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And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High.
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and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
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For the slayer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the slayer may return to his property.
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Nor shall you accept ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest.
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The slayer shall remain in that city until there is a trial before the congregation, until the death of the one who is high priest at the time; then the slayer may return home, to the town in which the deed was done.”
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and these were his high officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;
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He also made houses on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not Levites.
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Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the festival that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.
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And he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.”
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Even after this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who wanted to be priests he consecrated for the high places.
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Whenever they saw that there was a great deal of silver in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest went up, cast the silver that was found in the house of the Lord into ingots, and counted it.
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They also worshiped the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.
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“Go up to the high priest Hilkiah and have him add up the entire sum of the silver that has been brought into the house of the Lord that the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people;
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The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.” When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it.
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The king commanded the high priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second order, and the guardians of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
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He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, those also who made offerings to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of the heavens.
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He brought all the priests out of the towns of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba; he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left at the gate of the city.
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The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem but ate unleavened bread among their kindred.
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He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
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And he left the priest Zadok and his kindred the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place that was at Gibeon,
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and had appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat-demons and for the calves that he had made.
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They came to the high priest Hilkiah and delivered the silver that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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Organization of the Work
Then the high priest Eliashib set to work with his fellow priests and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel.
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After him Baruch son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of the high priest Eliashib.
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And one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; I chased him away from me.
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The Command to Rebuild the Temple
In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
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Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared the Lord.
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And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,
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“Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say:
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Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts,
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Fourth Vision: Joshua and Satan
Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord and the accuser standing at his right hand to accuse him.
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Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch.
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Take the silver and gold and make a crown and set it on the head of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak;
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Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
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Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
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Jesus before the High Priest
Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.
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But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end.
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The high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?”
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But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
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Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy.
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how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions?”
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But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
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Jesus before the Council
They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled.
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Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the guards, warming himself at the fire.
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Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?”
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But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
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Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses?
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Peter Denies Jesus
While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the female servants of the high priest came by.
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during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
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Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
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Peter Denies Jesus
Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance.
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But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!
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He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation,
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Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus.
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Jesus before the High Priest
So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him.
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First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.
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Peter Denies Jesus
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest,
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but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in.
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The High Priest Questions Jesus
Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.
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When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
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Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
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One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”
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with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.
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The Apostles Are Persecuted
Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy,
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When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought.
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When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them,
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Stephen’s Speech to the Council
Then the high priest asked him, “Are these things so?”
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The Conversion of Saul
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
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Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
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as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.
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Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.
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Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”
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And Paul said, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.’ ”
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Paul before Felix at Caesarea
Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, and they reported their case against Paul to the governor.
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Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
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Moses a Servant, Christ a Son
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
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Jesus the Great High Priest
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
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For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.
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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.
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So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”;
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having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
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where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
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The Priestly Order of Melchizedek
This “Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him,”
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For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
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Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.
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For the law appoints as high priests humans, who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
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Mediator of a Better Covenant
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,
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For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
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but only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.
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But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),
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Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own,
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For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
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The high priest Joakim, who was in Jerusalem at the time, wrote to the people of Bethulia and Betomesthaim, which faces Esdraelon opposite the plain near Dothan,
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Prayer and Penance
So the Israelites did as they had been ordered by the high priest Joakim and the council of the whole people of Israel, in session at Jerusalem.
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The high priest Joakim and all the priests who stood before the Lord and ministered to the Lord, with sackcloth around their loins, offered the daily burnt offerings, the votive offerings, and freewill offerings of the people.
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The Israelites Celebrate Their Victory
Then the high priest Joakim and the council of the Israelites who lived in Jerusalem came to witness the good things that the Lord had done for Israel and to see Judith and to wish her well.
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Simon Son of Onias
The leader of his brothers and the pride of his people was the high priest, Simon son of Onias, who in his life repaired the house and in his time fortified the temple.
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Bless the Lord, you priests of the Lord; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
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Then there came to him all the renegade and godless men of Israel; they were led by Alcimus, who wanted to be high priest.
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He sent him, and with him he sent the ungodly Alcimus, whom he made high priest, and he commanded him to take vengeance on the Israelites.
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Alcimus struggled to maintain his high priesthood,
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Jonathan Becomes High Priest
“King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greetings.
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And so we have appointed you today to be the high priest of your nation; you are to be called the king’s Friend, and you are to take our side and keep friendship with us.” He also sent him a purple robe and a golden crown.
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I release also my control of the citadel in Jerusalem and give it to the high priest, so that he may station in it men of his own choice to guard it.
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“As for the three districts that have been added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be annexed to Judea so that they may be considered to be under one ruler and obey no other authority than the high priest.
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And Demetrius appointed Apollonius the governor of Coelesyria, and he assembled a large force and encamped against Jamnia. Then he sent the following message to the high priest Jonathan:
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He confirmed him in the high priesthood and in as many other honors as he had formerly had and caused him to be reckoned among his First Friends.
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Then the young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying, “I confirm you in the high priesthood and set you over the four districts and make you one of the king’s Friends.”
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So they went to Rome and entered the senate chamber and said, “The high priest Jonathan and the Jewish nation have sent us to renew the former friendship and alliance with them.”
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“The high priest Jonathan, the council of the nation, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people to their brothers the Spartans, greetings.
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Already in time past a letter was sent to the high priest Onias from Arius, who was king among you, stating that you are our brothers, as the appended copy shows.
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“King Arius of the Spartans, to the high priest Onias, greetings.
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“King Demetrius to Simon, the high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews, greetings.
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and the people began to write in their documents and contracts, “In the first year of Simon the great high priest and commander and leader of the Jews.”
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When they heard that his brother Simon had become high priest in his stead and that he was ruling over the country and the towns in it,
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This is a copy of the letter that the Spartans sent: “The rulers and the city of the Spartans to the high priest Simon and to the elders and the priests and the rest of the Jewish people, our brothers, greetings.
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It has pleased our people to receive these men with honor and to put a copy of their words in the public archives, so that the people of the Spartans may have a record of them. And they have sent a copy of this to the high priest Simon.’ ”
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So they made a record on bronze tablets and put it on pillars on Mount Zion. This is a copy of what they wrote: “On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the one hundred seventy-second year, which is the third year of the great high priest Simon,
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Jonathan rallied the nation, became their high priest, and was gathered to his people.
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“The people saw Simon’s faithfulness and the glory that he had resolved to win for his nation, and they made him their leader and high priest because he had done all these things and because of the justice and loyalty that he had maintained toward his nation. He sought in every way to exalt his people.
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“In view of these things King Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood,
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“The Jews and their priests have resolved that Simon should be their leader and high priest forever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise,
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So Simon accepted and agreed to be high priest, to be commander and ethnarch of the Jews and priests, and to be protector of them all.
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its contents were as follows: “King Antiochus to Simon the high priest and ethnarch and to the nation of the Jews, greetings.
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The envoys of the Jews have come to us as our friends and allies to renew our ancient friendship and alliance. They had been sent by the high priest Simon and by the Jewish people
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Therefore if any scoundrels have fled to you from their country, hand them over to the high priest Simon, so that he may punish them according to their law.”
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They also sent a copy of these things to the high priest Simon.
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for he was son-in-law of the high priest.
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are written in the annals of his high priesthood, from the time that he became high priest after his father.
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Arrival of Heliodorus in Jerusalem
While the holy city was inhabited in unbroken peace and the laws were strictly observed because of the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of wickedness,
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But a man named Simon, of the tribe of Balgea, who had been made captain of the temple, had a disagreement with the high priest about the administration of the city market.
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When he had arrived at Jerusalem and had been kindly welcomed by the high priest of the city, he told about the disclosure that had been made and stated why he had come, and he inquired whether this really was the situation.
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The high priest explained that there were some deposits belonging to widows and orphans
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To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart, for his face and the change in his color disclosed the anguish of his soul.
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There was something pitiable in the prostration of the whole populace and the anxiety of the high priest in his great anguish.
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So the high priest, fearing that the king might get the notion that some foul play had been perpetrated by the Jews with regard to Heliodorus, offered sacrifice for the man’s recovery.
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While the high priest was making the atonement, the same young men appeared again to Heliodorus dressed in the same clothing, and they stood and said, “Be very grateful to the high priest Onias, since for his sake the Lord has granted you your life.
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Jason’s Reforms
When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption,
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There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no true high priest,
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Menelaus Becomes High Priest
After a period of three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the previously mentioned Simon, to carry the money to the king and to complete the records of essential business.
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But he, when presented to the king, extolled him with an air of authority and secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.
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After receiving the king’s orders, he returned, possessing no qualification for the high priesthood but having the hot temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage wild beast.
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Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus as deputy in the high priesthood, while Sostratus left Crates, the commander of the Cyprian troops.
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and to levy tribute on the temple as he did on the sacred places of the other nations and to put up the high priesthood for sale every year.
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Now a certain Alcimus, who had formerly been high priest but had willfully defiled himself in the days of separation, realized that there was no way for him to be safe or to have access again to the holy altar
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Therefore I have laid aside my ancestral glory—I mean the high priesthood—and have now come here,
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with orders to kill Judas and scatter his troops and to install Alcimus as high priest of the great temple.
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What he saw was this: Onias, who had been high priest, a noble and good man, of modest bearing and gentle manner, one who spoke fittingly and had been trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence, was praying with outstretched hands for the whole body of the Jews.
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And Nehemiah and Attharias told them not to share in the holy things until a high priest should appear wearing Urim and Thummim.
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son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phineas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the high priest.
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“I, King Artaxerxes, have commanded the treasurers of Syria and Phoenicia that whatever Ezra the priest and reader of the law of the Most High God sends for, they shall take care to give him, up to a hundred talents of silver,
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When they said that this was not permitted because not even members of their own nation were allowed to enter, not even all of the priests, but only the high priest who was preeminent over all—and he only once a year—the king was by no means persuaded.
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The Prayer of the High Priest Simon
[[Then the high priest Simon, facing the sanctuary, bending his knees, and extending his hands with calm dignity, prayed as follows:]]
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Surely it was I who brought you through the sea and made safe highways for you where there was no road; I gave you Moses as leader and Aaron as priest;
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Now there was a certain Simon, a political opponent of the noble and good man Onias, who then held the high priesthood for life. When, despite bringing charges against him on behalf of the nation, he was unable to injure Onias, he fled the country with the purpose of betraying it.
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Moved by these words, although otherwise cautious lest King Seleucus suppose that Apollonius had been overcome by human treachery and not by divine justice, the high priest Onias prayed for him.
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who removed Onias from the priesthood and appointed Onias’s brother Jason as high priest.
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So the king appointed him high priest and ruler of the nation.