Hebrews 5-7

Hebrews 5

¹Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.

²He is able to have feeling for those who have no knowledge and for those who are wandering from the true way, because he himself is feeble;

³And being feeble, he has to make sin-offerings for himself as well as for the people.

⁴And no man who is not given authority by God, as Aaron was, takes this honour for himself.

⁵In the same way Christ did not take for himself the glory of being made a high priest, but was given it by him who said, You are my Son, this day I have given you being:

⁶As he says in another place, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

⁷Who in the days of his flesh, having sent up prayers and requests with strong crying and weeping to him who was able to give him salvation from death, had his prayer answered because of his fear of God.

⁸And though he was a Son, through the pain which he underwent, the knowledge came to him of what it was to be under God's orders;

⁹And when he had been made complete, he became the giver of eternal salvation to all those who are under his orders;

¹⁰Being named by God a high priest of the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹Of whom we have much to say which it is hard to make clear, because you are slow of hearing.

¹²And though by this time it would be right for you to be teachers, you still have need of someone to give you teaching about the first simple rules of God's revelation; you have become like babies who have need of milk, and not of solid food.

¹³For everyone who takes milk is without experience of the word of righteousness: he is a child.

¹⁴But solid food is for men of full growth, even for those whose senses are trained by use to see what is good and what is evil.

Hebrews 6

¹For this reason let us go on from the first things about Christ to full growth; not building again that on which it is based, that is, the turning of the heart from dead works, and faith in God,

²The teaching of baptisms, and of the putting on of hands, and of the future life of the dead, and of the judging on the last day.

³Now we will do this, if God lets us.

⁴As for those who at one time saw the light, tasting the good things from heaven, and having their part in the Holy Spirit,

⁵With knowledge of the good word of God, and of the powers of the coming time,

⁶And then let themselves be turned away, it is not possible for their hearts to be made new a second time; because they themselves put the Son of God on the cross again, openly shaming him.

⁷For a land, drinking in the frequent rain and producing good plants for those for whom it is worked, has a blessing from God:

⁸But if it sends up thorns and evil plants, it is of no use and is ready to be cursed; its only end is to be burned.

⁹But, my loved ones, though we say this, we are certain that you have better things in you, things which go with salvation;

¹⁰For God is true, and will not put away from him the memory of your work and of your love for his name, in the help which you gave and still give to the saints.

¹¹And it is our desire that you may all keep the same high purpose in certain hope to the end:

¹²So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.

¹³For when God made his oath to Abraham, because there was no greater oath, he made it by himself,

¹⁴Saying, Be certain that I will give you my blessing, and make your numbers very great.

¹⁵And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect.

¹⁶For men at all times make their oaths by what is greater; and any argument is ended by the decision of the oath.

¹⁷So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath;

¹⁸So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false;

¹⁹And this hope is like a strong band for our souls, fixed and certain, and going in to that which is inside the veil;

²⁰Where Jesus has gone before us, as a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7

¹For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death,

²And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace;

³Being without father or mother, or family, having no birth or end to his life, being made like the Son of God, is a priest for ever.

⁴Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight.

⁵And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham.

⁶But this man, who was not of their family, took the tenth from Abraham, and gave a blessing to him to whom God had given his undertaking.

⁷But there is no doubt that the less gets his blessing from the greater.

⁸Now at the present time, men over whom death has power take the tenth; but then it was taken by one of whom it is witnessed that he is living.

⁹And we may say that in Abraham, even Levi, who has a right to take the tenth part, gave it;

¹⁰Because he was still in his father's body when Melchizedek came to him.

¹¹Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?

¹²Because if the priests are changed, it is necessary to make a change in the law.

¹³For he of whom these things are said comes of another tribe, of which no man has ever made offerings at the altar.

¹⁴Because it is clear that our Lord comes out of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe.

¹⁵And this is even more clear if a second priest has come up who is like Melchizedek,

¹⁶That is to say, not made by a law based on the flesh, but by the power of a life without end:

¹⁷For it has been witnessed of him, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

¹⁸So the law which went before is put on one side, because it was feeble and without profit.

¹⁹(Because the law made nothing complete), and in its place there is a better hope, through which we come near to God.

²⁰And as this is not without the taking of an oath

²¹(For those were made priests without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord gave his oath, which he will not take back, that you are a priest for ever);

²²By so much is it a better agreement which we have through Jesus.

²³And it is true that there have been a great number of those priests, because death does not let them go on for ever;

²⁴But this priest, because his life goes on for ever, is unchanging.

²⁵So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.

²⁶It was right for us to have such a high priest, one who is holy and without evil, doing no wrong, having no part with sinners, and made higher than the heavens:

²⁷Who has no need to make offerings for sins every day, like those high priests, first for himself, and then for the people; because he did this once and for ever when he made an offering of himself.

²⁸The law makes high priests of men who are feeble; but the word of the oath, which was made after the law, gives that position to a Son, in whom all good is for ever complete.