to establish the second.

we should draw close [to God] with a sincere heart and a fully assured faith, having had our hearts sprinkled from a guilty conscience [See 9:13-14] and having had our bodies washed with clean water [i.e., in our immersion].

and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds ??25 not ceasing to meet together, as is the habit of some, but admonishing one another, all the more so, as you see the Day coming near.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

But give thought to the days after you had seen the light, when you went through a great war of troubles;

For you need to be steadfast so that, after you have done what God wants, you will receive the promise [of an inheritance. See 9:15].

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

For the men of old [i.e., the forefathers. See 1:1], received [God's] approval [for their faith].

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

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 had this testimony, that he pleased God.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

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.

Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

By [having] faith, Isaac pronounced a future blessing on Jacob and Esau. [See Gen. 27:26-40].

By [having] faith, when Joseph was about to die, he mentioned the Israelites' departure [from Egypt] and gave [them] instructions concerning his bones [i.e., that they were to take them back to Palestine. See Gen. 50:25].

By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees Him who is invisible.

By [having] faith, he established the Passover Festival [Note: This festival was first celebrated in Egypt by the fleeing Israelites, then observed annually in commemoration of that event], and had [lambs'] blood sprinkled [on the door jambs] to prevent the one who destroyed the firstborn children from touching them. [See Ex. 12:23].

By faith Rahab, the loose woman, was not put to death with those who had gone against God's orders, because she had taken into her house in peace those sent to see the land.

and all chastening for the present, indeed, doth not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow, yet afterward the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised through it -- it doth yield.

and see that ye have straight steps unto your feet, lest any halting turn out of the way: yea, let it rather be healed.

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;

And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for one meal.

For you recall how, even after he [later] wanted to inherit the blessing, Esau was rejected [by his father Isaac. See Gen. 37:35-40]. For he was not able to get his father to change his mind, even though he tearfully begged him [or, "he was not able to change the situation, even though he shed tears over his loss"].

[Unlike the Israelites at Mount Sinai] you [Christians] have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that burned with fire [See Ex. 19:12, 16-19; 20:18-21; Deut. 4:11]; to [a place of] darkness, gloom and wind;

to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words [from God] that the hearers begged not to have to listen to [anymore]. [See Ex. 20:19].

And the sight [of all these things] was so terrifying that Moses said [See Deut. 9:19], "I tremble with fear."

and to the church of the firstborn ones [i.e., those who have received an inheritance from their Father], whose names are recorded in heaven. [See Luke 10:20]. [You have come] to God, who is the Judge of all people, and to the spirits of righteous people who have become [morally] perfect [i.e., that great company of God's people who have gone on to their heavenly reward],

and to Jesus, the Mediator of a New Agreement [between God and mankind], and to the sprinkled blood [of Jesus], which says better things [to us] than [the blood of] Abel did. [Note: The contrast seems to be that "Abel's blood called for vengeance and death (See Gen. 4:10) whereas the blood of Christ provides mercy and life"].

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Therefore, we should be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken [i.e., the church. See Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:6, 9]. So, with reverence and awe, we should serve God in a way that pleases Him,

Remember them which have the oversight of you, which have declared unto you the word of God: consider the conversation of their living, the end of whose conversation see that ye look upon, and follow their faith.

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.

Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;

Therefore, you should put away [from you] all moral filth and overflowing wickedness and humbly receive the word [of God], planted within you [by the Holy Spirit. See John 16:8], which is capable of saving your souls.

And see that ye be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves with sophistry.

For if anyone is [only] a listener to the word and does not practice it, he is like a person who sees his natural face in a mirror,

for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

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.

Do you not see, O foolish man, that faith without works is of no use?

dost thou see that the faith was working with his works, and out of the works the faith was perfected?

Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

We put bridles into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, and so, you see, we can move the whole of their bodies.

Thus also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how little a fire, how large a wood it kindles!

And the seed whose fruit is righteousness (spiritual maturity) is sown in peace by those who make peace [by actively encouraging goodwill between individuals].

You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].

O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God.

Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us?

when, all the while, you do not even know what will happen to-morrow. For what is the nature of your life? Why, it is but a mist, which appears for a short time and then is seen no more.

See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies.

You have condemned and murdered the righteous man [i.e., the innocent person, See verse 4] and he does not [even] resist you.

So wait patiently, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits [expectantly] for the precious harvest from the land, being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains.

Say no hard things against one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged; see, the judge is waiting at the doors.

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

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

These people have been [specially] selected, and [their acceptance was] pre-planned by God the Father, and they were set apart through [the work of] the Holy Spirit. This resulted in their obedience and sprinkling [Note: This is a figurative reference to the Old Testament practice of cleansing, See Exodus 24:7-8] by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God's unearned favor and peace be continually upon you.

Who, by the power of God are kept, through faith, for that salvation, which will be seen at the last day.

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

concerning which salvation seek out and search out did prophets who concerning the grace toward you did prophecy,

Attempting to see what sort of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to, when it gave witness to the pains which Christ would undergo and the glories which would come after them.

And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; things which even angels have a desire to see.

And if so be that ye call on the father, which without respect of person judgeth according to every man's works, see that ye pass the time of your pilgrimage in fear:

Who was marked out by God before the making of the world, but was caused to be seen in these last times for you,

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

[So], like newly born babies, you should desire the genuine, spiritual milk [i.e., God's word. See Heb. 5:12-13], so that by it you may grow toward [final] salvation,

For it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honour, and he whose faith rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed."

So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.

See that ye honour all men. Love brotherly fellowship, fear God, and honour the King.

[when they] see your respectful, pure conduct.

Last of all, see that you are all in agreement; feeling for one another, loving one another like brothers, full of pity, without pride:

For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

For the Lord's eyes see what the righteous person does and He hears their [earnest] prayers, but the Lord looks with disapproval on the person who does wrong."