Hebrews 4:14-7:28

International Standard Version

Our Compassionate High Priest

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us live our lives consistent with^[a] our confession of faith.^{[b] 15} For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. Instead, we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet he never sinned. ¹⁶ So let us keep on coming boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Qualifications for the Priesthood

5 For every high priest selected from among men is appointed to officiate on their behalf^[c] in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He can deal gently with people who are ignorant and easily deceived, since he himself is subject to weakness. ³ For that reason he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for those of the people. ⁴ No one takes this honor upon himself but he is called to it by God, just as Aaron was.

The Messiah’s Qualifications as High Priest

⁵ In the same way, the Messiah^[d] did not take upon himself the glory of being a high priest. No, it was God who said^[e] to him,

⁶ As he also says in another place,

⁷ As a mortal man,^[h] he offered up prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his devotion to God. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience through his sufferings ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰ having been designated by God to be a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

You Still Need Someone to Teach You

¹¹ We have much to say about this,^[i] but it is difficult to explain because you have become too lazy to understand. ¹² In fact, though by now you should be teachers, you still need someone to teach you the basic truths of God’s word.^[j] You have become people who need milk instead of solid food. ¹³ For everyone who lives on milk is still a baby and does not yet know the difference between right and wrong.^{[k] 14} But solid food is for mature people, whose minds are trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

The Peril of Immaturity

6 Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teachings about the Messiah,^[l] let us continue to be carried along to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead actions, faith toward God, ² instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And this we will do,^[m] if God permits.

⁴ For it is impossible to keep on restoring to repentance time and again people who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have become partners with the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of God’s word and the powers of the coming age, ⁶ and who have fallen away, as long as they continue to crucify the Son of God to their own detriment by exposing him to public ridicule. ⁷ For when the ground soaks up rain that often falls on it and continues producing vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated, it receives a blessing from God. ⁸ However, if it continues to produce thorns and thistles, it is worthless and in danger of being cursed, and in the end will be burned.

Be Diligent

⁹ Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case, things that point to salvation. ¹⁰ For God is not so unjust as to forget your work and the love you have shown him^[n] as you have ministered to the saints and continue to minister to them. ¹¹ But we want each of you to continue to be diligent to the very end, in order to give full assurance to your hope. ¹² Then, instead of being lazy, you will imitate those who are inheriting the promises through faith and patience.

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.”^{[o] 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,^[p] 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.

The Messiah is Superior to Melchizedek

7 Now this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham and blessed him when he was returning from defeating the kings. ² Abraham gave Melchizedek^[q] a tenth of everything.^[r] In the first place, his name means “king of righteousness,” and then he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.” ³ He has no father, mother, or genealogy, no birth date recorded for him, nor a date of death.^[s] Like the Son of God, he continues to be a priest forever.

⁴ Just look at how great this man was! Even Abraham—the patriarch himself—gave him a tenth of what he had captured! ⁵ The descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood have a commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their own brothers, even though they are also descendants of Abraham. ⁶ But this man, whose descent is not traced from them, collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the man who had received the promises. ⁷ It is beyond dispute that the less important person is blessed by the more important person. ⁸ Mortal men collect tithes, but we are informed by Scripture^[t] that^[u] Melchizedek^[v] keeps on living. ⁹ One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, ¹⁰ because Levi^[w] was still inside his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

¹¹ Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—for on this basis the people received the Law—what further need would there be to speak of appointing another kind of priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not one according to the order of Aaron? ¹² When a change in the priesthood takes place, there must also be a change in the Law. ¹³ For the person we are talking about belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served^[x] at the altar. ¹⁴ Furthermore, it is obvious that our Lord was a descendant of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests coming from that tribe. ¹⁵ This point is even more obvious in that another priest who is like Melchizedek has appeared ¹⁶ who was appointed to be a priest,^[y] not on the basis of a genealogical registry, but rather on the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is declared about him,

¹⁸ Indeed, because it was weak and ineffective, the former commandment has been annulled, ¹⁹ since the Law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is presented, by which we approach God.

²⁰ Now none of this happened without an oath. Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but Jesus^[aa] became a priest^[ab] with an oath when God^[ac] told him,

²² In this way, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

²³ There have been many priests, since each one of them had to stop serving in office when he died. ²⁴ But because Jesus^[af] lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore, because he always lives to intercede for them, he is able to save completely^[ag] those who come to God through him.

²⁶ We need such a high priest—one who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need to offer sacrifices every day like high priests do, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he sacrificed himself. ²⁸ For the Law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promised oath, which came after the Law, results in a Son who is eternally perfect.