²⁸ for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah^[a] is Jesus.^(A)

⁵ When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word,^[a] testifying to the Jews that the Messiah^[b] was Jesus.^(A)

³ For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures^{(A) 4} and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures^(B)

²² To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place:^{(A) 23} that the Messiah^[a] must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the gentiles.”^(B)

²² Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus^[a] was the Messiah.^[b](A)

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”^(A)

³ explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah^[a] to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying, “This is the Messiah,^[b] Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.”^(A)

³⁹ “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf.^(A)

²⁷ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.^(A)

The Priestly Order of Melchizedek

7 This “Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him,”^{(A) 2} and to him Abraham apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next, he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.” ³ Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.^(B)

⁴ See how great he is! Even^[a] Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils.^{(C) 5} And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes^[b] from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descended from Abraham.^{(D) 6} But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes^[c] from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises.^{(E) 7} It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. ⁸ In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal; in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.^{(F) 9} One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, ¹⁰ for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.