Since then it is still true that somebody will be admitted to it, and those who had a gospel preached to them before were not admitted because of their disobedience,

Further, if he were still on earth, he would not be a priest at all, for there are priests enough provided to offer the gifts the Law prescribes??5 though the service they engage in is only a shadow and imitation of that in heaven. For when Moses was going to make the tent of worship he was warned, "Be sure to make it all just like the pattern you were shown on the mountain."

and above the chest were the winged creatures of the Divine Presence overshadowing the lid on which the blood was sprinkled??f which I cannot now speak in detail.

By such means, therefore, these things that were only copied from the originals in heaven had to be purified, but the heavenly originals themselves required far better sacrifices than these.

For while the Law foreshadowed the blessings that were to come, it did not fully express them, and so the priests by offering the same sacrifices endlessly year after year cannot wholly free those who come to worship from their sins.

Every other priest stands officiating day after day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices, though they were powerless ever to remove people's sins.

For you showed sympathy with those who were in prison, and you put up with it cheerfully when your property was taken from you, for you knew that you had in yourselves a greater possession that was lasting.

All these people lived all their lives in faith, and died without receiving what had been promised; they only saw it far ahead and welcomed the sight of it, recognizing that they themselves were only foreigners and strangers here on earth.

Faith enabled Isaac to bequeath to Jacob and Esau blessings that were still to be.

Faith enabled them to cross the Red Sea as though it were dry land, although the Egyptians when they tried to follow them across it were drowned.

They were stoned to death, they were tortured to death, they were sawed in two, they were killed with the sword. Clothed in the skins of sheep or goats, they were driven from place to place, destitute, persecuted, misused??38 men of whom the world was not worthy wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground.

Remember those who are in prison as though you were in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated as being yourselves liable to the same trials.