Hebrews

 

1   Having spoken long ago, in many parts, and in many ways, to the fathers, through the prophets, God spoke to us in the last of days through a son, whom he has placed as heir of all, and through whom he made the ages. Who, being the radiance of the glory, and the impression of his substance, carrying with him all things by the declaration of his power, cleansing the making of our sins through himself, is seated at the right hand of the majesty in the heights.

   Becoming so much better than the messengers, he has inherited a much more excellent name than them. For to which of the messengers has he said in the past, “You are my son. Today I have fathered you”, and again, “I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me.” And again, whenever he leads the firstborn into the inhabited world he says, “And let all the messengers of God worship him.”

   And indeed, to the messengers he says, “The one who makes his messengers winds^a, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But to the son, “Your throne, God, is into the age of the age. The rod of your kingdom is a rod of straightness. You love righteousness, and you hate lawlessness. Because of this, God, your god, anointed you with the oil of exultation above your partners.

   And in the beginning Lord, you founded the earth. And the heavens are works of your hands. These will be destroyed, but you remain. And all will become aged like a cloak. And you will roll them up, as if they were a covering, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not cease.”

   And to which of the messengers has he ever declared, “Sit on my right hand side until I place your enemies as a footstool for your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits, having been sent into a service because of those who are about to inherit salvation.

2   Because of this we must pay attention exceedingly to the things we have heard, otherwise we may drift away. For if the message which was spoken by messengers became steadfast, and all transgression and disobedience received a fair recompense - how will we escape, having neglected so great a salvation, which in the beginning was received by being spoken through the lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard. God also testifies, together with signs, and miracles, and various works of power, and the distributions of the holy spirit, according to his will.

   For he didn’t subject the inhabited world, (the one about to be, which we are talking about), to messengers. But somewhere someone earnestly declares, saying, “What is a person that you are mindful of him? Or a son of a person that you visit him? You made him a little lower than messengers, you crowned him with glory and honour. You have subjected all things underneath his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, nothing remained not subjected to him. And now we don’t yet see all things having been subjected to him.

   And we observe the one who has been made a little lower than messengers, Yeshua, through the suffering of death, having been crowned with glory and honour. So that by the grace of God he should taste death on behalf of everyone. For it was fitting for him, because to whom all things are, and because of whom all things are, leading many sons into glory, the originator of their salvation, to complete it through sufferings.

   For both the one who makes holy and those who are being made holy are all from one. For which reason he isn’t ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will report your name to my brothers. I will sing praise of you in the midst of an assembly.” And again, “I will put confidence in him.” And again, “Look! It is me and the little children which God gave me.”

   Since the little children have shared in flesh and blood then, and he himself, in like manner, partook of the same, so that through death he should nullify the one who has the power of death, (this is Diabolos^a), so he might set free those who were subject to slavery for their entire lives, because of fear of death.

   For indeed he doesn’t take hold of messengers, but he takes hold of the seed of Abraham. Therefore he ought, in all things, to be made like his brothers, so that he may become a compassionate and trustworthy chief priest in the things of God, to make propitiation^b for the sins of the people. For since he himself suffered, being tested, he is able to help those who are tested.

3   Therefore holy brothers, partakers in a heavenly calling, consider the ambassador and chief priest of our profession, Yeshua the Anointed, being faithful to the one who made him so, just like Moses was in his whole household. For he has been considered more worthy of glory than Moses, in the same way that the one who constructed it has more honour than the house. For every house is constructed by someone, but God is the one who has constructed all things. And indeed Moses was trustworthy in his whole household, like a man-servant, for a testimony of the things which will be spoken afterwards. But the Anointed, like a son over his household, whose household we are if we hold on to the confidence and the boast of the certain expectation until the end.

   Therefore just as the holy spirit says, “Today, if you should hear his voice, you shouldn’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me. They discerned me, and they saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was furious with that generation, and I said, ‘They are always being led astray in the heart, and they haven’t perceived my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will never enter into my resting place.’”

   Watch out brothers, in case there will be a wicked heart of unbelief, (in the withdrawing from the living god), in any of you. But encourage each other each day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deception of sin. For we have become partakers in the Anointed, if we hold on to the beginning of the substance, certain until the end.

   In that it is said, “Today, if you should hear his voice, you shouldn’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For some who heard rebelled, (but not all of those who had come out from Egypt through Moses). And with whom was he furious for forty years? Not those who sinned, whose limbs fell down in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his resting place, except those who were disobedient? And we observe that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

4   Let us be afraid then, since a promise remains to enter into his resting place, in case some of you may seem to be lacking. For we have also been brought the good news, just as they were, but the message which they heard didn’t benefit them, since it wasn’t united with faith by those who heard.

   For we who have trusted are entering into the resting place, just as he said, “As I swore in my wrath, they will never enter into my resting place.” And yet the works have been completed since the foundation of the world. For somewhere he spoke about the seventh [day] in this way, “And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.” And in this again, “They will never enter into my resting place.” Since then it remains for some to enter into it, and those who were formerly brought the good news didn’t enter in, through disobedience.

   Again, designating a certain day “today” - saying in David, after so much time, what had been declared before, “Today, if you should hear his voice, you shouldn’t harden your hearts.” For if Yeshua had given them rest, he wouldn’t have spoken after these things about another day. So then, a keeping of Sabbaths remains for the people of God. For the one who enters into his resting place has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own. We should be diligent then to enter into that resting place, so that we don’t fall in the same example of disobedience.

   For the message of God is living, and active, and sharper than all kinds of double edged sword, and penetrating to the division between soul and spirit, between joints and marrows, and a judge of inner thoughts and the notions of a heart. And there is no creation unseen in his sight, but all are naked and laid open^a to his eyes - to whom is the account by us.

   Since we have then a great chief priest, who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua, the son of God, let us hold fast to the profession. For we don’t have a chief priest who isn’t able to sympathise with our weakness, but who, when he had been tested in all things in a like manner, was without sin. Let us come near with boldness then to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy, and may find grace for well timed help.

5   For every chief priest, when they have been taken from among people, is installed over people for the things of God, so that he may present both offerings and sacrifices for sins. He is able to bear gently with those who are ignorant, and those who are being led astray, since he himself is also wrapped in weakness. And because of this, he ought, just as he does for the people, in the same way also to make offering for sins for himself.

   And none takes the honour to himself, but is called by God, just as Aaron was. In this way also the Anointed didn’t glorify himself to become chief priest, but the one who said to him, “You are my son. Today I have fathered you.” Just as also in a different place he says, “You are a priest into the age, according to the order of Melchizedek.” Who, in the days of his flesh, presented both petitions and supplications to the one who is able to save him from death, with strong crying out and tears, (and who was heard due to his reverence). Even though, being a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered. And when he had been perfected, he became the cause of everlasting salvation to all those who obey him, having been addressed by God as a chief priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

   About whom there is many, and difficult to interpret, a message to be said by us, since you have become dull of hearing. For even though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have a need of one to teach you again the fundamentals of the beginning of the announcements of God, and you have come to have a need of milk and not of solid food. For everyone who partakes of milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, for they are an infant. But the solid food is for the mature, who through habit have had their senses exercised for the discrimination of both good and evil.

6   Therefore, leaving behind the message of the beginning of the Anointed, we should be being brought to maturity. Not again laying down a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God, of immersions, of teaching, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of everlasting judgement. And we should do this if God permits. For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted of the heavenly gift, who have become partakers of the holy spirit, and who have tasted the good declaration of God, and the works of power in the age about to come, and who have fallen away, to again be renewed into repentance, re-executing^a the son of God to themselves, and making an example of him.

   For land which drinks in the rain, which comes many times, and brings forth fodder useful to those for whom it is farmed, has a share in blessings from God. But that which bears thornbushes and thistles, is rejected and almost cursed, the end of which is burning.

   But we have been persuaded of better things concerning you beloved, things that have salvation, (even if we speak in this way). For God isn’t unrighteous, to forget your work and the suffering of the love which you have shown in his name, having served the holy, (and are serving). But we have earnestly desired that each one of you shows the same diligence to the assurance of the expectation until the end, so that you won’t be dull, but you may become imitators of those, who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

   For having promised to Abraham, God, since he had nobody greater to swear on, swore on himself, saying, “Surely, blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you.” And in this way, having long suffered, he attained the promises. For people indeed swear by the greater thing, and to them a confirmation of the oath is an end of all controversy.

   In which God, intending to exhibit more abundantly the immutability of his will to those heirs of the promise, intervened with an oath. So that through two immutable matters, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong comfort, those who have fled for safety, to lay hold of the expectation which lies before us, which we have like an anchor of the soul, both secure and certain, and entering into the interior of the curtain, where the forerunner has entered in on our behalf, Yeshua, who has become chief priest of the order of Melchizedek into the age.

7   For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God the highest, the one who met Abraham returning from striking down the kings, and who blessed him, (to whom also Abraham gave a tenth of all that was divided out), is indeed first translated as King of Righteousness, but after that also King of Shalom which is King of Peace. Of unknown father, of unknown mother, without genealogy, having neither a beginning of days, nor an ending of life, but having been made like the son of God, he remains a priest in perpetuity.

   And you observe how great this one was, to whom Abraham the patriarch also gave a tenth of the best of the spoils. And indeed, those of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a command, according to the law, to take a tenth from the people, (that is from their brothers), even though they have come out from the loin of Abraham. But the one who was not in their genealogy, has received a tenth from Abraham, and he has blessed the one who has the promises.

   But without any controversy, the inferior was blessed by the superior. And here indeed, dying people receive tenths, but there the one of whom it is testified that he lives. And so to speak, Levi, the one who receives tenths, has also given a tenth through Abraham. For he was still in the loin of the father when Melchizedek met with him.

   If indeed then, fulfilment was through the Levitical priesthood, (for that people were placed under the law by it), what further need was there for another priest to stand up, according to the order of Melchizedek, and not to be called according to the order of Aaron? For since the priesthood has been transposed, out of necessity there also comes a transposition of the law. For the one of whom these things are being said, is part of a different tribe, from which nobody has [ever] served at the altar. For it is obvious that our lord has risen up out of Yehudah, regarding which tribe Moses spoke nothing about priesthood.

   And it is even more evident still, if a different priest rises up according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who isn’t according to a fleshly law of command, but according to a power of indissoluble life. For he testifies, “You are a priest into the age according to the order of Melchizedek.” For there is indeed a setting aside of the command which came before because of its weakness and uselessness. For the law makes nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better expectation, through which we come near to God.

   And in as much as it isn’t without the swearing of an oath, (for indeed they have become priests without the swearing of an oath), but he, with the swearing of an oath through the saying to him, “The lord swore and he won’t regret it. You are a priest into the age according to the order of Melchizedek.”

   Yeshua has become the guarantor of a much better covenant. And indeed there are many, who have become priests but have been prevented from remaining so by death. But he, because of his remaining into the age, has the priesthood indefinitely. Therefore he is also able to completely save those who come to God through him, (being always living to plead on their behalf). For such a chief priest was fitting for us, hallowed, innocent, undefiled, having been separated from sinners, and becoming higher than the heavens. Who doesn’t have a necessity each day, (as those chief priests before), to present sacrifices for his own sins, and after that for those of the people, for he did this, having offered himself up once for all. For the law installs people as chief priests who have weakness, but the message of the swearing of an oath which is after the law, a son, who has been perfected, into the age.

8   But the main point of what is being said - we have such a chief priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the holy places, and of the true tent which the lord has pitched, and not a person. For every chief priest is installed to present both offerings and sacrifices, therefore it is necessary to have something which he may present.

   For if indeed, he was on the earth, he wouldn’t even be a priest, (since there are already priests who present the offerings according to the law, who serve an example and shadow of the heavenly things. Just as Moses was informed when they were about to complete the tent. For, “See” he declares, “that you do all things according to the model which was shown to you on the mountain.”) But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, as much as he is a mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

   For if the first one was faultless, a place wouldn’t have been sought for a second. For, blaming them, he says, “Look! Days are coming says the lord, and I will conclude a new covenant on the household of Yisrael, and on the household of Yehudah. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, (in the day of my taking their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt), because they didn’t remain in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the lord.

   Because this is the covenant which I will covenant to the household of Yisrael after those days, says the lord. Giving my laws into their understanding, and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be god to them, and they will be a people to me. And each one to his fellow citizen, and each one to his brother, shouldn’t teach at all, saying, ‘Perceive the lord.’ because all of them will see me, from small to great. Because I will be gracious to their unrighteousness, and I won’t be reminded of their sins, and of their lawlessness, at all.”

   In saying “new” he has made the first old. And that which has become old and aged is near to disappearing.

9   Indeed then the first also had regulations of service, both holy and worldly. For a tent was constructed. The first, (in which were both a lampstand and the table, and the laying out of the bread), which is called Holy. But behind the second curtain was a tent which is called Holy of Holies, which has a golden incense burner, and the ark of the covenant, which had been covered all over with gold, and in which was a golden urn which contains the manna, and the staff of Aaron which sprouted, and the stone tablets of the covenant, and above which were cherubim of glory, overshadowing the propitiation, (about which things we won’t speak now in detail).

   And when these things had indeed been constructed in this way, the priests enter into the first tent all the time, completing the services. But into the second once a year, only the chief priest, and not without blood, which he offers on behalf of himself and of the non-deliberate offences of the people.

   This is made evident by the holy spirit, the way of the holy places wasn’t yet made manifest while the first tent still had a position. Which is an analogy for the time, illustrating that both offerings and sacrifices which are presented, are not able to perfect the conscience of the one who serves - relying only on foods, and drinks, and various immersions, and regulations of the flesh, until the time for setting things straight.

   But when the Anointed came, chief priest of the good things about to come through the greater and more perfect tent, not made by hands, (that is, not of this creation), and not through the blood of goats and cattle, but he entered through his own blood, once for all into the holy places, having found an everlasting redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been made common [not holy] makes them holy for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more then will the blood of the Anointed, who through the everlasting spirit presented himself blameless to God, cleanse your^a conscience.

   And because of this, he is mediator of a new covenant, so that death having occurred for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, those who have been called might receive the promise of the everlasting inheritance. For where there is a covenant, the death of the one who covenanted is a necessity. For a covenant over the dead is certain, since otherwise it prevails when the one covenanting is living.

   Therefore neither was the first put into effect without blood. For Moses, when he had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, took the blood of cattle and goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has directed you.” And the tent too, and all the vessels of ministry, likewise he sprinkled with blood. And he cleansed almost everything with blood, according to the law, and there was no pardon apart from the pouring out of blood.

   It was indeed a necessity then for the example of those things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For the Anointed didn’t enter into holy places made by hands, which reflect the true ones, but into heaven itself, appearing now in the presence of God on our behalf.

   Neither that he might offer himself many times, just as the chief priest enters into the holy places every year by someone else’s blood, otherwise he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has been manifested, once at the end of the ages, for the putting away of sin through his sacrifice. And as much as it is laid in store for people to die once, and after this - judgement, in the same way, the Anointed also, having been presented once for the carrying up of sins, will be seen a second time without sin by those who are anticipating him - into salvation.

10   For the law, which has a shadow of the good things which are about to come, not the image of the matters themselves, is never able, by the same sacrifices which they offer year after year in perpetuity, to perfect those who come near. Otherwise wouldn’t they have ceased being presented, because those who serve would no longer have a conscience of sins, since they would have already been cleansed. But in the same, there is a recalling of sins each year.

   For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when he entered into the world he said, “You don’t want a sacrifice and an offering, but you provided a body for me. You were not delighted in whole burnt offerings and those for sins. Then I said, ‘Look! I am here. It has been written about me in the head of the scroll - to do your will, God.’”

   Saying above, “You don’t want sacrifice and offering, and whole burnt offerings, and those for sin, nor will you be delighted with them” - in whatever is presented according to the law. Then he says, “Look! I am here to do your will, God.” He lifts away the first so that he should erect^a the second. By which will, we are made holy through the offering of the body of Yeshua the Anointed, once for all.

   And indeed, every priest has stood each day ministering and presenting the same sacrifices many times, which are never able to take away sins. But he, since he has presented one sacrifice on behalf of sins into perpetuity, is seated at the right hand of God, anticipating the rest until his enemies might be placed as a footstool for his feet.

   For one offering has made those who are being made holy perfect in perpetuity. And the holy spirit testifies to us. For after what was declared beforehand, “’This is the covenant which I will covenant with them after those days’, says the lord. ‘Giving my laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their understanding. And I won’t be reminded of their sins and their lawlessness at all.’” But where there is a pardon of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

   Having then brothers, a boldness to enter into the holy places by the blood of Yeshua, by which he renews to us a freshly slain and living way through the curtain - that is, his flesh. And a great priest over the household of God, let us come with a true heart, in assurance of faith, having hearts which have been sprinkled from a wicked conscience, and having a body which has been bathed with clean water.

   Let us hold fast to the profession of the unwavering expectation, for the one who promised is trustworthy. And let us consider one another, for provoking of love and good works. Not abandoning the gathering of ourselves together, as is the custom of some, but entreating one another, and by so much more as you observe the day drawing nearer.

   For our sinning voluntarily, when we have accepted the recognition of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins remaining. But a certain fearful reception of judgement, and boiling fire, about to consume those who are standing opposed. Anyone who has set aside a law of Moses dies, without compassion, on two or three witnesses. Of how much worse a punishment do you suppose they will be considered worthy, who trample the son of God, and who consider the blood of the covenant, (by which it was made holy), to be common [not holy], and who insult the spirit of grace?

   For we know the one who said, “’Vengeance is mine. I will repay’, says the lord.” and again, “The lord will judge his people.” It is fearful to fall into the hands of the living god. But recall the former days in which, having been enlightened, you endured much struggling of sufferings. Indeed being made both a show of, (with both reproaches and duress), and having become sharers with those who dwell in the same way. For you also sympathised with my bonds, and you accepted the snatching of your belongings with joy, perceiving that you have a better and enduring possession in the heavens.

   You shouldn’t throw away your boldness then, which has a great reward. For you have a need of perseverance, so that when you have done the will of God you should carry off the promise. “For still a very little while, and the one who is coming will arrive, and he won’t delay. But the righteous one will live on the basis of faith, and if he should ever draw back, my soul is not delighted with him.” But we aren’t of drawing back, to destruction, but of faith, to a gaining possession of the soul.

11   And faith is the substance of matters which are expected, a proof of what isn’t seen. For in this the elders were testified to. By faith we understand that the ages were furnished by a declaration of God, so that the things which are seen haven’t come to be on the basis of things which are visible.

   By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain, through which he was testified to be righteous. God testified about his offerings, and through it he, though being dead, still speaks. By faith Enoch was transposed, without seeing death, and wasn’t found because God transposed him. For before his transposition he had been testified to have pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, because those who come to God must trust that he is, and that he is one who rewards those who seek him out.

   By faith Noah, having been warned about things not yet observed, responding^a, constructed an ark for the salvation of his household. Through which he condemned the world, and became the heir of the righteousness which comes on the basis of faith.

   By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by coming out into the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out without being aware of where he was going. By faith he sojourned^b in the land of the promise, like a stranger, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Yaakov, joint heirs of the same promise. For he awaited the city which has foundations, of which God is craftsman and constructor.

   By faith Sarah herself also received power for a throwing down of seed, and contrary to her time of life, she gave birth. Since she considered the one who promised to be trustworthy. Therefore also, there were born from one, (and these having been made dead), as many a multitude as the stars of the sky, and uncountable as the sand of the shore of the sea.

   These all died according to faith, having not received the promises, but having seen them at a distance and greeting them, and acknowledging that they were foreigners and expatriates on the earth. For those who say such things disclose that they seek after a homeland^c. And if indeed they had recalled where they had come from, they had opportunity to return. But now they reach for a better, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their god, for he has prepared a city for them.

   By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and the one who had received the promises offered up his only child, (of whom it had been spoken, “In Isaac a seed will be called to you”), accounting that God was also able to raise from the dead, from where he also received him back, in analogy.

   By faith Isaac blessed Yaakov and Esau concerning things about to come. By faith Yaakov, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Yosef, and he worshipped on the tip of his staff. By faith Yosef, when he was dying, recalled the departure of the sons of Yisrael, and directed them concerning his bones.

   By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his fathers because they saw that the little child was special. And they were not afraid of the edict of the king. By faith Moses, when he became great, refused to be called a son of the daughter of Pharaoh, picking^d to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin - having deemed the reproach of the Anointed to be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked steadfastly to the payment of rewards.

   By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the rage of the king because he held on to the unseen like the seen. By faith he performed the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the one who destroyed the firstborn might not touch them. By faith they walked across the Red Sea, as through dry land, in which the Egyptians, when they accepted the trial, were drowned.

   By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, having been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute wasn’t destroyed with those who were disobedient, having welcomed the scouts with peace.

   And what else will I say? For the time will be lacking for me to relate about Gideon, Barak, both Samson and Jephtha, David, and both Samuel and the prophets, who, through faith, prevailed against kingdoms. They worked righteousness, they attained promises, they blocked the mouths of lions, they extinguished the power of fire, they fled the mouths of the sword, they were empowered from weakness, they became strong in battle, they turned aside camps of strangers.

   Women received back their dead through resurrection, and others were beaten, not accepting the redemption so that they might have a better resurrection. And others received a trial of mockings and scourging, and even bonds and jail. They were stoned, they were sawn, they were tested, they died being murdered by a sword.

   They came along in sheep skins and goat skins, lacking, pressured, wronged, of whom the world wasn’t worthy, wandering in desolate places, and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having been testified to through faith, didn’t receive the promise. Since God had foreseen something better for us, that they might not be made perfect separately from us.

12   Therefore us too, since we have such a large cloud of witnesses placed around us, let us take off every weight and the sin^a which easily encircles, and let us run the contest laid out before us through perseverance, focusing on Yeshua, the originator and perfector of the faith, who instead of the joy lying before him endured the stake^b, despising the shame, who has been seated at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider such a one, who has endured contradiction against him from sinners, so that you might not grow weary and lose heart^c.

   In the struggle against sin you haven’t yet resisted to the point of blood. And you have been oblivious to the exhortation which is speaking to you like sons, “My son, don’t take the discipline of the lord lightly, nor give up when exposed by him. For whomever the lord loves, he disciplines. And he flogs every son whom he accepts to himself.”

   You endure discipline. God brings it to you like sons. For who is a son whom a father doesn’t discipline? But if you are without discipline, (of which you all have become partakers), then you are illegitimate, and not sons. Moreover, we have had the fathers of our flesh as discipliners, and we respected them. Won’t we much more be subject to the father of our spirits, and live.

   For indeed they disciplined for a few days according to what seemed best to them, but the one above for benefit, in order to be sharers of his holiness. But indeed, at the time no discipline is assumed to be joy, but sadness. Yet afterwards, peaceable fruit to those who have been trained through it, yielding righteousness.

   Therefore, raise up hands that hang down, and paralysed knees, and make straight tracks^d for your feet, so that the lame might not turn aside, but rather might be healed. Pursue peace with everyone, and sanctification, without which nobody will see the lord.

   Watching carefully lest anyone lacks the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness sprouting up may cause trouble, and through this many might be defiled, lest anyone is a fornicator, or profane like Esau, who gave up his rights as firstborn in exchange for eating one thing. For you perceive that afterwards also, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected as unworthy. For he found no opportunity of repentance, even though he sought it with tears.

   For you haven’t come to a mountain that can be felt, and which burned with fire, and to murkiness, and to darkness, and to a hurricane, and to the resounding of a trumpet, and to a voice of declarations, which those who had heard it begged that no message be added to them. (For they couldn’t bear the express instruction, “Even if a wild beast comes into contact with the mountain it will be stoned.” And the apparition was so fearful that Moses said, “I am afraid and trembling.”) But you have come to Zion, the mountain and city of the living god, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of messengers, to the general gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn, having been registered in the heavens, and to God, judge of all, and to spirits of the righteous, having been made perfect, and to Yeshua, mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaks of better things than that of Abel.

   Watch out that you don’t refuse the one who speaks. For if those who refused the one who warned them on the earth didn’t escape, how much more us, who turn away from the one from the heavens. The voice of whom shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the sky.” But, “Yet once more” makes apparent the transposition of the things which are shaken, (that is which have been made), so that the things which were not shaken should remain. Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakeable kingdom, let us have grace, through which we may serve God well, with modesty and reverence. For our god is also an utterly consuming fire.

13   Let brotherly love remain. Don’t forget hospitality, for because of this some were oblivious to having given lodging to messengers. Be mindful of prisoners as if you have been bound together with them, of the mistreated, as if you yourselves were also in the body.

   Let marriage be honoured among all, and the bed undefiled. But God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

   Let your way of life be not loving money, but being satisfied with what is at hand. For he himself has said, “I won’t let go of you at all, nor will I abandon you at all.” So that, having confidence, we say, “The lord is a helper to me, and I won’t be afraid of what a person will do to me.”

   Recall your leaders who spoke the message of God to you. Carefully examine the outcome of their lifestyle. Imitate their faith.

   Yeshua the Anointed is the same yesterday and today, and into the ages. Don’t be swept away by various and foreign teachings. For it is good to confirm the heart by grace, not by foods in which those who walked about were not benefited. We have an altar, from which those who serve in the tent have no authority to eat. For the bodies of those living things, whose blood is being carried, (on account of sin), into the holy places by the chief priest, are burned up outside the camp. Therefore Yeshua also, so that he should make the people holy through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

   Now then, let us go out to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we don’t have a permanent city here, but we seek the one about to come. Through him then, let us always offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips which acknowledge his name. And don’t forget doing good and partnership^a, for God is very pleased by such sacrifices.

   Comply with those who lead you, and surrender, (for they are vigilant over your souls, as those who will give an account), so that they might do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that is unprofitable to you.

   Pray about us, for we have confidence that we have a good conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves well in all things. But even more so, I entreat you to do this so that I may be restored to you quickly.

   And may the god of peace, the one who brought the great shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of the everlasting covenant, our lord Yeshua, back from dead, equip you in every good work to do his will, making among you what is very pleasing in his sight through Yeshua the Anointed, to whom is the glory, into the ages of the ages.

   Amen^b.

   And I entreat you brothers, be tolerant of the message of exhortation, for I have also written a brief letter to you.

   You perceive that the brother Timotheos has been released, with whom I will see you, if he comes quickly. Greet all those who lead you, and all the holy. Greet those from Italy. The grace is with all of you.

   Amen^b.