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and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to judge the thoughts and convictions of the heart:

And before him nothing created is concealed,

But all things are bare and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

14 As we have then a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,

Let us hold to our confession.

15 For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with compassion for our weaknesses,

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But one who has been tempted in all points like ourselves, apart from sin.
Let us draw near then with confidence to the throne of grace,

That we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

For every high priest, being selected from among men, is wont to be appointed for men Godward, that he may offer both gifts and 2 sacrifices for sins; one who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring, 3 since he too is himself compassed with weakness, and needs for that reason to make offering for sins, as for the people so also for himself. 4 And no one takes the office to himself, but takes it when called by 5 God, exactly like Aaron. So Christ also did not exalt himself to the high priesthood; nay it was he who spoke to him,

My Son thou art, to-day have I begotten thee:

6 as he says also in another place,

Thou art priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.

7 He who in the days of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from 8 death, and owing to his reverence was heard; he learned obedience9 though he was a Son-by what he suffered; and after being made perfect, 10 he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him, styled by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

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In regard to him we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become dull. For while you ought to be teachers (considering the length of time), you again require someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to require milk and not solid food. For anyone who partakes of milk is inexperienced in the word of uprightness, he is an infant. But solid food is for the full-grown, for those who by virtue of practice have their faculties trained to discern good and evil. Let us therefore leave the elementary Christian instruction and pass on to what is full-grown, instead of laying a foundation over again with repentance from dead actions and with faith towards God, with the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead and of judgment eternal. And this we will do, if God permit. For in regard to those who were once enlightened,

Who tasted the heavenly gift and became partakers of the

holy Spirit,

And tasted the goodness of God's word and the

the age to come,

And then fell away

powers of

It is impossible to be renewing them over again to repentance,
While they are crucifying the Son of God afresh for them-

selves

And making him a public spectacle.

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14, 15

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For the land which drinks in the rain that falls often upon it, And bears plants suited for those for whose sake it is also tilled, partakes of blessing from God:

But if it produces thorns and thistles,

it is reprobate and on the verge of a curse;

its fate is to be burned.

But we are persuaded better things of you, beloved, and things con-
nected with salvation, although we speak in this way. For God is
not unjust, so as to forget your work and the love you showed toward
his name in that you ministered to the saints and minister still.
And our desire is that each one of you may show to the very end
the same earnestness for the fulness of your hope; that you may not
become dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to
Abraham, he swore by himself, since he could swear by none greater,
saying, Richly will I bless thee: richly will 1 multiply thee. And
so he obtained the promise, after enduring patiently. For men
swear by the greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is
final and settles it. Wherefore, as God meant to demonstrate to
the heirs of the promise more and more the immutability of his
counsel, he intervened with an oath; so that by two immutable
things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled
for refuge may have strong encouragement to hold to the hope set
before us, which we possess as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
firm, that enters also into what is within the veil, where Jesus entered
as a pioneer for us when he became for ever a high priest after the
order of Melchizedek.

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met 2 Abraham on his return from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to whom Abraham assigned a tenth part of all-being first of all by interpretation "King of uprightness," and then also King of Salem, which is 3"King of peace"; with no father, with no mother, with no genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, but made like to the Son of God 4-he remains a priest for all time. Now observe how great this

man was, a man to whom the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth from the best 5 of the spoils. Also, while those of Levi's sons who receive the priesthood have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law (that is, from their brothers), although these people have come out of the 6 loins of Abraham, he who can trace no descent from them received tithes 7 from Abraham and blessed the possessor of the promises. Now it is quite 8 indisputable that the inferior is blessed by the superior. Also, while here it is mortal men who receive tithes, there it is one of whom the 9 witness is, "he lives." And, one might almost say, even Levi the receiver of 10 tithes paid tithes through Abraham; for he was yet in the loins of his father 11 when Melchizedek met him. Now again, had there been perfection by the Levitical priesthood (for it was on the basis of that priesthood that the law was established for the people), what further need was there for another priest arising after the order of Melchizedek and not being spoken 12 of as not after the order of Aaron ?-for when the priesthood is changed, 13 a change of the law necessarily takes place as well. For he who is thus spoken of belongs to another tribe, no man of which devoted himself to 14 the altar. For it is evident that our Lord has sprung from Judah, and 15 Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe. And all this is more plainly evident than ever, if another priest arises ufter the

16 likeness of Melchizedek, one who has become priest not after the law of a 17 material commandment but after the power of a life indissoluble; for the witness to him is,

Thou art priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.

18 For while a previous commandment is set aside on account of its weakness 19 and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect), there is introduced 20 a better hope, through which we draw near to God. And 21 inasmuch as this was not done without an oath (for while they have become priests without an oath, he became priest with an oath, through him who said to him, The Lord swore and he will not repent, thou art priest 22 for ever), by so much also has Jesus become the surety of a better

covenant.

23 Also, while they have become priests in numbers,

Since they are prevented by death from living on,

24 He has his priesthood inviolate,

Since he abides for ever.

25 Hence also he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him,

Seeing that he ever lives to plead for them.

26 For such was the proper high priest for us, holy, guileless, undefiled, 27 separated from sinners and made higher than the heavens, who does not require to offer sacrifices day by day, like the high priest, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all by offering

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himself.

For the law appoints to the high priesthood men who have weakness,
But the word of the oath which is after the law appoints a Son who

is made perfect for ever.

Now, to crown what we are saying; such a high priest we have, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Sovereignty 2 in the heavens, a minister of the holy place and of the real tabernacle 3 which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary that this high 4 priest also should have somewhat to offer. While then he would not be a priest at all if he were on earth, since there are those who offer the 5 gifts according to the law (men who serve what is an outline and a shadow of the heavenly things-as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to execute the building of the tabernacle; for see, it is said, that thou make all things according to the pattern shown thee on the mountain—), 6 as it is, he has obtained a sacred service the more excellent inasmuch as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established 7 by law upon better promises. For had not that first covenant been 8 defective, no occasion would have been required for a second. Finding fault with them he says,

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Lo, days are coming, saith the Lord,

When I will conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers

In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of
Egypt's land;

For they did not abide by my covenant,

And I paid no heed to them, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, saith the Lord :

1 Omitting [[a]].

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I will put my laws into their mind,

And upon their heart I will inscribe them;
And I will be to them a God,

And they shall be to me a people;

And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen,

And every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord";
Because all shall know me,

From the least to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their iniquities,

And their sins I will remember no more.

13 In saying a new covenant, he has antiquated the first; and what is being antiquated and failing for age, is on the point of disappearing. 91 Now even the first covenant indeed had ordinances of sacred service 2 and its sanctuary of this world. For the first part of the tabernacle was constructed to contain the lampstand and the table and the showbread; 3 this part is called "holy." And behind the second veil is the tabernacle 4 called "holy of holies," with a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered all over with gold and containing a golden pot with the manna and the rod of Aaron that sprouted and the tablets of the 5 covenant, and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat 6-things of which one cannot speak now in detail. Now with these things thus constructed, the priests are continually going into the first tabernacle 7 performing the services of worship; but the high priest alone goes once a year into the second-not without blood, which he offers for 8 himself and for the people's sins of ignorance. By this the holy Spirit points out that the way into the holy place has not yet been opened, so 9 long as the first tabernacle is still in existence-a symbol as it is for the present time, according to which both gifts and sacrifices are being offered that cannot make the worshipper perfect as regards his conscience, 10 since they merely consist of food and drink and various ablutions, ordi11 nances of the flesh imposed until a time of reformation. But Christ,

on arriving as high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle which is not made by hands (that is to say, 12 not belonging to this creation), nor yet through blood of goats and oxen but through his own blood, entered into the holy place once for all, and obtained eternal redemption.

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For if the blood of goats and oxen and the ashes of a heifer
Sanctify to make the flesh clean, by sprinkling the defiled,

How much more shall the blood of Christ who offered himself
through an eternal spirit faultless to God,

Cleanse our conscience from dead actions to serve the living God? 15 And hereby he is mediator of a new covenant, so that those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, seeing that a death has taken place to secure redemption from the transgressions under 16 the first covenant. For wherever a will is produced, the death of the 17 testator must be announced. A will holds good only in the case of the dead; since it never has any effect during the life-time of the testator. 18 Hence even the first covenant was not inaugurated apart from blood. 19 For after every commandment had been spoken to all the people by Moses according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled the book itself 20 and also all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which 21 God has ordained with you. In the same way also he sprinkled with the

1 Reading .

22 blood the tabernacle and all the vessels of the sacred service. Indeed we may almost say that according to the law all things are cleansed in blood, and that no remission takes place apart from the shedding of blood. 23 It was needful then that what were outlines of the things in the heavens should thus be cleansed,

But that the heavenly things themselves should be cleansed with better sacrifices.

24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made by hands (mere anti-type of the real),

But into heaven itself, to appear now before the face of God for us ; 25 Nor was it to offer himself many times,

As the high priest enters year by year into the holy place with blood that is not his own

26 (Since in that case he must have suffered many times, from the foundation of the world),

But, as it is, he has been disclosed once for all at the close of the ages to set sin aside through his sacrifice.

27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men

to die once for all,

and thereafter to be judged;

28 So also shall Christ,

10 1

offered once for all to bear the sins of many,

be seen a second time for salvation apart from sin, by those who wait for him.

For as the law has merely a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, it is impossible to make those who draw near perfect with the same sacrifices which they are perpetually offering 2 year by year. For in that case would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers would have been no longer conscious of sin after 3 being purified once for all? Whereas in those sacrifices there is year by 4 year a memory of sins. For it is impossible that the blood of oxen and 5 goats should take away sins; therefore in coming into the world he says, For sacrifice and offering thou didst not care,

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But a body thou didst fashion for me;

In holocausts and offerings for sin thou hadst no delight.

Then I said, "Lo, I have come

(In the roll of the book it is written of me)

To do thy will, O God."

8 After saying at the outset, For sacrifices and offerings and holocausts and offerings for sin thou didst not care, and hadst no delight in them (in 9 things which are offered according to the law), he then said, Lo, I have come to do thy will. He repeals the first, that he may set up the second. 10 And by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 Also, while every priest stands ministering day by day

And offering the same sacrifices many times,

Sacrifices that never can take sins away,

12 He offered one sacrifice for sins,

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And sat down at the right hand of God for all time,

Waiting henceforth till his enemies are made a footstool for his feet;
For by one offering he has made those who are sanctified, perfect for

all time.

15 And the holy Spirit also bears witness to us. For after saying, This is the covenant which I will make with them

16