Chapter 3

Jesus Our High Priest

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

2 1He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as aMoses also was in all His house.

3 aFor 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.

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

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

6 but 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.

7 Therefore, just as athe Holy Spirit says,

“bToday if you hear His voice,

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

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

9 aWhere 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’;

11 aAs I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

The Peril of Unbelief

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

13 But 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.

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

15 while it is said,

“aToday if you hear His voice,

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 4

The Believer’s Rest

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

2 For 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.

3 For 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.

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

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

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

7 He 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.”

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

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

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

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

12 For 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 espirit, of both joints and marrow, and fable to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

13 And 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.

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

15 For 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.

16 Therefore 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

1 For 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;

2 1ahe can deal gently with the bignorant and cmisguided, since he himself also is 2dbeset with weakness;

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

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

5 So 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”;

6 just as He says also in another passage,

“aYou are a priest forever

According to bthe order of Melchizedek.”

7 1In 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.

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

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

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

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

12 For 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.

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

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