Hebrews

Chapter 1

¹ In many portions and in many ways long ago, God, having spoken to {our} fathers through the prophets, ² at {the} last of these days spoke to us through a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages; ³ who, being the brightness of {his} glory and exact representation of his being, upholding all the {things} by the word of his power and having made purification for sins, sat down at {the} right of the Majesty on high; ⁴ having become far superior to the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than them. ⁵ For to which of the angels did he ever say,

     “You are my son.

     Today I have fathered you”?

     And again,

     “I will be as a father to him,

     and he will be as a son to me”?

⁶ But again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “And let all {the} angels of God worship him.” ⁷ And on the one hand, with regard to the angels, he says,

     “The one who makes his angels spirits,

     and his servants flames of fire.”

⁸ But on the other hand with regard to the Son,

     “Your throne, O God, {is} forever {and} ever,

     and the scepter of righteousness {is the} scepter of his ^[1] kingdom.

     ⁹ You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.

     Because of this, God, your God, has anointed you

     {with the} oil of exultation more than your companions.”

     ¹⁰ And “according to {the} beginnings, O Lord, you founded the earth,

     and the heavens are {the} works of your hands.

     ¹¹ They themselves will perish, but you yourself will continue,

     and they will all wear out like a garment,

     ¹² and as a cloak you will roll them up,

     and as a garment they will be changed,

     but you yourself are the same,

     and your years will not fail.”

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

     “Sit at my right hand

     until I make your enemies a footstool {for} your feet”?

¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits, being sent for service for the sake of those who are going to inherit salvation?

Chapter 2

¹ Because of this, it is far more necessary for us to give attention to the {things} that have been heard, so that we might not drift away {from them}. ² For if the message spoken through angels became valid and every transgression and disobedience received just penalty, ³ how will we escape, having neglected so great a salvation? Which {salvation}, first having been chosen to be spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard it; ⁴ God also testifying together with {them} by signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his will.

⁵ For {it was} not to angels that {God} subjected the world that is coming, about which we are speaking. ⁶ Instead, someone somewhere testified, saying,

     “What is man, that you remember him,

     or a son of man, that you watch over him?

     ⁷ You made him a little lower than {the} angels;

     you crowned him with glory and honor. ^[1]

     ⁸ You subjected all {things} under his feet.”

For in subjecting all the things, he left nothing not subjected to him. But now we do not yet see all the {things} subjected to him, ⁹ but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of {his} suffering of death, so that by {the} grace of God he might taste of death on behalf of everyone. ¹⁰ For it was proper for him, because of whom all the {things} {exist} and through whom all the things {exist}, having brought many sons into glory, to perfect the founding leader of their salvation through sufferings. ¹¹ For both the one who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified {are} all from one. For this reason, he is not ashamed to call them brothers, ¹² saying,

     “I will proclaim your name to my brothers;

     I will sing praise to you in {the} midst of {the} assembly.”

¹³ And again,

     “I will trust in him.”

And again,

     “Behold, I and the little children whom God gave me.”

¹⁴ Therefore, since the little children share in flesh and blood, he likewise also shared in the same {things} so that through {his} death he might abolish the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and might release those {people}, as many as in fear of death, throughout all {their} lives, were held in slavery. ¹⁶ For of course he does not take hold of angels, but he takes hold of the descendant of Abraham, ¹⁷ from which he was obligated to become like {his} brothers in all {things}, so that he would be a merciful and faithful high priest {concerning} the {things} pertaining to God in order to make atonement {for} the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For in that he himself had suffered, having been tempted, he is able to help {those} who are tempted.

Chapter 3

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, sharers of a heavenly calling, consider carefully the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus, ² being faithful to the one who appointed him, as also Moses {was} in his house ^[1] . ³ For this one has been considered worthy of greater glory than Moses, according to how much greater honor the one building {the house} has {than} the house. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God {is} the one who built all {things}. ⁵ And Moses {was} indeed faithful as a servant in his entire house, for a testimony of the things that would be spoken in the future; ⁶ but Christ, as a Son over his house (whose house we are if we hold fast to the confidence and the boasting of {our} hope). ⁷ Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says:

     “Today, if you hear his voice,

     ⁸ do not harden your hearts

     as in the provocation,

     during the day of testing in the wilderness

     ⁹ where your fathers tested {me} by examination,

     and they saw my works

     ¹⁰ for 40 years. Therefore, I was upset with that generation,

     and I said, ‘They are always going astray in {their} hearts,

     and they have not known my ways.’

     ¹¹ As I swore in my wrath,

     ‘If they will enter into my rest … !’”

¹² Watch out, brothers, so that there will not be in any of you a wicked heart of unbelief, in the falling away from the living God. ¹³ Instead, exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that no one among you is hardened by {the} deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become sharers of Christ if indeed we hold firm the beginning of {our} confidence until {the} end, ¹⁵ while it is said,

     “Today, if you hear his voice,

     do not harden your hearts

     as in the rebellion.”

¹⁶ For which ones who heard provoked {him}? {Was it} not all those who came out from Egypt through Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was he upset for 40 years? {Was it} not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ And we see that they were not able to enter, because of unbelief.

Chapter 4

¹ Therefore, let us be afraid lest while there remains a promise to enter into his rest, any of you might seem to have failed {to attain it}. ² For we also are having good news proclaimed {to us} just as to them also. But the message of the hearing did not benefit them, not having been joined in faith with those who heard {it}. ^{[1] 3} For we who have believed enter into rest, just as he said,

     “As I swore in my wrath,

     If they will enter into my rest,”

although {his} works were finished from {the} foundation of {the} world. ⁴ For he has somewhere spoken thus about the seventh {day}:

     “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this {passage},

     “If they will enter into my rest.”

⁶ Therefore, since it remains {for} some to enter into it, and those who previously had the good news proclaimed to them did not enter because of {their} disobedience, ⁷ he again sets a certain day, calling it “Today,” speaking through David after so much time, just as it has already been said,

     “Today, if you hear his voice,

     do not harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua gave them rest, he would not have spoken about another day after these {things}. ⁹ Therefore, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, just as God {did} from his own {works}. ¹¹ Therefore, let us be eager to enter into that rest so that no one might fall into the same example of {this} disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And no creature is hidden before him. Instead, all {things} {are} bare and laid open to the eyes of him to whom {is} our word.

¹⁴ Therefore, having a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us firmly hold to {our} confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is not able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but {one} having been tempted according to all {things}, according to {our} likeness, {yet} without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

Chapter 5

¹ For every high priest, being taken from among men on the behalf of men, is appointed {in} the {things} related to God so that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins; ² being able to deal gently with the ones who are ignorant and who are being deceived, because he also is subject to weakness. ³ And because of this, he is obligated, just as for the people, so also for himself, to offer {sacrifices} for sins. ⁴ And no one takes {this} honor for himself, but {only} being called by God, just as also Aaron {was}. ⁵ In the same way also, Christ did not glorify himself to become a high priest. Instead, the one who spoke to him {said},

     “You are my Son;

     today I have fathered you.”

⁶ {It is} just as he also says in another {place},

     “You {are} a priest forever,

     after the order of Melchizedek.”

⁷ He, during the days of his flesh, offered up both prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to the one who is able to save him from death and {he} was heard because of {his} godly life. ⁸ Even though being a son, he learned obedience from {the things} which he suffered. ⁹ And having been made perfect, he became, for all those who obey him, the source of eternal salvation, ¹⁰ having been designated by God {as} high priest, according to the order of Melchizedek, ¹¹ concerning whom the message to us {is} great, but hard to speak {about} since you have become dull in {your} hearing. ¹² For even though by this time you ought to be teachers, you again have need of someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have become {those} having a need of milk, not solid food! ¹³ For anyone who partakes of milk {is} inexperienced {with the} message of righteousness, because he is an infant. ¹⁴ But {this} solid food is for the mature {ones}, having through habit trained {their} senses for distinguishing both {what is} good and {what is} evil.

Chapter 6

¹ So then, having left the beginning of the message of Christ, let us go forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith in God, ² teaching about baptisms and laying on of hands and resurrection of {the} dead and eternal judgment. ³ And this we will do, if God permits. ⁴ For {it is} impossible for those who were once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift and became sharers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and who tasted {the} good word of God and {the} powers of the age to come, ⁶ but who fell away—to restore {them} again to repentance {since} they are crucifying again for themselves the Son of God and exposing {him} to public shame. ⁷ For a land {that} drinks the rain {that} often comes upon it and produces useful vegetation for those for whom it is also cultivated shares {in} a blessing from God, ⁸ but producing thorns and thistles, {it is} worthless and close to a curse, the end of which {curse} {is} for burning.

⁹ But concerning you, beloved ones, we are convinced of things {that are} better and are accompanying salvation, even if we speak thus. ¹⁰ For God {is} not unjust, to forget your work and the love that you have demonstrated toward his name, having served the saints and continuing to serve {them}. ¹¹ And we long for each of you to demonstrate the same diligence toward the full assurance of {your} hope until the end ¹² so that you might not become dull, but imitators of those who by faith and patience are inheriting the promises.

¹³ For God, having promised to Abraham, since he had no one greater by {whom} to swear, swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will most certainly bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And in this way, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For men swear by one {who is} greater, and an end of all disputes to them for confirmation {is} the oath, ¹⁷ in which God, intending even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable quality of his purpose, mediated {it} with an oath ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which {things} {it is} impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have a strong encouragement to hold firmly {to} the hope set before {us}; ¹⁹ which {hope} we have as an anchor of the soul, both reliable and confirmed, and entering into the inside of the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has entered {as} a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Chapter 7

¹ For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham {who was} returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth from all {things}, first indeed translated as “king of righteousness,” and then also “king of Salem,” that is, “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, he remains a priest perpetually.

⁴ But notice how great this one {was}, to whom the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth from the best plunder. ⁵ And those indeed from the sons of Levi who receive the priesthood have a command according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, {from} their brothers, even though they have come from the loin of Abraham. ⁶ But {this} one who is not from their geneaology, has collected tithes from Abraham, and has blessed the one having the promises. ⁷ But without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater. ⁸ And indeed here mortal men receive tithes, but there he is testified about that he lives on. ⁹ And, so to speak, Levi, the one collecting tithes, also had paid a tithe through Abraham, ¹⁰ because he was still in the loin of {his} father when Melchizedek met Abraham.

¹¹ If indeed then, perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people had been given {the} law), what further need {was there} for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and to not be said {to be} according to the order of Aaron? ¹² For {when} the priesthood is changed, from necessity a change of the law also takes place. ¹³ For he about whom these things are said {to be} belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. ¹⁴ For {it is} obvious that our Lord has sprung up from Judah, a tribe in regard to which Moses said nothing concerning priests. ¹⁵ And this is still even more obvious if another priest emerges according to the likeness of Melchizedek, ¹⁶ who has become {a priest} not according to a law of a fleshly command, but according to {the} power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is being testified:

     “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸ For on the one hand, there is an annulment of the former commandment because it {is} weak and useless ¹⁹ (for the law perfected nothing), and on the other hand {is} {the} introduction of a better hope, through which we come near to God. ²⁰ And by as much as not without swearing an oath‚—for indeed they without swearing an oath are become priests, ²¹ but he with an oath-taking, through God saying to him,

     “The Lord swore and will not change his mind:

     ‘You {are} a priest forever’”— ²² and according to so much more, Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant. ²³ And the ones, on the one hand, having become priests are many, since by death {they} are presented {from} continuing, ²⁴ but Jesus, on the other hand, since he remains forever, he has the permanent priesthood, ²⁵ because of which he is also able to save completely the ones approaching God through him, always living to intercede on behalf of them. ²⁶ For such a high priest was indeed suitable for us: holy, innocent, pure, separated from the sinners, and having become higher than the heavens; ²⁷ who does not have each day a need, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first on behalf of his own sins {and} then {on behalf of} {those} of the people, for he did this, having offered himself once and never again. ²⁸ For the law appoints {as} high priests men having weaknesses, but the word of the swearing of an oath, which {came} after the law, {appoints} a Son, having been made perfect forever.

Chapter 8

¹ Now the point concerning the {things} being said {is this}: We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a servant of the holy {place} and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not a man, set up. ³ For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, because of which {it is} necessary also for this one to have something that he might offer. ⁴ Now if indeed he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, {since} there are the ones offering the gifts according to {the} law; ⁵ who serve an example and a shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses had been warned, being about to complete the tabernacle, for he says, “See that you will make everything according to the type that was shown to you on the mountain.” ⁶ But now he has obtained a far superior ministry, in as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been legislated on better promises. ⁷ For if that first {covenant} would have been faultless, no place would have been sought {for} a second {one}. ⁸ For finding fault with them, he says,

     “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,

     {when} I will complete a new covenant

         with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

     ⁹ not according to the covenant

         that I made with their fathers

     on {the} day {when} I grasped their hand

         to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

     because they did not continue in my covenant,

         and I did not care about them,

     says the Lord.

     ¹⁰ For this {is} the covenant

         that I will covenant with the house of Israel

     after those days,

         says the Lord,

     putting my laws into their mind,

     and I will write them on their hearts,

     and I will be to them as God,

     and they will be to me as a people.

     ¹¹ And they will certainly not teach each one his fellow citizen,

     and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

     for they will all know me,

     from the least of them to the greatest.

     ¹² For I will be merciful toward their unrighteousness,

     and their sins I will certainly not remember any longer.”

¹³ By saying “new,” he has made the first obsolete, and what is being made obsolete and growing old {is} near disappearing.

Chapter 9

¹ Now indeed the first {covenant} had regulations for worship and the earthly holy {place}, ² for a tabernacle was prepared, the first one, in which {were} both the lampstand and the table, and the presentation of the loaves, which is called ‘Holy,’ ³ and behind the second curtain {was} a tent which is called {the} Holy of Holies, ⁴ having a golden incense altar and the ark of the covenant, having been covered completely all around with gold, in which {was} a golden jar holding the manna, and the rod of Aaron that budded, and the tablets of the covenant, ⁵ and above it, glorious cherubim overshadowing the atonement lid, about which {things} it is not now {the time} to speak according to {each} part. ⁶ And {when} these things had been thus prepared, the priests always enter into the first tabernacle, performing {their} services; ⁷ but into the second {tent}, once {in} the year only the high priest {enters}, {and} not without blood that he offers on behalf of himself and of the unintentional sins of the people. ⁸ This {is what} the Holy Spirit is making clear, {that} the way of the holy {places} {is} not yet to be revealed, the first tabernacle still having a place, ⁹ which {is} a parable for the present time, according to which both gifts and sacrifices are being offered, not being able according to {the} conscience to perfect the worshiper, ¹⁰ only concerning foods and drinks and different baptisms, regulations of the body, being imposed until a time of new order.

¹¹ But Christ, having come as a high priest of the good things that have come into existence, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by human hands, that is, not of this creation; ^{[1] 12} and not by {the} blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered into the holy {places} once and never again, having himself obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and sprinkling ashes of a heifer on the ones who had become defiled sanctifies {them} for the cleansing of {their} flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your ^[2] conscience from dead works to serve the living God! ¹⁵ And for this reason, he is a mediator of a new covenant, so that, a death having happened for redemption of the transgressions {related} to the first covenant, the ones called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶ For where {there is} a covenant, {there is} a necessity for the death of the one having covenanted {it} to be proven. ¹⁷ For a covenant {is} in force over {the} dead, because it never has force when the one covenanting {it} lives. ¹⁸ So not even the first {covenant} had been inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹ For every command having been spoken according to the law by Moses to all the people, having taken the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and red wool and hyssop, he sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This {is} the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in a similar way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and all the containers of the service. ²² And according to the law, almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³ Therefore {it is} a necessary on the one hand {for} the examples of the {things} in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but on the other hand, the heavenly things themselves, with better sacrifices than these, ²⁴ for Christ did not enter into holy {places} made with hands—copies of the true ones—but into heaven itself, to be made visible now in the presence of God on our behalf, ²⁵ and not in order to offer himself many times, even as the high priest enters into the holy {places} each year with blood {that is} not his own; ²⁶ since it was necessary for him to suffer many times from {the} foundation of {the} world. But now he has been revealed once at {the} end of the ages for {the} annulment of sin through the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed to men to die once, and after that, {the} judgment, ²⁸ so also, Christ, having been offered once to bear {the} sins of many {people}, will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation to those eagerly waiting {for} him.

Chapter 10

¹ For the law, having a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the same image of {those} things—is never able to make perfect those who approach with the same sacrifices that they continually bring every year. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, because the ones serving, no longer having consciousness of sins, having been cleansed once? ³ But with those {sacrifices} {there is} a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For {it is} impossible {for} blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ Therefore, entering into the world, he says,

     “Sacrifice and offering

         you did not desire,

         but a body you prepared for me;

     ⁶ {in} whole burnt {offerings} and concerning sin {offerings}

         you were not well-pleased.

     ⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—

         {as} it is written about me in a section of a scroll—

     to do your will, O God.’”

⁸ When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor did you take pleasure in them” (which {things} are offered according to {the} law), ⁹ then he had said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first {practice} in order to establish the second {practice}. ¹⁰ By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and never again. ¹¹ And indeed, every priest stands every day serving and repeatedly offering the same sacrifices that never are able to take away sins. ¹² But he, having offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from then until his enemies might be made a footstool {for} his feet. ¹⁴ For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after having said,

     ¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will covenant with them

         after those days, says the Lord,

     putting my laws in their hearts,

         and I will write them on their mind.” ¹⁷ And {then},

         “Their sins and their lawless deeds

         I will certainly not still remember.”

¹⁸ Now where {there is} forgiveness {for} these {things}, {there is} no longer sacrifice on behalf of sin.

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, having confidence to enter the holy {places} by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ which has inaugurated for us a fresh and living way through the curtain, that is, his flesh, ²¹ and a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, {our} hearts having been sprinkled clean from a wicked conscience and {our} body having been washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold tightly the unwavering confession of {our} hope, because the one having promised {is} faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another to stimulate love and good deeds, ²⁵ not abandoning our own meeting together, just as {is} {the} habit for some {people}, but exhorting {one another}, and so much more in as much as you see {that} day approaching.

²⁶ For if we deliberately keep on sinning after {we} receive the full knowledge of the truth, a sacrifice on behalf of sins no longer remains, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and of fiery zeal {that is} going to consume the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone having rejected {the} law of Moses dies without mercy at {the testimony of} two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much worse punishment do you think will deserve the one having trampled underfoot the Son of God and having considered the blood of the covenant—by which he was sanctified—{as} profane and having insulted the Spirit of grace! ³⁰ For we know the one who said, “Vengeance {is} mine; I will pay back.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹ {It is} a fearful {thing} to fall into {the} hands of {the} living God!

³² But remember the former days, in which, having been enlightened, you endured a great struggle of sufferings, ³³ at times indeed being publicly exposed both to reproach and persecution, but at other times having become partners of those who are are being treated in this way. ³⁴ For you also sympathized with the prisoners, and you welcomed with joy the seizure of your possessions, knowing yourselves to have a better and abiding possession. ^{[1] 35} So you must not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance so that, having done the will of God, you might obtain the promise.

     ³⁷ “For yet {in} a very little {while},

     the one who is coming will come and will not delay.

     ³⁸ But my righteous one will live by faith,

     and if he would shrink back, my soul is not well-pleased with him.”

³⁹ But we ourselves are not of shrinking back to destruction, but of faith to {the} preservation of {the} soul.

Chapter 11

¹ Now faith is assurance of {things} being hoped {for}, proof of things not being seen. ² For by this the ancients were commended. ³ By faith we understand the ages to have been prepared by {the} word of God—that {what} is seen was not made from what is visible. ⁴ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was testified to be righteous, God testifying because of his gifts, and through {faith}, having died, he still speaks. ⁵ By faith Enoch was transferred, so that he did not see death, and “He was not found, because God transferred him.” For before {his} transfer, he was reported to have been well-pleasing to God. ⁶ Now without faith {it is} impossible to be well-pleasing, for it is necessary for the one who comes to God to believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who seek him. ⁷ By faith Noah, having been warned about things not yet being seen, having become reverent, built an ark for salvation of his household, through which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness {which is} according to faith. ⁸ By faith, Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out to a place that he was going to receive for an inheritance and went out, not fully knowing where he is going. ⁹ By faith he lived as a foreigner in {the} land of the promise, having lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise, ¹⁰ for he was waiting for the city having foundations, whose architect and builder {is} God. ¹¹ By faith, even Sarah herself received ability for the conception of an offspring, even beyond {the} time of full age, since she considered {to be} faithful the one who promised. ^{[1] 12} Therefore, also from one {man}—and he having become dead—these {children} were born, just as the stars of the sky in {their} great number and countless as the sand along the shore of the sea. ¹³ According to {their} faith all these died without receiving the promises, but seeing and greeting them from far off, and having confessed that they are strangers and foreigners on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things are making it clear that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And if indeed they had been thinking of that {land} from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But now they reach for a better {land}, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he prepared a city for them. ¹⁷ By faith Abraham, being tested, had offered Isaac; even the one who had welcomed the promises offered up {his} one and only {son}, ¹⁸ to whom it was said, “Through Isaac your offspring will be named,” ¹⁹ having reasoned that God is able to raise up even from the dead, and in a parable, he received him back from there. ²⁰ By faith also, concerning coming {things}, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. ²¹ By faith Jacob, when he is dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped on the end of his staff. ²² By faith Joseph, coming to an end, mentioned about the exodus of the sons of Israel and commanded {them} about his bones. ²³ By faith Moses, having been born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw the beautiful little child and they were not afraid of the decree of the king. ²⁴ By faith Moses, having become great, refused to be called {the} son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ Rather, he chose to suffer evil together with the people of God than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin. ²⁶ He considered the reproach of the Christ greater riches {than} the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking away toward {his} reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt behind, not having feared the wrath of the king, for he endured as if he were seeing the unseen one. ²⁸ By faith he has performed the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer {of} the firstborn would not touch them. ²⁹ By faith they passed through the Red Sea as if through dry land, which the Egyptians, having taken an attempt, were swallowed up. ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, having been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish together with those who disobeyed, having welcomed the spies with peace. ³² And what more might I say? For the time will fail me, fully relating about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and also Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, worked justice, obtained promises, shut {the} mouths of lions, ³⁴ extinguished {the} power of fire, escaped {the} mouth of the sword, were empowered out of weakness, became strong in battle, {and} routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead by resurrection, but others were tortured, not accepting {their} release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; ³⁶ and others received a trial of mockings and of whippings, and even more of chains and of imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tried, they died with slaughter of a sword, they went about in sheepskins {and} in goatskins, destitute, oppressed, mistreated; ^{[2] 38} (of which {people} the world was not worthy), being caused to wander about in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. ³⁹ And all these {people}, having been commended because of {their} faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided something better concerning us, so that without us, they would not be made perfect.

Chapter 12

¹ For that very reason, we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, having laid aside every weight and the easily entangling sin, let us run with endurance the race that is placed before us, ² looking away to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of the faith, who instead of the joy that is placed before him, endured a cross, despising {its} shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider the one who has endured such opposition by sinners against himself, so that you might not become weary in your souls, giving up.

⁴ You have not yet resisted to the point of blood, struggling against sin, ⁵ and you have completely forgotten the exhortation that instructs you as sons:

     “My son, do not make light of {the} Lord’s discipline,

     nor become weary {when} being reproved by him;”

     ⁶ For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines,

     and he whips every son whom he welcomes.

⁷ Endure {suffering} in discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son {is there} whom {his} father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, of which all {men} have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not {his} sons. ⁹ Furthermore, on the one hand, we had the fathers of our flesh {as} discipliners and we were respectful {of them}; on the other hand, will we not much more be subjected to the Father of the spirits and live? ¹⁰ For indeed, they were disciplining {us} for a few days according to what seems {best} to them, but he, to benefit {us}, so that {we} might share his holiness. ¹¹ Now every discipline does not seem to be joy at the present, but pain, but afterward it produces {the} peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore, make straight the drooping hands and the knees that are paralyzed, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame might not be dislocated, but rather might be healed.

¹⁴ Pursue peace with all {men}, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord, ¹⁵ carefully watching that no one is falling short from the grace of God, not any root of bitterness is growing up to cause trouble, and by this many might become defiled, ¹⁶ not any sexually immoral or profane one such as Esau, who in exchange for one meal sold his own birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that even afterwards, desiring to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, because he found no place {for} repentance, even though he sought it with tears.

¹⁸ For you have not come to what can be touched and to a blazing fire and to darkness and to gloom and to a storm ¹⁹ and to a sound of a trumpet and to a voice of words of which the ones having heard begged for not a word to be added to them. ²⁰ For they could not endure what was ordered: “If even an animal might touch the mountain, it must be stoned.” ^{[1] 21} And the {thing} being made visible was so fearful {that} Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to {the} city of the living God, to {the} heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to {the} assembly ²³ and to {the} church of {the} firstborn {ones}, who have been registered in {the} heavens, and to God {the} Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous ones made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, {the} mediator of a new covenant, and to {the} sprinkled blood speaking better than Abel. ²⁵ See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. For if those did not escape, having refused the one who warns them on earth, much less we who turn away from the one from heaven, ²⁶ the voice of whom at that time shook the earth, but now he has promised, saying, “Still once I myself will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ²⁷ But this {phrase}, “Still once” indicates {the} removal of the {things} being shaken, that is, of {the things} created, so that the {things} not being shaken might remain. ²⁸ Therefore, receiving an unshakeable kingdom, let us have gratitude, through which let us serve well-pleasingly to God, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for indeed our God {is} a consuming fire.

Chapter 13

¹ Let brotherly love continue. ² Do not neglect hospitality, for through this, some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. ³ Remember the prisoners, as having been bound with {them}, {and} those being mistreated, as they also being in body. ⁴ Marriage {must be} honorable among all, and the marriage bed pure, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers. ⁵ {Your} manner of life {must be} free from the love of money, being content {with} the {things} being present, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you, nor never will I forsake you.” ⁶ So then, we are confident to say,

     “The Lord {is} my helper, and I will not become afraid.

     What will a man do to me?”

⁷ Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you, of whom considering the outcome of {their} conduct, imitate {their} faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ {is} the same yesterday and today and forever. ⁹ Do not be carried away by various and strange teachings. For {it is} good {for} the heart to be confirmed by grace, not by foods with which those walking {in them} were not benefitted. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which the ones serving in the tabernacle have no authority to eat. ¹¹ For the blood of which animals is brought on behalf of sin by the high priest into the holy {places}, {but} the bodies of these {animals} are burned up outside the camp. ¹² So Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people through his own blood. ¹³ Let us therefore go to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. ¹⁴ For we do not have a lasting city here, but we are seeking the one coming. ¹⁵ Through him, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, {the} fruit of lips acknowledging his name. ¹⁶ But let us not neglect the doing of good and sharing, for God is well-pleased with such sacrifices. ¹⁷ Obey your leaders and submit {to them}, for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give account, in order that they might do this with joy and not {with} groaning, for this {would be} unprofitable to you.

¹⁸ Pray for us, for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. ¹⁹ But I encourage {you} even more to do this, so that I will be restored to you sooner.

²⁰ Now the God of peace, who brought up from {the} dead {ones} the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, by {the} blood of {the} eternal covenant, ²¹ may he prepare you in every {thing} good to do his will, working in us what {is} well-pleasing before him, through Jesus Christ, to whom {be} the glory forever {and} ever. Amen.

²² Now I encourage you, brothers, bear with the word of exhortation, for only through a few {words} I have written to you. ²³ Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I will see you if he comes soon.

²⁴ Greet all your leaders and all the saints. {Those} from Italy greet you.

²⁵ Grace {be} with all of you. ^[1]