Chapter 5

The Perfect High Priest

1 For every high priest ataken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in bthings pertaining to God, in order to coffer both gifts and sacrifices dfor sins;

2 1ahe can deal gently with the bignorant and cmisguided, since he himself also is 2dbeset with weakness;

3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices afor sins, bas for the people, so also for himself.

4 And ano one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even bas Aaron was.

5 So also Christ adid not glorify Himself so as to become a bhigh priest, but He who csaid to Him,

“dYou are My Son,

Today I have begotten You”;

6 just as He says also in another passage,

“aYou are a priest forever

According to bthe order of Melchizedek.”

7 1In the days of His flesh, 2aHe offered up both prayers and supplications with bloud crying and tears to the One cable to save Him 3from death, and He 4was heard because of His dpiety.

8 Although He was aa Son, He learned bobedience from the things which He suffered.

9 And having been made aperfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

10 being designated by God as aa high priest according to bthe order of Melchizedek.

11 Concerning 1him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

12 For though 1by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you athe 2belementary principles of the coracles of God, and you have come to need dmilk and not solid food.

13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an ainfant.

14 But solid food is for athe mature, who because of practice have their senses btrained to cdiscern good and evil.

Chapter 6

The Peril of Falling Away

1 Therefore aleaving bthe 1elementary teaching about the 2Christ, let us press on to 3cmaturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from ddead works and of faith toward God,

2 of ainstruction about washings and blaying on of hands, and the cresurrection of the dead and ceternal judgment.

3 And this we will do, aif God permits.

4 For in the case of those who have once been aenlightened and have tasted of bthe heavenly gift and have been made cpartakers of the Holy Spirit,

5 and ahave tasted the good bword of God and the powers of cthe age to come,

6 and then have fallen away, it is aimpossible to renew them again to repentance, 1bsince they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

7 For ground that drinks the rain which often 1falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those afor whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and aclose 1to being cursed, and 2it ends up being burned.

Better Things for You

9 But, abeloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that 1accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.

10 For aGod is not unjust so as to forget byour work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having cministered and in still ministering to the 1saints.

11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence 1so as to realize the afull assurance of bhope until the end,

12 so that you will not be sluggish, but aimitators of those who through bfaith and patience cinherit the promises.

13 For awhen God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He bswore by Himself,

14 saying, “aI will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.”

15 And so, ahaving patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

16 aFor men swear by 1one greater than themselves, and with them ban oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

17 1In the same way God, desiring even more to show to athe heirs of the promise bthe unchangeableness of His purpose, 2interposed with an oath,

18 so that by two unchangeable things in which ait is impossible for God to lie, we who have 1taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of bthe hope set before us.

19 1This ahope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which benters 2within the veil,

20 awhere Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a bhigh priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Chapter 7

Melchizedek’s Priesthood Like Christ’s

1 For this aMelchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the bMost High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

3 Without father, without mother, awithout genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like bthe Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

4 Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the apatriarch, bgave a tenth of the choicest spoils.

5 And those indeed of athe sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have commandment 1in the Law to collect 2a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these 3are descended from Abraham.

6 But the one awhose genealogy is not traced from them bcollected 1a tenth from Abraham and 2bblessed the one who chad the promises.

7 But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

8 In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, aof whom it is witnessed that he lives on.

9 And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes,

10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

11 aNow if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it bthe people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise caccording to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?

12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

13 For athe one concerning whom bthese things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.

14 For it is evident that our Lord 1was adescended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.

15 And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek,

16 who has become such not on the basis of a law of 1aphysical requirement, but according to the power of ban indestructible life.

17 For it is attested of Him,

“aYou are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

18 For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment abecause of its weakness and uselessness

19 (for athe Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better bhope, through which we cdraw near to God.

20 And inasmuch as it was not without an oath

21 (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him,

“aThe Lord has sworn

And bwill not change His mind,

‘You are a priest cforever’ ”);

22 so much the more also Jesus has become the aguarantee of ba better covenant.

23 1The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,

24 but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues aforever, holds His priesthood permanently.

25 Therefore He is able also to asave 1forever those who bdraw near to God through Him, since He always lives to cmake intercession for them.

26 For it was fitting for us to have such a ahigh priest, bholy, cinnocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and dexalted above the heavens;

27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to aoffer up sacrifices, bfirst for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did conce for all when He doffered up Himself.

28 For the Law appoints men as high priests awho are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints ba Son, cmade perfect forever.