13 For (A)when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear an oath by no one greater, He (B)swore by Himself, 14 saying, “(C)indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply you.” 15 And so, (D)having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 (E)For people swear an oath by [a]one greater than themselves, and with them (F)an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 [b]In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to (G)the heirs of the promise [c](H)the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, [d]confirmed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which (I)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to (J)the hope set before us. 19 [e]This (K)hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which (L)enters [f]within the veil, 20 (M)where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a (N)high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 6:16 Or Him who is greater
  2. Hebrews 6:17 Lit In which
  3. Hebrews 6:17 Lit the unchangeableness of His
  4. Hebrews 6:17 Or mediated
  5. Hebrews 6:19 Lit Which hope we have
  6. Hebrews 6:19 Or inside

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.

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 6:14 Cf. Gen 22:17
  2. Hebrews 6:19 The Gk. lacks hope