¹⁵ and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests; their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout all their generations.”^(A)

¹³ It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’ ”^(A)

Mediator of a Better Covenant

8 Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,^{(A) 2} a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent^[a] that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.^{(B) 3} For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.^{(C) 4} Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are already those^[b] who offer gifts according to the law. ⁵ They offer worship in a sanctuary that is^[c] a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one, just as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tent.^[d] For, God^[e] said, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”^{(D) 6} But Jesus^[f] has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on the basis of better promises.^{(E) 7} For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.^(F)

⁸ God^[g] finds fault with them when he says:

¹⁷ For it is attested of him,

¹⁸ There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual^{(B) 19} (for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope through which we approach God.^(C)

²⁰ This was confirmed with an oath, for others have become priests without an oath, ²¹ but this one became a priest with an oath because of the one who said to him,

²² accordingly Jesus has also become the guarantor of a better covenant.^(E)

²³ Furthermore, the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, ²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

5 Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness,^{(A) 3} and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. ⁴ And one does not presume to take this honor but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.^(B)

⁵ So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest but was appointed by^[a] the one who said to him,

⁶ as he says also in another place,

⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus^[b] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.^{(E) 8} Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered,^{(F) 9} and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,^{(G) 10} having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Warning against Falling Away

¹¹ About this^[c] we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,^{(H) 13} for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.^(I)

⁷ It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.

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.^(A)

³³ Whoever blends any like it or whoever puts any of it on an unqualified person shall be cut off from the people.”^(A)