Beginning

7 ¶ For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

² to whom Abraham also gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of peace;

³ without father, without mother, without lineage, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God; abides a priest continually.

⁴ Now consider how great this one was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

⁵ And verily those that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they also have come out of the loins of Abraham;

⁶ but he whose descent is not counted in those took tithes from Abraham and blessed him that had the promises.

⁷ And without any contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

⁸ In the same manner, here men that die take tithes; but there he received them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.

⁹ And as I may so say, Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham.

¹⁰ For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

¹¹ ¶ If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec and not be called after the order of Aaron?

¹² For the priesthood being transposed, there is made of necessity a translation also of the law.

¹³ For he of whom these things are spoken pertains to another tribe, of which no one presided at the altar.

¹⁴ For it is manifest that our Lord sprang out of Juda, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.

¹⁵ And it is yet far more manifest: if there arises another priest who is like unto Melchisedec,

¹⁶ who is not made according to the law of a carnal commandment, but by the virtue of an indissoluble life;

¹⁷ for the testimony is of this manner, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

¹⁸ For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness of it;

¹⁹ for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw near unto God.

²⁰ And even more, inasmuch as it is not without an oath

²¹ (for the others indeed without an oath were made priests, but this one with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord swore and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec);

²² by so much better testament is Jesus made surety.

²³ And the others, truly, were many priests because they were not able to continue by reason of death:

²⁴ but this man, because he continues forever, has the intransmissible priesthood.

²⁵ Therefore he is able also to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was expedient that we have such a high priest, who is holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens,

²⁷ who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people’s; for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

²⁸ For the law makes men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, has made perfect a Son forever.

8 ¶ Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

² a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

³ For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it is also necessary that this one have something to offer.

⁴ For if he were on earth, he should not even be a priest, being present still the other priests that offer gifts according to the law,

⁵ (who serve as an example and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed unto thee in the mount);

⁶ ¶ but now a more excellent ministry is his, in that he is the mediator of a better testament, which was established upon better promises.

⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place should have been sought for the second.

⁸ For finding fault with them, he said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new testament with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

⁹ not according to the testament that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my testament, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

¹⁰ For this is the testament that I will ordain to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my laws into their soul and write them upon their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

¹¹ and no one shall teach his neighbour nor anyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

¹² For I will reconcile their iniquities and their sins, and their iniquities I will remember no more.

¹³ In that he says, New, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.

9 ¶ Nevertheless the first had its justifications of worship and its worldly sanctuary.

² For there was a tabernacle made: the first, in which was the lampstand and the table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.

³ And after the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the holy of holies,

⁴ which had a golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, in which was the golden urn that had the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the testament,

⁵ and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the seat of reconciliation, of which we cannot now speak particularly.

⁶ Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

⁷ But into the second the high priest went alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for his own ignorance, and for that of the people:

⁸ ¶ The Holy Spirit signifying in this, that the way into the sanctuary was not yet made manifest, as long as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

⁹ Which was a figure of that time present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience,

¹⁰ but in foods and drinks and different washings and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of correction.

¹¹ But Christ being now come, high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

¹² neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the sanctuary designed for eternal redemption.

¹³ For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh,

¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of the Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from the works of death to serve the living God?

¹⁵ ¶ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, so that death intervening for the redemption of the rebellions that took place under the first testament, those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

¹⁶ For where a testament is, there must also of necessity intervene the death of the testator.

¹⁷ For a testament is confirmed by the death: otherwise it is not valid as long as the testator lives.

¹⁸ From which came that not even the first one was dedicated without blood.

¹⁹ For when Moses had read every commandment of the law to all the people, taking the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, he sprinkled both the book and all the people,

²⁰ saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has commanded unto you.

²¹ Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

²² And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

²³ ¶ So that it was necessary that the figures of the heavenly things should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴ For Christ is not entered into the sanctuary made with hands (which is a figure of the true), but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,

²⁵ nor yet that he should offer himself many times (as the high priest enters into the sanctuary each year with blood that is not his own);

²⁶ otherwise it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times since the foundation of the world; but now once in the consummation of the ages he has appeared to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men to die once, and after this the judgment;

²⁸ so also the Christ is offered once to take away the sins of many; and unto those that wait for him without sin he shall appear the second time unto saving health.

10 ¶ For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never make perfect those who come by the same sacrifices which they offer year by year continually.

² Otherwise, they would cease to offer them, because those that sacrifice, once purged, would have no more conscience of sin.

³ But in these sacrifices each year the same remembrance of sins is made.

⁴ For the blood of bulls and of goats cannot take away sins.

⁵ Therefore when he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire, but a body hast thou prepared me;

⁶ in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

⁷ ¶ Then said I, Behold, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God.

⁸ Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou dost not desire, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law;

⁹ then he said, Behold, I come to do thy will, O God. He took away the first, that he may establish the second.

¹⁰ In this will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus, the Christ, once for all.

¹¹ And so every priest stands daily ministering and offering many times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,

¹² but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, is seated at the right hand of God,

¹³ waiting for that which follows, that is, until his enemies are made his footstool.

¹⁴ For by one offering he has perfected for ever those that are sanctified.

¹⁵ Likewise the Holy Spirit gives us the same witness, who afterwards said,

¹⁶ This is the testament that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will give my laws in their hearts, and in their souls will I write them;

¹⁷ and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

¹⁸ Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁹ ¶ Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰ by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

²¹ and having that great priest over the house of God,

²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts purified from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water;

²³ let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering (for he is faithful that promised).

²⁴ And let us consider one another to provoke unto charity and unto good works,

²⁵ not forsaking our gathering together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more, when ye see that day approaching.

²⁶ For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,

²⁷ but a certain fearful hope of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

²⁸ He that despised the law of Moses died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

²⁹ Of how much greater punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

³⁰ For we know who he is that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³² But bring to memory the former days, in which, after ye received the light, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;

³³ on the one hand ye were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and on the other ye became companions of those that were so used.

³⁴ For ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing that in yourselves ye have a better substance in the heavens, and that abides.

³⁵ Do not lose, therefore, this your confidence, which has great recompense of reward;

³⁶ for patience is necessary, so that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

³⁷ For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.

³⁸ Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

³⁹ But we are not of those who draw back unto perdition, but faithful unto the saving of the soul.