4 Then what should we say Avraham, our forefather, obtained by his own efforts? ² For if Avraham came to be considered righteous by God because of legalistic observances, then he has something to boast about. But this is not how it is before God! ³ For what does the Tanakh say? “Avraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.”^{[a] 4} Now the account of someone who is working is credited not on the ground of grace but on the ground of what is owed him. ⁵ However, in the case of one who is not working but rather is trusting in him who makes ungodly people righteous, his trust is credited to him as righteousness.

⁶ In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:

⁹ Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham’s trust was credited to his account as righteousness; ¹⁰ but what state was he in when it was so credited — circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision! ¹¹ In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him, ¹² and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had a b’rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust which Avraham avinu had when he was still uncircumcised.

¹³ For the promise to Avraham and his seed^[c] that he would inherit the world did not come through legalism but through the righteousness that trust produces. ¹⁴ For if the heirs are produced by legalism, then trust is pointless and the promise worthless. ¹⁵ For what law brings is punishment. But where there is no law, there is also no violation.

¹⁶ The reason the promise is based on trusting is so that it may come as God’s free gift, a promise that can be relied on by all the seed, not only those who live within the framework of the Torah, but also those with the kind of trust Avraham had — Avraham avinu for all of us. ¹⁷ This accords with the Tanakh, where it says, “I have appointed you to be a father to many nations.”^[d] Avraham is our father in God’s sight because he trusted God as the one who gives life to the dead and calls nonexistent things into existence. ¹⁸ For he was past hope, yet in hope he trusted that he would indeed become a father to many nations, in keeping with what he had been told, “So many will your seed be.”^{[e] 19} His trust did not waver when he considered his own body — which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old — or when he considered that Sarah’s womb was dead too. ²⁰ He did not by lack of trust decide against God’s promises. On the contrary, by trust he was given power as he gave glory to God, ²¹ for he was fully convinced that what God had promised he could also accomplish. ²² This is why it was credited to his account as righteousness.^[f]

²³ But the words, “it was credited to his account . . . ,” were not written for him only. ²⁴ They were written also for us, who will certainly have our account credited too, because we have trusted in him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead — ²⁵ Yeshua, who was delivered over to death because of our offences and raised to life in order to make us righteous.

²¹ Tell me, you who want to be in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism, don’t you hear what the Torah itself says? ²² It says that Avraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. ²³ The one by the slave woman was born according to the limited capabilities of human beings, but the one by the free woman was born through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise. ²⁴ Now, to make a midrash on these things: the two women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for slavery — this is Hagar. ²⁵ Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Yerushalayim, for she serves as a slave along with her children. ²⁶ But the Yerushalayim above is free, and she is our mother; ²⁷ for the Tanakh says,

²⁸ You, brothers, like Yitz’chak, are children referred to in a promise of God. ²⁹ But just as then the one born according to limited human capability persecuted the one born through the Spirit’s supernatural power, so it is now. ³⁰ Nevertheless, what does the Tanakh say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for by no means will the son of the slave woman inherit along with the son of the free woman!”^{[b] 31} So, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

5 What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery.

7 This Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, a cohen of God Ha‘Elyon, met Avraham on his way back from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; ² also Avraham gave him a tenth of everything.^[a]

Now first of all, by translation of his name, he is “king of righteousness”; and then he is also king of Shalem, which means “king of peace.”

³ There is no record of his father, mother, ancestry, birth or death; rather, like the Son of God, he continues as a cohen for all time.

⁴ Just think how great he was! Even the Patriarch Avraham gave him a tenth of the choicest spoils. ⁵ Now the descendants of Levi who became cohanim have a commandment in the Torah to take a tenth of the income of the people, that is, from their own brothers, despite the fact that they too are descended from Avraham. ⁶ But Malki-Tzedek, even though he was not descended from Levi, took a tenth from Avraham.

Also, he blessed Avraham, the man who received God’s promises; ⁷ and it is beyond all dispute that the one who blesses has higher status than the one who receives the blessing.

⁸ Moreover, in the case of the cohanim, the tenth is received by men who die; while in the case of Malki-Tzedek, it is received by someone who is testified to be still alive.

⁹ One might go even further and say that Levi, who himself receives tenths, paid a tenth through Avraham; ¹⁰ inasmuch as he was still in his ancestor Avraham’s body when Malki-Tzedek met him.

¹¹ Therefore, if it had been possible to reach the goal through the system of cohanim derived from Levi (since in connection with it, the people were given the Torah), what need would there have been for another, different kind of cohen, the one spoken of as to be compared with Malki-Tzedek and not to be compared with Aharon? ¹² For if the system of cohanim is transformed, there must of necessity occur a transformation of Torah. ¹³ The one about whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar; ¹⁴ for everyone knows that our Lord arose out of Y’hudah, and that Moshe said nothing about this tribe when he spoke about cohanim.

¹⁵ It becomes even clearer if a “different kind of cohen,” one like Malki-Tzedek, arises, ¹⁶ one who became a cohen not by virtue of a rule in the Torah concerning physical descent, but by virtue of the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is stated,

¹⁸ Thus, on the one hand, the earlier rule is set aside because of its weakness and inefficacy ¹⁹ (for the Torah did not bring anything to the goal); and, on the other hand, a hope of something better is introduced, through which we are drawing near to God.

²⁰ What is more, God swore an oath. For no oath was sworn in connection with those who become cohanim now; ²¹ but Yeshua became a cohen by the oath which God swore when he said to him,

²² Also this shows how much better is the covenant of which Yeshua has become guarantor.

²³ Moreover, the present cohanim are many in number, because they are prevented by death from continuing in office. ²⁴ But because he lives forever, his position as cohen does not pass on to someone else; ²⁵ and consequently, he is totally able to deliver those who approach God through him; since he is alive forever and thus forever able to intercede on their behalf.

²⁶ This is the kind of cohen gadol that meets our need — holy, without evil, without stain, set apart from sinners and raised higher than the heavens; ²⁷ one who does not have the daily necessity, like the other cohanim g’dolim, of offering up sacrifices first for their own sins and only then for those of the people; because he offered one sacrifice, once and for all, by offering up himself. ²⁸ For the Torah appoints as cohanim g’dolim men who have weakness; but the text which speaks about the swearing of the oath, a text written later than the Torah, appoints a Son who has been brought to the goal forever.