God’s Promise is Reliable

¹³ For when God made his promise to Abraham, he swore an oath by himself, since he had no one greater to swear by. ¹⁴ He said, “I will certainly bless you and give you many descendants.”^{[a] 15} And so he obtained what he had been promised, because he patiently waited for it. ¹⁶ For people swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ In the same way, when God wanted to make the unchangeable character of his purpose perfectly clear to the heirs of his promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by these two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge in him might be encouraged to seize the hope set before us. ¹⁹ That hope,^[b] firm and secure like an anchor for our souls, reaches behind the curtain ²⁰ where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.