Beginning

God Has Spoken by His Son

1 God, who at various times and in diverse ways spoke long ago to the fathers through the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the world. ³ He is the brightness of His glory, the express image of Himself, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ⁴ He was made so much better than the angels as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

The Son Superior to Angels

⁵ For to which of the angels did He at any time say:

Or again,

⁶ And again, when He brings the firstborn into the world, He says:

⁷ Of the angels He says:

⁸ But to the Son He says:

¹⁰ And,

¹³ But to which of the angels did He at any time say:

¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to minister to those who will inherit salvation?

The Great Salvation

2 Therefore we should be more attentive to what we have heard, lest we drift away. ² For if the word spoken by angels was true, and every sin and disobedience received a just recompense, ³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation, which was first declared by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him? ⁴ God also bore them witness with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and with gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His own will.

The Pioneer of Salvation

⁵ For it was not to the angels that He has subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. ⁶ But someone in a certain place testified, saying:

For in subjecting all things under him, He left nothing that is not subjected to him. Yet now we do not see all things subject to him. ⁹ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels to suffer death, crowned with glory and honor, so that He, by the grace of God, should experience death for everyone.

¹⁰ For it was fitting for Him, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through suffering. ¹¹ For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of One. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers, ¹² saying:

¹³ And again:

And again:

¹⁴ So then, as the children share in flesh and blood, He likewise took part in these, so that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and deliver those who through fear of death were throughout their lives subject to bondage. ¹⁶ For surely He does not help the angels, but He helps the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore, in all things it was necessary for Him to be made like His brothers, so that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For since He Himself suffered while being tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus Superior to Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers, partakers in a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus Christ, ² who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses was faithful in all His house. ³ For the One was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, in that He who builds the house has more honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but the One who builds all things is God. ⁵ Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, testifying about those things that were to be spoken later. ⁶ But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a Son, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firm to the end.

A Rest for God’s People

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

¹² Be attentive, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, and you depart from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence firmly to the end, ¹⁵ while it is said:

¹⁶ For who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all of those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was He grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

4 Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest remains, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it. ² For the gospel was preached to us as well as to them. But the word preached did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. ³ For we who have believed have entered this rest, as He has said,

However, His works have been finished since the creation of the world. ⁴ For He spoke somewhere about the seventh day like this: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.”^{[p] 5} And again in the present passage He said, “They shall not enter My rest.”^[q]

⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and they to whom it was first preached did not enter due to unbelief, ⁷ again He establishes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David, after so long a time, as it has been said:

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have later spoken of another day. ⁹ Therefore a rest remains for the people of God. ¹⁰ For whoever enters His rest will also cease from his own works, as God did from His. ¹¹ Let us labor therefore to enter that rest, lest anyone fall by the same pattern of unbelief.

¹² For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. ¹³ There is no creature that is not revealed in His sight, for all things are bare and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Jesus the Great High Priest

¹⁴ Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was in every sense tempted like we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then come with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

5 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to represent men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to have compassion on the ignorant and on those who are wayward, for he himself is also subject to weakness. ³ Because of this he must offer sacrifices for his own sins, just as he does for the people. ⁴ No man takes this honor for himself, but he who is called by God receives it, just as Aaron did.

⁵ So also Christ did not glorify Himself to be made a High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:

⁶ As He also says in another place:

⁷ In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death. He was heard because of His godly fear. ⁸ Though He was a Son, He learned obedience through the things that He suffered, ⁹ and being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him, ¹⁰ being designated by God a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Warning Against Apostasy

¹¹ Concerning this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become hard of hearing. ¹² For though by now you should be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God and have come to need milk rather than solid food. ¹³ Everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby. ¹⁴ But solid food belongs to those who are mature, for those who through practice have powers of discernment that are trained to distinguish good from evil.

6 Therefore, leaving the elementary principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, ² of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ This we will do if God permits.

⁴ For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ if they fall away, to be renewed once more to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and subject Him to public shame. ⁷ For land that drinks in the rain that often falls upon it and bears a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. ⁸ But land that bears thorns and thistles is rejected and near to being cursed. Its destiny is to be burned.

⁹ But though we speak in this manner, we are persuaded of better things for you, things that accompany salvation, ¹⁰ for God is not unjust so as to forget your work and labor of love that you have shown for His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and continue ministering. ¹¹ We desire that every one of you show the same diligence for the full assurance of hope to the end, ¹² so that you may not be lazy, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Sure Promise of God

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could vow by no one greater, He vowed by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely I will bless you, and surely I will multiply you.”^{[u] 15} So after Abraham had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

¹⁶ For men indeed swear by a greater authority than themselves, and for them an oath of confirmation ends all dispute. ¹⁷ So God, wanting to show more abundantly the immutability of His counsel to the heirs of promise, confirmed it by an oath. ¹⁸ So that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. ¹⁹ We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, which enters the Inner Place behind the veil. ²⁰ This is where Jesus has entered for us as a forerunner, since He has become the everlasting High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.