7 For this Melchisedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who did meet Abraham turning back from the smiting of the kings, and did bless him,

² to whom also a tenth of all did Abraham divide, (first, indeed, being interpreted, `King of righteousness,' and then also, King of Salem, which is, King of Peace,)

³ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, and being made like to the Son of God, doth remain a priest continually.

⁴ And see how great this one [is], to whom also a tenth Abraham the patriarch did give out of the best of the spoils,

⁵ and those, indeed, out of the sons of Levi receiving the priesthood, a command have to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, their brethren, even though they came forth out of the loins of Abraham;

⁶ and he who was not reckoned by genealogy of them, received tithes from Abraham, and him having the promises he hath blessed,

⁷ and apart from all controversy, the less by the better is blessed --

⁸ and here, indeed, men who die do receive tithes, and there [he], who is testified to that he was living,

⁹ and so to speak, through Abraham even Levi who is receiving tithes, hath paid tithes,

¹⁰ for he was yet in the loins of the father when Melchisedek met him.

¹¹ If indeed, then, perfection were through the Levitical priesthood -- for the people under it had received law -- what further need, according to the order of Melchisedek, for another priest to arise, and not to be called according to the order of Aaron?

¹² for the priesthood being changed, of necessity also, of the law a change doth come,

¹³ for he of whom these things are said in another tribe hath had part, of whom no one gave attendance at the altar,

¹⁴ for [it is] evident that out of Judah hath arisen our Lord, in regard to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

¹⁵ And it is yet more abundantly most evident, if according to the similitude of Melchisedek there doth arise another priest,

¹⁶ who came not according to the law of a fleshly command, but according to the power of an endless life,

¹⁷ for He doth testify -- `Thou [art] a priest -- to the age, according to the order of Melchisedek;'

¹⁸ for a disannulling indeed doth come of the command going before because of its weakness, and unprofitableness,

¹⁹ (for nothing did the law perfect) and the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw nigh to God.

²⁰ And inasmuch as [it is] not apart from oath, (for those indeed apart from oath are become priests,

²¹ and he with an oath through Him who is saying unto him, `The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou [art] a priest -- to the age, according to the order of Melchisedek;')

²² by so much of a better covenant hath Jesus become surety,

²³ and those indeed are many who have become priests, because by death they are hindered from remaining;

²⁴ and he, because of his remaining -- to the age, hath the priesthood not transient,

²⁵ whence also he is able to save to the very end, those coming through him unto God -- ever living to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For such a chief priest did become us -- kind, harmless, undefiled, separate from the sinners, and become higher than the heavens,

²⁷ who hath no necessity daily, as the chief priests, first for his own sins to offer up sacrifice, then for those of the people; for this he did once, having offered up himself;

²⁸ for the law doth appoint men chief priests, having infirmity, but the word of the oath that [is] after the law [appointeth] the Son -- to the age having been perfected.

8 And the sum concerning the things spoken of [is]: we have such a chief priest, who did sit down at the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens,

² of the holy places a servant, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord did set up, and not man,

³ for every chief priest to offer both gifts and sacrifices is appointed, whence [it is] necessary for this one to have also something that he may offer;

⁴ for if, indeed, he were upon earth, he would not be a priest -- (there being the priests who are offering according to the law, the gifts,

⁵ who unto an example and shadow do serve of the heavenly things, as Moses hath been divinely warned, being about to construct the tabernacle, for `See (saith He) thou mayest make all things according to the pattern that was shewn to thee in the mount;') --

⁶ and now he hath obtained a more excellent service, how much also of a better covenant is he mediator, which on better promises hath been sanctioned,

⁷ for if that first were faultless, a place would not have been sought for a second.

⁸ For finding fault, He saith to them, `Lo, days come, saith the Lord, and I will complete with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, a new covenant,

⁹ not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day of My taking [them] by their hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt -- because they did not remain in My covenant, and I did not regard them, saith the Lord, --

¹⁰ because this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord, giving My laws into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write them, and I will be to them for a God, and they shall be to Me for a people;

¹¹ and they shall not teach each his neighbour, and each his brother, saying, Know thou the Lord, because they shall all know Me from the small one of them unto the great one of them,

¹² because I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawlessnesses I will remember no more;' --

¹³ in the saying `new,' He hath made the first old, and what doth become obsolete and is old [is] nigh disappearing.

9 It had, indeed, then (even the first tabernacle) ordinances of service, also a worldly sanctuary,

² for a tabernacle was prepared, the first, in which was both the lamp-stand, and the table, and the bread of the presence -- which is called `Holy;'

³ and after the second vail a tabernacle that is called `Holy of holies,'

⁴ having a golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid all round about with gold, in which [is] the golden pot having the manna, and the rod of Aaron that budded, and the tables of the covenant,

⁵ and over it cherubim of the glory, overshadowing the mercy-seat, concerning which we are not now to speak particularly.

⁶ And these things having been thus prepared, into the first tabernacle, indeed, at all times the priests do go in, performing the services,

⁷ and into the second, once in the year, only the chief priest, not apart from blood, which he doth offer for himself and the errors of the people,

⁸ the Holy Spirit this evidencing that not yet hath been manifested the way of the holy [places], the first tabernacle having yet a standing;

⁹ which [is] a simile in regard to the present time, in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which are not able, in regard to conscience, to make perfect him who is serving,

¹⁰ only in victuals, and drinks, and different baptisms, and fleshly ordinances -- till the time of reformation imposed upon [them].

¹¹ And Christ being come, chief priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands -- that is, not of this creation --

¹² neither through blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, did enter in once into the holy places, age-during redemption having obtained;

¹³ for if the blood of bulls, and goats, and ashes of an heifer, sprinkling those defiled, doth sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,

¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of the Christ (who through the age-during Spirit did offer himself unblemished to God) purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵ And because of this, of a new covenant he is mediator, that, death having come, for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, those called may receive the promise of the age-during inheritance,

¹⁶ for where a covenant [is], the death of the covenant-victim to come in is necessary,

¹⁷ for a covenant over dead victims [is] stedfast, since it is no force at all when the covenant-victim liveth,

¹⁸ whence not even the first apart from blood hath been initiated,

¹⁹ for every command having been spoken, according to law, by Moses, to all the people, having taken the blood of the calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, he both the book itself and all the people did sprinkle,

²⁰ saying, `This [is] the blood of the covenant that God enjoined unto you,'

²¹ and both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the service with blood in like manner he did sprinkle,

²² and with blood almost all things are purified according to the law, and apart from blood-shedding forgiveness doth not come.

²³ [It is] necessary, therefore, the pattern indeed of the things in the heavens to be purified with these, and the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these;

²⁴ for not into holy places made with hands did the Christ enter -- figures of the true -- but into the heaven itself, now to be manifested in the presence of God for us;

²⁵ nor that he may many times offer himself, even as the chief priest doth enter into the holy places every year with blood of others;

²⁶ since it had behoved him many times to suffer from the foundation of the world, but now once, at the full end of the ages, for putting away of sin through his sacrifice, he hath been manifested;

²⁷ and as it is laid up to men once to die, and after this -- judgment,

²⁸ so also the Christ, once having been offered to bear the sins of many, a second time, apart from a sin-offering, shall appear, to those waiting for him -- to salvation!

10 For the law having a shadow of the coming good things -- not the very image of the matters, every year, by the same sacrifices that they offer continually, is never able to make perfect those coming near,

² since, would they not have ceased to be offered, because of those serving having no more conscience of sins, having once been purified?

³ but in those [sacrifices] is a remembrance of sins every year,

⁴ for it is impossible for blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵ Wherefore, coming into the world, he saith, `Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not will, and a body Thou didst prepare for me,

⁶ in burnt-offerings, and concerning sin-offerings, Thou didst not delight,

⁷ then I said, Lo, I come, (in a volume of the book it hath been written concerning me,) to do, O God, Thy will;'

⁸ saying above -- `Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and concerning sin-offering Thou didst not will, nor delight in,' -- which according to the law are offered --

⁹ then he said, `Lo, I come to do, O God, Thy will;' he doth take away the first that the second he may establish;

¹⁰ in the which will we are having been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once,

¹¹ and every priest, indeed, hath stood daily serving, and the same sacrifices many times offering, that are never able to take away sins.

¹² And He, for sin one sacrifice having offered -- to the end, did sit down on the right hand of God, --

¹³ as to the rest, expecting till He may place his enemies [as] his footstool,

¹⁴ for by one offering he hath perfected to the end those sanctified;

¹⁵ and testify to us also doth the Holy Spirit, for after that He hath said before,

¹⁶ `This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, giving My laws on their hearts, and upon their minds I will write them,'

¹⁷ and `their sins and their lawlessness I will remember no more;'

¹⁸ and where forgiveness of these [is], there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁹ Having, therefore, brethren, boldness for the entrance into the holy places, in the blood of Jesus,

²⁰ which way he did initiate for us -- new and living, through the vail, that is, his flesh --

²¹ and a high priest over the house of God,

²² may we draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having the hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having the body bathed with pure water;

²³ may we hold fast the unwavering profession of the hope, (for faithful [is] He who did promise),

²⁴ and may we consider one another to provoke to love and to good works,

²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as a custom of certain [is], but exhorting, and so much the more as ye see the day coming nigh.

²⁶ For we -- willfully sinning after the receiving the full knowledge of the truth -- no more for sins doth there remain a sacrifice,

²⁷ but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery zeal, about to devour the opposers;

²⁸ any one who did set at nought a law of Moses, apart from mercies, by two or three witnesses, doth die,

²⁹ of how much sorer punishment shall he be counted worthy who the Son of God did trample on, and the blood of the covenant did count a common thing, in which he was sanctified, and to the Spirit of the grace did despite?

³⁰ for we have known Him who is saying, `Vengeance [is] Mine, I will recompense, saith the Lord;' and again, `The Lord shall judge His people;' --

³¹ fearful [is] the falling into the hands of a living God.

³² And call to your remembrance the former days, in which, having been enlightened, ye did endure much conflict of sufferings,

³³ partly both with reproaches and tribulations being made spectacles, and partly having become partners of those so living,

³⁴ for also with my bonds ye sympathised, and the robbery of your goods with joy ye did receive, knowing that ye have in yourselves a better substance in the heavens, and an enduring one.

³⁵ Ye may not cast away, then, your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward,

³⁶ for of patience ye have need, that the will of God having done, ye may receive the promise,

³⁷ for yet a very very little, He who is coming will come, and will not tarry;

³⁸ and `the righteous by faith shall live,' and `if he may draw back, My soul hath no pleasure in him,'

³⁹ and we are not of those drawing back to destruction, but of those believing to a preserving of soul.