⁴ Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.

²⁹ “Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us.

Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.

²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Gentile,^[a] slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children^[b] of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

¹⁷ That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”^[a] This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

¹⁸ Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”^[b]