Hebrews, chapter
1
1: In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by
the prophets;
2: but in these last days He has spoken to us by a Son, whom He
appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the
world.
3: He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His
nature, upholding the universe by His word of power. When He had made
purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on
high,
4: having become as much superior to angels as the name He has
obtained is more excellent than theirs.
5: For to what angel did God ever say, "Thou art My Son,
today I have begotten Thee"? Or again, "I will be to Him a
father, and He shall be to me a son"?
6: And again, when He brings the first-born into the
world, He
says, "Let all God's angels worship Him."
7: Of the angels He says, "Who makes His angels winds, and
His servants flames of fire."
8: But of the Son He says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever, the righteous scepter is the scepter of Thy kingdom.
9: Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore
God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond Thy
comrades."
10: And, "Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the
beginning, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands;
11: they will perish, but thou remain; they will all grow old
like a garment,
12: like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be
changed. But thou art the same, and Thy years will never end."
13: But to what angel has He ever said, "Sit at My right
hand, till I make Thy enemies a stool for Thy feet"?
14: Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for
the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?
Hebrews, chapter
2
1: Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have
heard, lest we drift away from it.
2: For if the message declared by angels was valid and every
transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
3: how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It
was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those
who heard Him,
4: while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various
miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His
own will.
5: For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come,
of which we are speaking.
6: It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou
art mindful of Him, or the Son of man, that thou cares for Him?
7: Thou didst make Him for a little while lower than the angels,
thou hast crowned Him with glory and honor,
8: putting everything in subjection under His feet." Now in
putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside His
control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him.
9: But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than
the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of
death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for every one.
10: For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things
exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their
salvation perfect through suffering.
11: For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all
one origin. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12: saying, "I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the
midst of the congregation I will praise Thee."
13: And again, "I will put My trust in Him." And again,
"Here am I, and the children God has given me."
14: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He
himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might
destroy Him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
15: and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject
to lifelong bondage.
16: For surely it is not with angels that He is concerned but
with the descendants of Abraham.
17: Therefore He had to be made like His brethren in every
respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people.
18: For because He himself has suffered and been tempted, He is
able to help those who are tempted.
Hebrews, chapter
3
1: Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly call,
consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
2: He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, just as Moses also
was faithful in God's house.
3: Yet Jesus has been counted worthy of as much more glory than
Moses as the builder of a house has more honor than the house.
4: (For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all
things is God.)
5: Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to
testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
6: but Christ was faithful over God's house as a son. And we are
His house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope.
7: Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, when you hear
His voice,
8: do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of
testing in the wilderness,
9: where your fathers put me to the test and saw My works for
forty years.
10: Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said,
`They always go astray in their hearts; they have not known My ways.'
11: As I swore in My wrath, `They shall never enter My
rest.'"
12: Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil,
unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
13: But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called
"today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin.
14: For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence
firm to the end,
15: while it is said, "Today, when you hear His voice, do
not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
16: Who were they that heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not
all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?
17: And with whom was He provoked forty years? Was it not with
those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18: And to whom did He swear that they should never enter His
rest, but to those who were disobedient?
19: So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Hebrews, chapter
4
1: Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest remains, let
us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it.
2: For good news came to us just as to them; but the message
which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with
faith in the hearers.
3: For we who have believed enter that rest, as He has said,
"As I swore in My wrath, `They shall never enter My rest,'"
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4: For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way,
"And God rested on the seventh day from all His works."
5: And again in this place He said, "They shall never enter
My rest."
6: Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who
formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,
7: again He sets a certain day, "Today," saying through
David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, when
you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."
8: For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later
of another day.
9: So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God;
10: for whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labors as
God did from His.
11: Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall
by the same sort of disobedience.
12: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints
and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13: And before Him no creature is hidden, but all are open and
laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
14: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15: For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we
are, yet without sin.
16: Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews, chapter
5
1: For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to
act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices
for sins.
2: He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since He
himself is beset with weakness.
3: Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own
sins as well as for those of the people.
4: And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called
by God, just as Aaron was.
5: So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest,
but was appointed by Him who said to Him, "Thou art My Son, today I
have begotten Thee";
6: as He says also in another place, "Thou art a priest for
ever, after the order of Melchiz'edek."
7: In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and
supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save
Him from death, and He was heard for His godly fear.
8: Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He
suffered;
9: and being made perfect He became the source of eternal
salvation to all who obey Him,
10: being designated by God a high priest after the order of
Melchiz'edek.
11: About this we have much to say which is hard to explain,
since you have become dull of hearing.
12: For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need
some one to teach you again the first principles of God's word. You need
milk, not solid food;
13: for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, for he is a child.
14: But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their
faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews, chapter
6
1: Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and
go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead
works and of faith toward God,
2: with instruction about ablutions, the laying on of hands, the
resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
3: And this we will do if God permits.
4: For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who
have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have
become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5: and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers
of the age to come,
6: if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of
God on their own account and hold Him up to contempt.
7: For land which has drunk the rain that often falls upon it,
and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is
cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
8: But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near
to being cursed; its end is to be burned.
9: Though we speak thus, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure
of better things that belong to salvation.
10: For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the
love which you showed for His sake in serving the saints, as you still
do.
11: And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in
realizing the full assurance of hope until the end,
12: so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who
through faith and patience inherit the promises.
13: For when God made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one
greater by whom to swear, He swore by himself,
14: saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you."
15: And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the
promise.
16: Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all
their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
17: So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of
the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He interposed
with an oath,
18: so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is
impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge
might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.
19: We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a
hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain,
20: where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having
become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchiz'edek.
Hebrews, chapter
7
1: For this Melchiz'edek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High
God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed
Him;
2: and to Him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He
is first, by translation of His name, king of righteousness, and then He
is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
3: He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God He
continues a priest for ever.
4: See how great He is! Abraham the patriarch gave Him a tithe of
the spoils.
5: And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office
have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is,
from their brethren, though these also are descended from Abraham.
6: But this man who has not their genealogy received tithes from
Abraham and blessed Him who had the promises.
7: It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the
superior.
8: Here tithes are received by mortal men; there, by one of whom
it is testified that He lives.
9: One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes,
paid tithes through Abraham,
10: for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when
Melchiz'edek met Him.
11: Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need
would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of
Melchiz'edek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
12: For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is
necessarily a change in the law as well.
13: For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to
another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
14: For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and
in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15: This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in
the likeness of Melchiz'edek,
16: who has become a priest, not according to a legal requirement
concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life.
17: For it is witnessed of Him, "Thou art a priest for ever,
after the order of Melchiz'edek."
18: On the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of
its weakness and uselessness
19: (for the law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, a
better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
20: And it was not without an oath.
21: Those who formerly became priests took their office without
an oath, but this one was addressed with an oath, "The Lord has
sworn and will not change His mind, `Thou art a priest for ever.'"
22: This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant.
23: The former priests were many in number, because they were
prevented by death from continuing in office;
24: but He holds His priesthood permanently, because He continues
for ever.
25: Consequently He is able for all time to save those who draw
near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for
them.
26: For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest,
holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the
heavens.
27: He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices
daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; He did
this once for all when He offered up himself.
28: Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high
priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law,
appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.
Hebrews, chapter
8
1: Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a
high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in heaven,
2: a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up
not by man but by the Lord.
3: For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and
sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something
to offer.
4: Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all,
since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
5: They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary; for
when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God,
saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern
which was shown you on the mountain."
6: But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much
more excellent than the old as the covenant He mediates is better, since
it is enacted on better promises.
7: For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would
have been no occasion for a second.
8: For He finds fault with them when He says: "The days will
come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah;
9: not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the
day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
for they did not continue in My covenant, and so I paid no heed to them,
says the Lord.
10: This is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their
minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people.
11: And they shall not teach every one his fellow or every one
his brother, saying, `Know the Lord,' for all shall know me, from the
least of them to the greatest.
12: For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will
remember their sins no more."
13: In speaking of a new covenant He treats the first as
obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to
vanish away.
Hebrews, chapter
9
1: Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an
earthly sanctuary.
2: For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the
lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the
Holy Place.
3: Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of
Holies,
4: having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant
covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the
manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5: above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy
seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
6: These preparations having thus been made, the priests go
continually into the outer tent, performing their ritual duties;
7: but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once
a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for
the errors of the people.
8: By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the
sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the outer tent is still standing
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9:
(which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement,
gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot perfect the conscience of
the worshiper,
10:
but deal only with food and drink and various ablutions, regulations for
the body imposed until the time of reformation.
11: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things
that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made
with hands, that is, not of this creation)
12: He entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the
blood of goats and calves but His own blood, thus securing an eternal
redemption.
13: For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of
goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the
purification of the flesh,
14: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
15: Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those
who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a
death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the
first covenant.
16: For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made
it must be established.
17: For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in
force as long as the one who made it is alive.
18: Hence even the first covenant was not ratified without blood.
19: For when every commandment of the law had been declared by
Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with
water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself
and all the people,
20: saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God
commanded you."
21: And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent
and all the vessels used in worship.
22: Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with
blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of
sins.
23: Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things
to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with
better sacrifices than these.
24: For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands,
a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God on our behalf.
25: Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest
enters the Holy Place yearly with blood not his own;
26: for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the
foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at
the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27: And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after
that comes judgment,
28: so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who
are eagerly waiting for Him.
Hebrews, chapter
10
1: For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come
instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same
sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect
those who draw near.
2: Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? If the
worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any
consciousness of sin.
3: But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after
year.
4: For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should
take away sins.
5: Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said,
"Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast
thou prepared for Me;
6: in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no
pleasure.
7: Then I said, `Lo, I have come to do Thy will, O God,' as it is
written of me in the roll of the book."
8: When He said above, "Thou hast neither desired nor taken
pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin
offerings" (these are offered according to the law),
9: then He added, "Lo, I have come to do Thy will." He
abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
10: And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11: And every priest stands daily at his service, offering
repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12: But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice
for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God,
13: then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool for His
feet.
14: For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those
who are sanctified.
15: And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after
saying,
16: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws on their hearts, and write
them on their minds,"
17: then He adds, "I will remember their sins and their
misdeeds no more."
18: Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any
offering for sin.
19: Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the
sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
20: by the new and living way which He opened for us through the
curtain, that is, through His flesh,
21: and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22: let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water.
23:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who
promised is faithful;
24: and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and
good works,
25: not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing
near.
26: For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of
the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27: but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which
will consume the adversaries.
28: A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at
the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29: How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by
the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the
covenant by which He was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?
30: For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will
repay." 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 recall the former days when, after you were enlightened,
you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,
33: sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and affliction, and
sometimes being partners with those so treated.
34: For you had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully
accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you
yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
35: Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a
great reward.
36: For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will
of God and receive what is promised.
37: "For yet a little while, and the coming one shall come
and shall not tarry;
38: but My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks
back, My soul has no pleasure in Him."
39: But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,
but of those who have faith and keep their souls.
Hebrews, chapter
11
1: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
2: For by it the men of old received divine approval.
3: By faith we understand that the world was created by the word
of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.
4: By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than
Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing
witness by accepting His gifts; he died, but through His faith he is
still speaking.
5: By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death;
and he was not found, because God had taken Him. Now before he was taken
he was attested as having pleased God.
6: And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever
would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards
those who seek Him.
7: By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet
unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of His
household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the
righteousness which comes by faith.
8: By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a
place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not
knowing where he was to go.
9: By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign
land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with Him of the same
promise.
10: For he looked forward to the city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.
11: By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when
she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had
promised.
12: Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born
descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains
of sand by the seashore.
13: These all died in faith, not having received what was
promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having
acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14: For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking
a homeland.
15: If they had been thinking of that land from which they had
gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16: But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for
He has prepared for them a city.
17: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and
he who had received the promises was ready to offer up His only son,
18: of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your
descendants be named."
19: He considered that God was able to raise men even from the
dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
20: By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.
21: By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of
Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of His staff.
22: By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the
exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his burial.
23: By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by
his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they
were not afraid of the king's edict.
24: By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
25: choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God
than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
26: He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth
than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward.
27: By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the
king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
28: By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so
that the Destroyer of the first-born might not touch them.
29: By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land;
but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
30: By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been
encircled for seven days.
31: By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were
disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.
32: And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets --
33: who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice,
received promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34: quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won
strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to
flight.
35: Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were
tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a
better life.
36: Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and
imprisonment.
37: They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed
with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute,
afflicted, ill-treated --
38: of whom the world was not worthy -- wandering over deserts
and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
39: And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not
receive what was promised,
40: since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart
from us they should not be made perfect.
Hebrews, chapter
12
1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so
closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before
us,
2: looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3: Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against
himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
4: In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding your blood.
5: And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as
sons? -- "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor lose courage when you are punished by Him.
6: For the Lord disciplines him whom He loves, and chastises
every son whom He receives."
7: It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating
you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8: If you are left without discipline, in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9: Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and
we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of
spirits and live?
10: For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure,
but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.
11: For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than
pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those
who have been trained by it.
12: Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak
knees,
13: and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame
may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
14: Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without
which no one will see the Lord.
15: See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that
no "root of bitterness" spring up and cause trouble, and by it
the many become defiled;
16: that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau, who sold his
birthright for a single meal.
17: For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the
blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he
sought it with tears.
18: For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire,
and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest,
19: and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the
hearers entreat that no further messages be spoken to them.
20: For they could not endure the order that was given, "If
even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned."
21: Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I
tremble with fear."
22: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal
gathering,
23: and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in
heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect,
24: and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the
sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.
25: See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they
did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less
shall we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven.
26: His voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised,
"Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the
heaven."
27: This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal
of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot
be shaken may remain.
28: Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with
reverence and awe;
29: for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews, chapter
13
1: Let brotherly love continue.
2: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby
some have entertained angels unawares.
3: Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with
them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body.
4: Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage
bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous.
5: Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with
what you have; for He has said, "I will never fail you nor forsake
you."
6: Hence we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I
will not be afraid; what can man do to me?"
7: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God;
consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith.
8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.
9: Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is
well that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have
not benefited their adherents.
10: We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no
right to eat.
11: For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into
the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned
outside the camp.
12: So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify
the people through His own blood.
13: Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp and bear
the abuse He endured.
14: For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which
is to come.
15: Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of
praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.
16: Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for
such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
17: Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping
watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do
this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you.
18: Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience,
desiring to act honorably in all things.
19: I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may
be restored to you the sooner.
20: Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal
covenant,
21: equip you with everything good that you may do His will,
working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus
Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
22: I appeal to you, brethren, bear with my word of exhortation,
for I have written to you briefly.
23: You should understand that our brother Timothy has been
released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.
24: Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come
from Italy send you greetings.
25: Grace be with all of you. Amen.
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