\v 1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in many ways.
\v 2 But in these last days, he has spoken to us through a Son, whom he appointed to be the heir of all things. It is through him that God also made the universe.
\v 3 He is the brightness of God's glory, the exact representation of his being. He even holds everything together by the word of his power. After he had made cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
\v 3 how then can we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This is salvation that was first announced by the Lord and confirmed to us by those who heard it.
\v 4 At the same time God testified to it by signs, wonders, and various miracles, and by distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will.
\q you crowned him with glory and honor. \f + \ft Some important and ancient Greek copies add, \fqa and you have put him over the works of your hands \fqa* . \f*
\v 8 You put everything in subjection under his feet."
\p For it was to him that God has subjected all things. He did not leave anything not subjected to him. But now we do not yet see everything subjected to him.
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\v 9 But we see him who was made lower than the angels for a little while, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of his suffering and death, so that by God's grace he might taste death for everyone.
\v 10 For it was proper for God, because everything exists for him and through him, to bring many sons to glory. It was proper for him to make the founder of their salvation complete through his sufferings.
\v 14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he shared in those things in the same way, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.
\v 17 So it was necessary for him to become like his brothers in all ways, so that he would be a merciful and faithful high priest in relation to the things of God, and so that he would make propitiation for the people's sins.
\v 6 But Christ is faithful as a Son who is in charge of the house of God. We are his house if we hold firmly to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
\v 1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest is still allowed to stand, let us fear, so that none of you may seem to have fallen short of it.
\v 2 For we were told the good news just as they were. But that message did not benefit those who did not unite in faith with those who obeyed. \f + \ft Some important and ancient copies read, \fqa But that message did not benefit those who heard it without joining faith to it \fqa* . \f*
\v 6 Therefore, it remains for some to enter that rest, and those who previously had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience.
\v 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
\v 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. Instead, we have someone who has in all ways been tempted as we are, except that he is without sin.
\v 16 Let us then go with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
\v 1 For every high priest, chosen from among people, is appointed to act on the behalf of people in the things concerning God, so that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
\v 7 During the days of his flesh, Christ offered up both prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, the one able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his godly life.
\v 12 For though by this time you should be teachers, you still have need for someone to teach you the elementary principles of God's messages. You need milk, not solid food!
\v 14 But solid food is for the mature. These are those who because of their maturity have their understanding trained for distinguishing good from evil.
\v 1 So then, let us leave the beginning of the message of Christ and move forward to maturity. Let us not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith in God,
\v 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who were sharers of the Holy Spirit,
\v 5 and who tasted God's good word and the powers of the age to come,
\v 6 but who then fell away—it is impossible to restore them again to repentance. This is because they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and publicly shame him.
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\v 7 For the land that drinks in the rain that often comes on it, and that gives birth to the plants useful to those for whom the land was worked—this is the land that receives a blessing from God.
\v 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and is near to a curse. Its end is in burning.
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\v 9 But we are convinced about better things concerning you, beloved ones, things that concern salvation, even though we speak like this.
\v 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you showed for his name, because you served his holy people, and you are still serving them.
\v 15 In this way, Abraham obtained what was promised after he had patiently waited.
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\v 16 For people swear by someone greater than themselves. At the end of each of their disputes, an oath serves as confirmation.
\v 17 When God decided to show more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable quality of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.
\v 18 He did this so that by two unchangeable things—with which it is impossible for God to lie—we, who have fled for refuge, will have a strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us.
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\v 19 We have this as a secure and reliable anchor for the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
\v 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered into that place on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
\v 2 It was to him that Abraham gave a tenth of everything. First, the translation of his name means, "king of righteousness"; then he is also "king of Salem," that is, "king of peace."
\v 3 He is without father, without mother, without ancestors, with neither beginning of days nor end of life. Instead, he resembles the Son of God, because he remains a priest forever.
\v 5 The descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, even though they, too, are descended from Abraham.
\v 7 There is no denying that the lesser person is blessed by the greater person.
\v 8 In this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case it is testified that he lives on.
\v 9 And, in a manner of speaking, Levi, who received tithes, also paid tithes through Abraham,
\v 10 because Levi was in the body of his ancestor when Melchizedek met Abraham.
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\v 11 Now if perfection were possible through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the manner of Melchizedek, and not be considered to be after the manner of Aaron?
\v 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed.
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\v 13 For the one about whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
\v 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, who is holy, innocent, pure, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
\v 27 He does not need, unlike the high priests, to offer up daily sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He did this once for all when he offered himself.
\v 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weaknesses. But the word of the oath, which came after the law, appointed a Son, who has been made perfect forever.
\v 1 Now the point of what we are saying is this: We have a high priest who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.
\v 2 He is a servant in the holy place, the true tabernacle that the Lord, not a man, set up.
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\v 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary to have something to offer.
\v 4 Now if Christ were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law.
\v 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. It is just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to construct the tabernacle: God said, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain."
\v 4 It had a golden altar for incense. It also had the ark of the covenant, which was completely overlaid with gold. Inside it was a golden jar that held the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
\v 7 But only the high priest entered the second room, once each year, and not without blood that he offered for himself and for the people's unintentional sins.
\v 9 This was an illustration for the present time. Both the gifts and sacrifices that are now being offered are not able to perfect the worshiper's conscience.
\v 11 Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come. He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that was not made by human hands, one not belonging to this created world. \f + \ft Some important and ancient Greek copies read, \fqa Christ came as a high priest of the good things that are to come \fqa* . \f*
\v 12 It was not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood that he entered into the most holy place once for all and secured our eternal redemption.
\v 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes on those who have been defiled sanctifies them for the cleansing of their flesh,
\v 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
\v 15 For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. This is so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of those under the first covenant from their transgressions, those who are called will receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.
\v 18 So not even the first covenant was established without blood.
\v 19 For when Moses had given every command in the law to all the people, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water, red wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people.
\v 20 Then he said, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you."
\v 22 According to the law, almost everything is cleansed with blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
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\v 23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in heaven should be cleansed with these animal sacrifices. However, the heavenly things themselves had to be cleansed with much better sacrifices.
\v 24 For Christ did not enter into the most holy place made with hands, which is only a copy of the true one. Instead he entered into heaven itself, to appear now in God's presence for us.
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\v 25 He did not go there in order to offer himself many times, as does the high priest, who enters the most holy place year by year with the blood of another.
\v 26 If that had been the case, then he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has become visible at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
\v 28 so also, Christ was offered once to take away the sins of many, and will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but for the salvation of those who are waiting for him.
\v 1 For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the real forms of those things themselves. Those who approach God can never be made perfect by the same sacrifices that the priests continually bring year after year.
\v 2 Otherwise, would the sacrifices not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed one time and would no longer have any consciousness of sin.
\v 8 First he said, "It was neither sacrifices, nor offerings, nor whole burnt offerings, nor sin offerings that you desired. Nor did you take pleasure in them." These are sacrifices that are offered according to the law.
\v 21 Because we have a great priest over the house of God,
\v 22 let us approach with true hearts in the full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
\v 23 Let us also hold firmly to the hope we confess, for he who promised is faithful.
\v 24 Let us think carefully about how to motivate one another to love and good deeds.
\v 25 Let us not forsake meeting together, as some have done. Instead, encourage one another more and more, and all the more as you see the day coming closer.
\v 29 How much worse punishment do you think one deserves who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, who regarded the blood of the covenant as unholy—the blood by which he was sanctified—and insulted the Spirit of grace?
\v 34 For you had compassion on those who were prisoners, and you accepted with joy the seizure of your possessions. You knew that you yourselves had a better and everlasting possession. \f + \ft Some important and ancient Greek copies read, \fqa For you had compassion on me in my chains \fqa* . \f*
\v 2 For because of this the ancestors were approved for their faith.
\v 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by God's command, so that what is visible was not made out of things that were visible.
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\v 4 It was by faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, and God spoke well of him because of his offerings, and by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
\v 5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death. "He was not found, because God took him away." For before he was taken up, it was testified that he had pleased God.
\v 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him. For it is necessary that anyone coming to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
\v 7 It was by faith that Noah, having been given a divine message about things not yet seen, with godly reverence built a ark to save his household. By doing this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that is according to faith.
\v 8 It was by faith that Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to the place that he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going.
\v 9 It was by faith that he lived in the land of promise as a foreigner. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.
\v 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
\v 11 By faith—and Sarah herself was barren—he received ability to conceive a descendant beyond the time of maturity, since he considered as faithful the one who had given the promise. \f + \ft There is some question about whether it was Abraham's faith or Sarah's faith that was in view. \fqa By faith Sarah, though she was old, received the power to have a child, even though she was too old to bear a child, since she considered the one who gave the promise to be faithful \fqa* . \f*
\v 12 Therefore, from this one man—and he was almost dead—were born descendants as many as the stars in the sky and as countless as sand by the seashore.
\v 13 It was in faith that all these died without receiving the promises. Instead, after seeing and greeting them from far off, they acknowledged that they were foreigners and exiles on earth.
\v 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
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\v 15 If they had been thinking of the country from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
\v 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has prepared a city for them.
\v 20 It was also by faith about things to come that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.
\v 21 It was by faith that Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons. Jacob worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
\v 22 It was by faith that Joseph, when his end was near, spoke of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt and instructed them about his bones.
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\v 23 It was by faith that Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child. They were not afraid of the king's command.
\v 24 It was by faith that Moses, after he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
\v 28 It was by faith that he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch the Israelites' firstborn sons.
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\v 29 It was by faith that they passed through the Sea of Reeds as if over dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do this, they were swallowed up.
\v 30 It was by faith that Jericho's walls fell down, after they had been circled around for seven days.
\v 31 It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute did not die with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
\v 32 What more can I say? For the time will fail me if I give a full account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and about the prophets.
\v 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong when they were weak, became mighty in battle, and defeated foreign armies.
\v 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might experience a better resurrection.
\v 37 They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins. They were destitute, oppressed, mistreated. \f + \ft Some important and ancient Greek copies read, \fqa They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were put to the test. They were killed with the sword \fqa* . \f*
\v 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a large cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and easily entangling sin. Let us run with perseverance the race that is placed before us.
\v 2 Let us pay attention to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of the faith. For the joy that was placed before him, he endured the cross, despised its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
\v 11 No discipline at the time seems to give joy, but to give sorrow. But later it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it.
\v 17 For you know that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, because he found no opportunity for repentance, even though he sought it with tears.
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\v 18 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, a mountain of burning fire, darkness, gloom, and storm.
\v 19 You have not come to a trumpet blast, nor to a voice that speaks words whose hearers begged that not another word be spoken to them.
\v 20 For they could not endure what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." \f + \ft Some important and ancient Greek copies read, \fqa If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned or shot with an arrow \fqa* . \f*
\v 22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels in joyful assembly.
\v 23 You have come to the congregation of the firstborn, who have been registered in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous ones who have been made perfect.
\v 24 You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks better than Abel's blood.
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\v 25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who is warning from heaven.
\v 26 At one time, his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised and said, "One more time I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens."
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\v 27 These words, "One more time," mean the removal of those things that can be shaken, that is, of the things that have been created, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
\v 5 Let your conduct be free from the love of money. Be content with the things you have, for God himself has said, "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you."
\v 6 Let us be content so that we may have courage to say,
\q "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
\q What can a man do to me?"
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\v 7 Consider your leaders, those who spoke God's word to you, and consider the result of their conduct. Imitate their faith.
\v 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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\v 9 Do not be carried away by various strange teachings. For it is good that the heart should be strengthened by grace, not by foods that do not help those who walk by them.
\v 10 We have an altar from which those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat.
\v 11 For the blood of the animals killed for sins is brought by the high priest into the holy place, while their bodies are burned outside the camp.
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\v 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
\v 17 Obey and submit to your leaders, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give account. Obey so that your leaders will do this with joy, and not with groaning, which would be useless to you.
\v 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
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