12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but 2exhort 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 steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:

l“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Failure of the Wilderness Wanderers

16 mFor who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, nwhose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And oto whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of punbelief.

The Promise of Rest

4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, alet us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, 1not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

b“So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: c“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: d“They shall not enter My rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

e“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if 2Joshua had fgiven them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

The Word Discovers Our Condition

11 gLet us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is hliving and powerful, and isharper than any jtwo-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is ka discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 lAnd there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are mnaked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Our Compassionate High Priest

14 Seeing then that we have a great nHigh Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, olet us hold fast our confession. 15 For pwe do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but qwas in all points tempted as we are, ryet without sin. 16 sLet us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Qualifications for High Priesthood

5 For every high priest taken from among men ais appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can 1have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to bweakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for chimself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as dAaron was.

A Priest Forever

5 eSo also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:

f“You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.”

6 As He also says in another place:

g“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek”;

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had hoffered up prayers and supplications, iwith vehement cries and tears to Him jwho was able to save Him from death, and was heard kbecause of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned lobedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And mhaving been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest n“according to the order of Melchizedek,” 11 of whom owe have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become pdull of hearing.

Spiritual Immaturity

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the 2oracles of God; and you have come to need qmilk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is ra babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are 3of full age, that is, those who by reason of 4use have their senses exercised sto discern both good and evil.

The Peril of Not Progressing

6 Therefore, aleaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to 1perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from bdead works and of faith toward God, 2 cof the doctrine of baptisms, dof laying on of hands, eof resurrection of the dead, fand of eternal judgment. 3 And this 2we will do if God permits.

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted gthe heavenly gift, and hhave become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 3if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, isince they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, jreceives blessing from God; 8 kbut if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

A Better Estimate

9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. 10 For lGod is not unjust to forget myour work and 4labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have nministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence oto the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become 5sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience pinherit the promises.

God’s Infallible Purpose in Christ

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, qHe swore by Himself, 14 saying, r“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the spromise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and tan oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to uthe heirs of promise vthe 6immutability of His counsel, 7confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two 8immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to wlie, we 9might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope xset before us.

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, yand which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 zwhere the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, ahaving become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

The King of Righteousness

7 For this aMelchizedek, 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 also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.

4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the 1spoils. 5 And indeed bthose who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; 6 but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham cand blessed dhim who had the promises. 7 Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. 8 Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, eof whom it is witnessed that he lives. 9 Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

Need for a New Priesthood

11 fTherefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has 2officiated at the altar.

14 For it is evident that gour Lord arose from hJudah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning 3priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. 17 For 4He testifies:

i“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of jits weakness and unprofitableness, 19 for kthe law made nothing 5perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of la better hope, through which mwe draw near to God.

Greatness of the New Priest

20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:

n“The Lord has sworn

And will not relent,

‘You are a priest 6forever

According to the order of Melchizedek’ ”),

22 by so much more Jesus has become a 7surety …