Hebrews 1–8

Chapter 1

God’s Final Word in His Son

¹God, after He ^aspoke long ago to the fathers in ^bthe prophets in many portions and ^cin many ways,

^21ain these last days ^bhas spoken to us ²in ^cHis Son, whom He appointed ^dheir of all things, ^ethrough whom also He made the ^3fworld.

³¹And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact ^arepresentation of His nature, and ^2bupholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made ^cpurification of sins, He ^dsat down at the right hand of the ^eMajesty on high,

⁴having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent ^aname than they.

⁵For to which of the angels did He ever say,

“^aYou are My Son,

Today I have begotten You”?

And again,

“^bI will be a Father to Him

And He shall be a Son to Me”?

⁶And ¹when He again ^abrings the firstborn into ^2bthe world, He says,

“^cAnd let all the angels of God worship Him.”

⁷And of the angels He says,

“^aWho makes His angels winds,

And His ministers a flame of fire.”

⁸But of the Son He says,

“^aYour throne, O God, is forever and ever,

And the righteous scepter is the scepter of ¹His kingdom.

⁹“^aYou have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;

^bTherefore God, Your God, has ^canointed You

With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”

¹⁰And,

“^aYou, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,

And the heavens are the works of Your hands;

^11aThey will perish, but You remain;

^bAnd they all will become old like a garment,

^12aAnd like a mantle You will roll them up;

Like a garment they will also be changed.

But You are ^bthe same,

And Your years will not come to an end.”

¹³But to which of the angels has He ever said,

“^aSit at My right hand,

^bUntil I make Your enemies

A footstool for Your feet”?

¹⁴Are they not all ^aministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will ^binherit ^csalvation?

Chapter 2

Give Heed

¹For this reason we must pay much closer attention to ¹what we have heard, so that ^awe do not drift away from it.

²For if the word ^aspoken through ^bangels proved ¹unalterable, and ^cevery transgression and disobedience received a just ^2dpenalty,

^3ahow will we escape if we neglect so great a ^bsalvation? ¹After it was at the first ^cspoken through the Lord, it was ^dconfirmed to us by those who heard,

⁴God also testifying with them, both by ^asigns and wonders and by ^bvarious ¹miracles and by ^2cgifts of the Holy Spirit ^daccording to His own will.

Earth Subject to Man

⁵For He did not subject to angels ^1athe world to come, concerning which we are speaking.

⁶But one has testified ^asomewhere, saying,

“^bWhat is man, that You remember him?

Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?

⁷“^aYou have made him ¹for a little while lower than the angels;

You have crowned him with glory and honor,

²And have appointed him over the works of Your hands;

^8aYou have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now ^bwe do not yet see all things subjected to him.

Jesus Briefly Humbled

⁹But we do see Him who was ^amade ¹for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, ^bbecause of the suffering of death ^ccrowned with glory and honor, so that ^dby the grace of God He might ^etaste death ^ffor everyone.

¹⁰For ^ait was fitting for Him, ^bfor whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to ^cperfect the ^1dauthor of their salvation through sufferings.

¹¹For both He who ^asanctifies and those who ^bare ¹sanctified are all ^cfrom one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them ^dbrethren,

¹²saying,

“^aI will proclaim Your name to My brethren,

In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”

¹³And again,

“^aI will put My trust in Him.”

And again,

“^bBehold, I and the children whom God has given Me.”

¹⁴Therefore, since the children share in ^1aflesh and blood, ^bHe Himself likewise also partook of the same, that ^cthrough death He might render powerless ^dhim who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

¹⁵and might free those who through ^afear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

¹⁶For assuredly He does not ¹give help to angels, but He gives help to the ²descendant of Abraham.

¹⁷Therefore, He ¹had ^ato be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might ^bbecome a merciful and faithful ^chigh priest in ^dthings pertaining to God, to ^emake propitiation for the sins of the people.

¹⁸For since He Himself was ^atempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Chapter 3

Jesus Our High Priest

¹Therefore, ^aholy brethren, partakers of a ^bheavenly calling, consider Jesus, ^cthe Apostle and ^dHigh Priest of our ^econfession;

²¹He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as ^aMoses also was in all His house.

^3aFor He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

⁴For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

⁵Now ^aMoses was faithful in all His house as ^ba servant, ^cfor a testimony of those things ^dwhich were to be spoken later;

⁶but Christ was faithful as ^aa Son over His house—^bwhose house we are, ^cif we hold fast our ^dconfidence and the boast of our ^ehope firm until the end.

⁷Therefore, just as ^athe Holy Spirit says,

“^bToday if you hear His voice,

^8aDo not harden your hearts as ¹when they provoked Me,

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

^9aWhere your fathers tried Me by testing Me,

And saw My works for ^bforty years.

¹⁰“^aTherefore I was angry with this generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And they did not know My ways’;

^11aAs I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

The Peril of Unbelief

^12aTake care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart ¹that falls away from ^bthe living God.

¹³But ^aencourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the ^bdeceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴For we have become partakers of Christ, ^aif we hold fast the beginning of our ^bassurance firm until the end,

¹⁵while it is said,

“^aToday if you hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts, as ¹when they provoked Me.”

¹⁶For who ^aprovoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, ^bdid not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

¹⁷And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, ^awhose bodies fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom did He swear ^athat they would not enter His rest, but to those who were ^bdisobedient?

¹⁹So we see that they were not able to enter because of ^aunbelief.

Chapter 4

The Believer’s Rest

¹Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have ^acome short of it.

²For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but ^athe word ¹they heard did not profit them, because ²it was not united by faith in those who heard.

³For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

“^aAs I swore in My wrath,

They shall not enter My rest,”

although His works were finished ^bfrom the foundation of the world.

⁴For He has said ^asomewhere concerning the seventh day: “^bAnd God ^crested on the seventh day from all His works”;

⁵and again in this passage, “^aThey shall not enter My rest.”

⁶Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of ^adisobedience,

⁷He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying ¹through David after so long a time just ^aas has been said before,

“^bToday if you hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”

⁸For ^aif ¹Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.

⁹So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

¹⁰For the one who has entered His rest has himself also ^arested from his works, as ^bGod did from His.

¹¹Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same ^aexample of ^bdisobedience.

¹²For ^athe word of God is ^bliving and ^cactive and sharper than any two-edged ^dsword, and piercing as far as the division of ^esoul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and ^fable to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

¹³And ^athere is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are ^bopen and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great ^ahigh priest who has ^bpassed through the heavens, Jesus ^cthe Son of God, let us hold fast our ^dconfession.

¹⁵For we do not have ^aa high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been ^btempted in all things as we are, yet ^cwithout sin.

¹⁶Therefore let us ^adraw near with ^bconfidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Chapter 5

The Perfect High Priest

¹For every high priest ^ataken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in ^bthings pertaining to God, in order to ^coffer both gifts and sacrifices ^dfor sins;

^21ahe can deal gently with the ^bignorant and ^cmisguided, since he himself also is ^2dbeset with weakness;

³and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices ^afor sins, ^bas for the people, so also for himself.

⁴And ^ano one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even ^bas Aaron was.

⁵So also Christ ^adid not glorify Himself so as to become a ^bhigh priest, but He who ^csaid to Him,

“^dYou are My Son,

Today I have begotten You”;

⁶just as He says also in another passage,

“^aYou are a priest forever

According to ^bthe order of Melchizedek.”

⁷¹In the days of His flesh, ^2aHe offered up both prayers and supplications with ^bloud crying and tears to the One ^cable to save Him ³from death, and He ⁴was heard because of His ^dpiety.

⁸Although He was ^aa Son, He learned ^bobedience from the things which He suffered.

⁹And having been made ^aperfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

¹⁰being designated by God as ^aa high priest according to ^bthe order of Melchizedek.

¹¹…