Beginning

God’s one and only son

1 In many ways and by many means God spoke in ancient times to our ancestors in the prophets; ² but at the end of these days he spoke to us in a son.

⁵ For to which angel did God ever say, “You are my son, today I became your father”? Or, again, “I will be his father, and he will be my son”?

The Messiah is superior to angels

⁶ Again, when God brings the firstborn son into the world, he says,

⁷ In relation to the angels, this is what it says:

⁸ In relation to the son, however, it says,

¹⁰ And, again:

¹³ But to which of the angels did God ever say,

¹⁴ Must we not say, then, that the angels are all servant spirits, sent to act on behalf of those who are to inherit salvation?

Don’t neglect God’s salvation!

2 So, then, we must pay all the closer attention to what we heard, in case we drift away from it. ² You see, if the word which was spoken through angels was reliable, with appropriate and just punishment every time anyone broke it or disobeyed it, ³ how shall we escape if we ignore a rescue as great as this? It started by being declared through the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him; ⁴ and God bore witness as well, along with them, in signs and wonders and many different types of powerful deeds, and by the holy spirit, distributed in accordance with his will.

Jesus as the truly human being

⁵ You see, God didn’t place the world to come (which is what I’m writing about) under the control of angels. ⁶ Someone has spoken of it somewhere in these terms:

When it speaks of everything being subjected to him, it leaves nothing that is not subjected to him. As things are at present, we don’t see everything subjected to him. ⁹ What we do see is the one who was, for a little while, made lower than the angels—that is, Jesus—crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by God’s grace he might taste death on behalf of everyone.

The Messiah and his brothers and sisters

¹⁰ This is how it works out. Everything exists for the sake of God and because of him; and it was appropriate that, in bringing many children to glory, he should make perfect, through suffering, the one who leads the way to salvation. ¹¹ For the one who makes others holy, and the ones who are made holy, all belong to a single family.

This is why he isn’t ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters, ¹² when he says,

¹³ and again,

and again,

¹⁴ Since the children share in blood and flesh, he too shared in them, in just the same way, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and set free the people who all their lives long were under the power of slavery because of the fear of death. ¹⁶ It’s obvious, you see, that he isn’t taking special thought for angels; he’s taking special thought for Abraham’s family. ¹⁷ That’s why he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he might become a merciful and trustworthy high priest in God’s presence, to make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ He himself has suffered, you see, through being put to the test, and that’s why he is able to help those who are being tested right now.

Jesus and Moses

3 Well then, my brothers and sisters: you are God’s holy ones, and you share the call from heaven. So think carefully about Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession of faith. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ He deserves much more glory than Moses, you see, just as the one who builds a house deserves more glory than the house. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but the one who builds all things is God. ⁵ And “Moses was faithful, as a servant, in all his house,” thereby bearing witness to the things that were yet to be spoken of; ⁶ but the Messiah is over God’s house as a son. What is that house? It is us—those of us who hold on tightly to the boldness and confidence of our hope.

Today’s the time to listen!

⁷ So listen to what the holy spirit says:

¹² Take care, my dear family, that none of you should possess an evil and unbelieving heart, leading you to withdraw from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another every day, as long as it’s called “Today,” so that none of you may become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hold on tight!

¹⁴ We share the life of the Messiah, you see, only if we keep a firm, tight grip on our original confidence, right through to the end. ¹⁵ That’s what it means when it says, “Today, if you hear his voice, don’t make your hearts hard, as in the great bitterness.”

¹⁶ Who was it, after all, who heard and then became bitter? It was all those who went out of Egypt under Moses, wasn’t it? ¹⁷ And who was it that God was angry with for forty years? It was those who sinned, wasn’t it—those whose bodies fell in the desert? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who didn’t believe? ¹⁹ So we can see that it was their unbelief that prevented them from entering.

Getting through to the sabbath rest

4 So we are naturally afraid that some of you might seem to have missed out on God’s promise of entering his rest, the promise which is still open before us. ² For we certainly had the good news announced to us, just as they did; but the word which they heard didn’t do them any good, because they were not united in faith with those who heard it. ³ For it is we who believe who enter into the rest; as it has been said,

—even though God’s works had been complete since the foundation of the world. ⁴ For it says this somewhere about the seventh day,

⁵ and again, in the present passage,

⁶ Therefore, since some failed to enter into it, and those who received the good news earlier on didn’t enter because of unbelief, ⁷ he once again appoints a day, “Today,” saying through David—after such a long interval of time!—in the words already quoted,

⁸ If Joshua had given them rest, you see, he wouldn’t be speaking about another subsequent “rest.” ⁹ Thus we conclude: there is still a future sabbath “rest” for God’s people. ¹⁰ Anyone who enters that “rest” will take a rest from their works, as God did from his.

Danger! God’s word at work

¹¹ So, then, let’s make every effort to enter that “rest,” so that nobody should trip and fall through the same pattern of unbelief. ¹² God’s word is alive, you see! It’s powerful, and it’s sharper than any double-edged sword. It can pierce right in between soul and spirit, or joints and marrow; it can go straight to the point of what the human heart is thinking, or intends to do. ¹³ No creature remains hidden before God. All are naked, laid bare before the eyes of the one to whom we must present an account.

The sympathetic high priest

¹⁴ Well, then, since we have a great high priest who has gone right through the heavens, Jesus, God’s son, let us hold on firmly to our confession of faith. ¹⁵ For we don’t have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us at the moment when we need it.

5 Every high priest, you see, is chosen from among human beings, and is placed before God on their behalf, so that he can offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to sympathize with people who don’t know very much, or who wander off in different directions, since he too has his own share of weakness. ³ That’s why he has to offer sacrifices in relation to his own sins as well as those of the people.

The son becomes the priest

⁴ Nobody takes the office of priesthood on himself; you have to be called by God, just as Aaron was. ⁵ In the same way, the Messiah didn’t exalt himself so that he might become a high priest. It came about through the one who said to him,

⁶ As he says in another passage,

⁷ During the time of Jesus’ earthly life, he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud shouts and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death. He was heard because of his devotion. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ When he had been made complete and perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰ since he has been designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Are you ready for solid food?

¹¹ We have plenty to say about all this. But it may be hard to make it clear, because your capacity to take things in has become sluggish. ¹² Yes: by now you really should have become teachers, but you need someone to teach you the basic elementary beginnings of God’s oracles. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Everyone who drinks milk, you see, is unskilled in the word of God’s justice; such people are just babies. ¹⁴ Mature people need solid food—and by “mature” I mean people whose faculties have been trained by practice, to distinguish good from evil.

No way back

6 So let’s leave the basic level of teaching about the Messiah, and go on towards maturity! (Let’s not repeat the business of laying a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith towards God, ² teaching about baptisms, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.) ³ We shall do this, if God allows us to.

⁴ For once people have been enlightened—when they’ve tasted the heavenly gift and have had a share in the holy spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age— ⁶ it’s impossible to restore them again to repentance if they fall away, since they are crucifying God’s son all over again, on their own account, and holding him up to contempt. ⁷ You see, when rain falls frequently on the earth, and the land drinks it up and produces a crop useful to the people for whom it’s being cultivated, it shares in God’s blessing. ⁸ But if it produces thorns and thistles, it’s useless, and not far off from being cursed, and finally burned up.

Keep up the good work

⁹ Even though we speak in this way, my dear people, we are confident that there are better things to be said about you, things that point to salvation. ¹⁰ God is not unjust, after all—which he would be if he forgot your work, and the love you showed for his name, and all the service you have rendered and are still rendering to his holy people. ¹¹ I want to encourage each one of you to show the same energetic enthusiasm for the task of bringing your hope to its full, assured goal. ¹² You mustn’t become lazy. There are people who are inheriting the promises through faith and patience, and you should be copying them!

God’s unchangeable promise

¹³ When God was making his promise to Abraham, you see, he had nobody else greater than himself by whom he could swear, and so he swore by himself, ¹⁴ with the words, “I will most surely bless you, and multiply you very greatly.” ¹⁵ And so in this way Abraham, after much patience, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ People regularly swear by someone greater than themselves, and in all their disputes the oath confirms the matter and brings it to closure. ¹⁷ So when God wanted to show all the more clearly to the heirs of the promise just how unchangeable his will was, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should tell a lie, those of us who have come for refuge should have solid encouragement to take hold of the hope which lies before us. ¹⁹ We have this hope like an anchor, secure, solid, and penetrating into the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone in ahead of us and on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.