Hebrews 5–6

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.

¹¹Concerning ¹him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

¹²For though ¹by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you ^athe ^2belementary principles of the ^coracles of God, and you have come to need ^dmilk and not solid food.

¹³For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an ^ainfant.

¹⁴But solid food is for ^athe mature, who because of practice have their senses ^btrained to ^cdiscern good and evil.

Chapter 6

The Peril of Falling Away

¹Therefore ^aleaving ^bthe ¹elementary teaching about the ²Christ, let us press on to ^3cmaturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from ^ddead works and of faith toward God,

²of ^ainstruction about washings and ^blaying on of hands, and the ^cresurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

³And this we will do, ^aif God permits.

⁴For in the case of those who have once been ^aenlightened and have tasted of ^bthe heavenly gift and have been made ^cpartakers of the Holy Spirit,

⁵and ^ahave tasted the good ^bword of God and the powers of ^cthe age to come,

⁶and then have fallen away, it is ^aimpossible to renew them again to repentance, ^1bsince they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

⁷For ground that drinks the rain which often ¹falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those ^afor whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

⁸but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and ^aclose ¹to being cursed, and ²it ends up being burned.

Better Things for You

⁹But, ^abeloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that ¹accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.

¹⁰For ^aGod is not unjust so as to forget ^byour work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ^cministered and in still ministering to the ¹saints.

¹¹And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence ¹so as to realize the ^afull assurance of ^bhope until the end,

¹²so that you will not be sluggish, but ^aimitators of those who through ^bfaith and patience ^cinherit the promises.

¹³For ^awhen God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He ^bswore by Himself,

¹⁴saying, “^aI will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.”

¹⁵And so, ^ahaving patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

^16aFor men swear by ¹one greater than themselves, and with them ^ban oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

¹⁷¹In the same way God, desiring even more to show to ^athe heirs of the promise ^bthe unchangeableness of His purpose, ²interposed with an oath,

¹⁸so that by two unchangeable things in which ^ait is impossible for God to lie, we who have ¹taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of ^bthe hope set before us.

¹⁹¹This ^ahope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which ^benters ²within the veil,

^20awhere Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a ^bhigh priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.