Therefore, sacred brothers, sharers of a heavenly summons, think upon the apostle and high priest of our belief, Jesus, faithful to him who made him as Moses also was faithful in the house of God. He is worthy of greater glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who made the house has more honor than the house; since every house is made by someone, and he who made all things is God. And Moses was faithful in all the house of God as a servant to witness to things that are to be spoken, but Christ as the son in his own house. We are his house, if we keep our courage and the pride of our hope.
Thus, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not close your hearts as in the time of rebellion, on the day of trial in the desert, when your fathers made trial of me in a test of me, and they had looked on my works for forty years. And therefore I was enraged with that generation, and said: They always go astray in their hearts, and they do not understand my ways. So I swore in my anger that they shall not come into my rest.
See to it, brothers, that there can never be in any of you a heart evil and faithless in forsaking the living God, but keep encouraging each other every day, while it is still called today, so that no one of you may be hardened by the beguilement of sin; for we are partners of the Christ, if only we can keep our original condition firm to the end.
in the saying: Today, if you hear his voice, do not close your hearts as in the time of rebellion, who heard and rebelled? Was it not all who went out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was God enraged for forty years? Was it not with the sinners, whose bodies collapsed in the desert? Against whom, if not the unbelievers, did he swear that they should never come into his rest? And we see that they did not come into his rest, through unbelief.
We should be afraid, then, that, while his promise that we shall come into his rest still remains open, some one of you might be judged to have come short. For we also have received the gospel as those others did, but the word they had heard did them no good, since they had no admixture of faith in what they had heard. For we who do believe are going into his rest; but as he said: So I swore in my anger, that they shall not come into my rest. And yet his works had been done since the beginning of the world; for scripture says at one point concerning the seventh day: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works; and again, in this place: They shall never come into my rest. Since, then, it remains for some to come into it, and those who formerly received the gospel did not come in because of their unbelief, once more he sets a certain day, today; as he says through David after all that time, as has been said here before: Today, if you hear his voice, do not close your hearts.
For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken about another day after that. But there remains a sabbath for the people of God; since one who comes into God's rest also rests from his works, as God rested from his own works.
Let us then strive to enter into that rest, so that none may fall through the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is alive and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and cuts through to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrows, and it can judge the thoughts and purposes of the heart; and there is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and helpless before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Since, then, we have a great high priest, Jesus the son of God, who has passed through the heavens, let us hold fast to our belief ; for the high priest we have is not one who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, since he has suffered all the trials we have, except that he did not sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to rescue us in our time of need.
For every high priest is selected from among men and appointed to perform, on behalf of men, duties before God, to offer gifts and sacrifice for sins committed. He can be moderate with those who are ignorant and go astray because he himself is submerged in weakness, and because of it he is bound to make offerings for sins on his own account also, as well as for the people. And the priest does not take the office upon himself but is called by God, like Aaron. So even the Christ did not do himself the honor of becoming high priest, but rather he who said to him: You are my son, this day I begot you; as he also said in another place: You are priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. And in his days of the flesh he addressed entreaties and supplications to him who could save him from death, with strong outcry and tears; and after being heard because of piety, even though he was the son, he le^ed obedience from his sufferings; and, made perfect, he became for all who obey him the cause of everlasting salvation, being called by God high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
About him we have much to say which is difficult to explain to you, since you have become dull listeners. For by this time you ought to be teachers, but you need to have someone teach you again the elementary first principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk, not solid food. For anyone who takes milk is ignorant of the study of righteousness, since he is an infant; solid food is for the mature who have their faculties trained through practice to distinguish good from bad.
Let us therefore pass over the elementary study of the Christ and go on to mature study; not once again laying down the foundations of repentance for dead acts, and belief in God, teaching about baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and the everlasting judgment. This we shall do, if God permits. For when once men have been enlightened, when they have tasted the gift of heaven and been participators in the Holy Spirit, and known the beautiful language of God and the powers of the age to come, and then fallen away, it is impossible for them to come into a new repentance, since they are crucifying the son of God for themselves and making a spectacle of him. For when the earth drinks the rain constantly falling upon it, and produces an acceptable plant for those by whom it is cultivated, it wins praise from God; but when it bears thorns and thistles it is despised and close to being accursed, and the end is burning.
But concerning you, dear friends, even though we speak as we do, we are convinced of better things, which go with salvation. For God is not unfair, so that he could forget your work and the love you have shown for his name, serving the saints in the past and serving them still. But we desire that each one of you should show the same enthusiasm, to the last, toward the fulfilment of your hope; not to be dull, but to imitate those who, by faith and patience, are given a share in the promise.
For when God made his promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself, saying: In my blessing I will surely bless you, and in my multiplying I will multiply you. And thus, after waiting patiently, Abraham gained the promise. For human people swear by one greater than themselves, and the oath is final confirmation in any dispute. God, therefore, wishing to make even plainer to the heirs of his promise how unchangeable was his will, guaranteed it with an oath; so that, by means of two acts in which it is impossible for God to deceive us, we who have taken refuge with him may have strong assurance that we shall grasp the hope that lies before us. This hope we have as an anchor for our life, steady and secure and reaching to the ^wermost place behind the curtain, where Jesus entered as our forerunner, made high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
This Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of God the all- highest, is the one who met Abraham as he reamed from the slaughter of the Kings, and blessed him, the one to whom Abraham allotted a tenth of all the spoils; meaning, when translated, first, King of Righteousness, then King of Salem, that is, King of Peace, fatherless, motherless, without genealogy, with neither a beg^ning of his days nor an end of his life, in the likeness of the son of God, he remains as priest for all time.