BWE - Hebrews

Chapter 1

1:1  Long ago, God talked to our fathers through the prophets. He talked many times and in many ways.

1:2  In these last days, he talked to us through his Son. God chose him to be the one to whom he would give all things. God also made the world by this Son.

1:3  He shines as bright as God. He is just like God himself. He holds up the world by the power of his word. He made people clean from their wrong ways. Then he sat down beside God in heaven.

1:4  He is much greater than the angels because God has given him a much better name than theirs.

1:5  Did God ever say to any of the angels, ‘You are my Son, and I am your Father today’? Did God ever say to an angel, ‘I will be your Father and you will be my Son’?

1:6  When God brings his first-born Son into the world, he says, ‘All of God’s angels must worship him.’

1:7  Here is what he says about the angels: ‘God makes his angels to be like the winds. He makes his helpers to be like flames of fire.’

1:8  But here is what God says about his Son: ‘O God, you will sit and rule for ever. You will rule in the right way.

1:9  You have loved what is good and you have hated what is wrong. That is why God has poured out happiness on you, more than on those who are with you.’

1:10  He also said, ‘Lord, you made the world in the beginning. The sky was made by your hands.

1:11  These things will come to an end, but you will live on. They will all wear out like clothes.

1:12  You will fold up the world and the sky as if they were a blanket. They will not stay as they are now. But you will always be as you are now. The years of your life will never end.’

1:13  But did God ever say to any of the angels, ‘Sit down beside me until I put your enemies under you’?

1:14  Are not all the angels spirits that help? They are sent out to help the people who will be saved.

Chapter 2

2:1  That is why we must listen very carefully to the things we have heard. We must never forget them.

2:2  What the angels said proved to be true. Every one who broke the law, and who did not obey it, was punished as he should be punished.

2:3  If that is so, then we will not get away without being punished. We will be punished if we forget or throw away this wonderful way to be saved. It was the Lord who first told people how to be saved. Then those who heard him told us the true way.

2:4  God also proved that it was the true way. He gave signs. He did things that surprised people. He did many things by his power. He gave the gifts of the Holy Spirit to people just as he wanted to.

2:5  God did not put the next world under angels for them to rule over. That is the world we are talking about.

2:6  In one place the holy writings say, ‘What is man and why do you think about him? What is the Son of a Man and why do you care about him?

2:7  You made him lower than angels for a little while. But then you made him very great and high.

2:8  You put everything under him for him to rule over.’ When God gave him the right to rule over everything, nothing was left out which he did not have the right to rule. But we do not yet see him ruling over everything.

2:9  But we do see Jesus! For a short time he was lower than the angels. Because he died, we see him made great and high. He did this so that he could die for every person. God is so good!

2:10  Everything was made for God and by God. It seemed good to him that Jesus’ life should be made complete, by going through the hard things that happened to him. This was because Jesus leads many people to heaven as God’s children. And he is the one who saves them.

2:11  Jesus, who makes people holy, and those who are made holy, all have one Father in heaven. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers.

2:12  He said, ‘I will tell my brothers about you. I will sing praise about you among those who gather together for worship.’

2:13  He also said, ‘I will trust God.’ And again, ‘Here am I and the children God has given to me.’

2:14  God’s children all have a body. That is why Jesus himself had the same. But because Jesus also had a body, he was able to die and stop the devil. The devil has power to make people die. But Jesus, by his own death, was able to stop the power of death.

2:15  People were afraid to die. All their lives they were like slaves. When Jesus died, he was able to set them free from their fear.

2:16  Jesus did not come to help angels. He came to help people who were born in Abraham’s family.

2:17  So he had to be made like his brothers in every way. Then he could be a high priest to make a way to God for them, a priest who was kind and true. He could make it possible for God to forgive people for the wrong things they had done.

2:18  He had a very hard time when he was tested. But because he was tested, he is able to help people who are tested.

Chapter 3

3:1  My brothers, you are holy. You are also called to go to heaven. Take time to think carefully about Jesus. God sent him. He is the high priest we believe in.

3:2  He did what God sent him to do, just as Moses did in God’s house.

3:3  But Jesus is much greater than Moses–as the one who builds a house is greater than the house itself.

3:4  Every house is built by someone, but God is the one who builds all things.

3:5  Moses did what he was told to do as a servant in all of God’s house. He showed things that God would say later.

3:6  But Jesus Christ was true as a Son over God’s house. We are God’s house if we keep on believing and telling others what we hope to have.

3:7  So as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, when you hear me speak, do not make your hearts hard.

3:8  That is what happened when the people tested me in the desert and I became angry.

3:9  There your fathers tested me and tried me. And they saw what I did for forty years.

3:10  So I was very angry with the people of that time. I said, “Their minds are always dark. They have not known my ways.”

3:11  I said when I was angry, “They will never go into my resting place.”’

3:12  My brothers, take care that not one of you has a heart that does not believe. Such a heart will take you away from the living God.

3:13  But talk to each other every day while ‘Today’ lasts, so that wrong ways will not fool any one of you and your hearts become hard.

3:14  We have our part with Christ if we go on to the end and believe in him as we did at first.

3:15  God is still saying now, ‘Today, when you hear me speak, do not make your hearts hard. That is what happened when the people turned against me.’

3:16  Who were the people who heard him and yet made him very angry? It was all the people whom Moses led out of the country of Egypt.

3:17  With whom was God angry for forty years? He was angry with the people who had done wrong. And they died in the desert.

3:18  Who were the people God said would never go into his resting place? They were the people who would not listen to him.

3:19  So then, we see that they could not go in because they did not believe him.

Chapter 4

4:1  We still have God’s promise that people will go into his resting place. So let us take care that not one of you will be kept out.

4:2  The good news has been told to us just as it was told to the people in the desert. But the message which they heard did not do them any good. Even though they heard it, they did not believe it.

4:3  But we who believe, will go into that resting place of God. It is as God said, ‘When I was angry, I said, “They will never go into my resting place.”’ He said this even though his work had been finished ever since he had made the world.

4:4  Here is what he said, somewhere in the holy writings, about the seventh day: ‘And God rested on the seventh day after doing all his work.’

4:5  And now here he says again, ‘They will never go into my resting place.’

4:6  So that means some people will go in. But the people who first heard the good news about it did not go in. They did not believe it.

4:7  So he chose another day called ‘Today.’ He spoke through David many years later, who said, ‘Today, when you hear his voice, do not make your hearts hard.’

4:8  If Joshua had led those people to rest, God would not have talked later about another day.

4:9  So there is still a rest for God’s people, like a Sabbath day.

4:10  The person who goes into God’s resting place will rest after doing his work, just as God rested after doing his work.

4:11  So let us do our best to go into that resting place. Those people died in the wilderness because they did not believe. So let us take care that the same thing does not happen to one of us.

4:12  God’s word is living and full of power. It is more sharp than any sword that cuts on both sides. What God says cuts through and divides the mind and spirit. It cuts through and divides the place where the bones are joined, and the part inside the bone. What God says is able to judge the things people think and plan in their hearts.

4:13  God is the one we must meet. Nothing can be hidden from him. Everything is open and he can see it.

4:14  We have a great high priest who has gone into heaven. He is Jesus, the Son of God. Because we have such a great high priest, let us hold on to the things we believe.

4:15  We have a high priest who can feel with us when we are weak. He has been tested in every way, just as we are. But he did not do anything wrong.

4:16  So let us trust him when we come to worship God. He is so good. He will be kind to us and help us when we need it.

Chapter 5

5:1  Every high priest is chosen from among men. His work is to stand before God for people. He brings gifts and makes sacrifices to God for the wrong things people have done.

5:2  Such a high priest can be kind to people who do not know what is right and who do wrong. He knows how to share in the suffering of others because he himself is weak.

5:3  Because he is weak himself, he must make sacrifices to God for the wrong things he has done, just as he does for the people.

5:4  No one chooses himself to be high priest. But God calls him, just as he called Aaron.

5:5  So Christ did not choose himself to be a high priest. But he was chosen by the One who said to him, ‘You are my Son, and I am your Father today.’

5:6  In another place in the holy writings God said, ‘You are a priest for ever like Melchizedek.’

5:7  When Jesus was a man, he talked to God who was able to save him from death. He called loudly to him with tears. God heard him because he honoured and respected God.

5:8  Even though Jesus was his Son, he learned to obey God in the troubles he had.

5:9  When he became perfect, he saved for ever all who obeyed him.

5:10  God called him a high priest like Melchizedek was a priest.

5:11  We have many things to say about him. But they are hard to explain to you. You are so slow to understand what we tell you.

5:12  By this time you should be able to teach others. But you need someone to teach you God’s word again from the very beginning. Like children, you need milk, not meat.

5:13  Anyone who takes milk does not understand the message about which things are right.

5:14  But meat is for people who are grown up. It is for people who have trained their minds to know the difference between what is good and what is bad.

Chapter 6

6:1  So, let us leave behind the first teachings about Christ. And let us go on to things that are grown up. We must not go back to the beginning again and talk about turning away from doing things that bring death to us. We must not go back again and talk about believing in God. Let us go forward.

6:2  We must not go back to teaching about baptizing people in water, about putting hands on people’s heads, about people being raised from death, and about people being judged for ever.

6:3  If God will let us, we will go on to build on these things.

6:4  Some people had light in their hearts once. They knew the gift from heaven.

6:5  They had the Holy Spirit. They knew the word of God is good and felt the powers of the next world.

6:6  If people who were like that leave their faith in Christ, they cannot come to God again. They themselves nail God’s Son up on the cross again. They are holding him up to shame before everyone.

6:7  The ground drinks the water that often rains on it. It makes plants grow for the people who take care of it. And God blesses that ground.

6:8  But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is no good. It will soon be cursed. In the end, it will be burned with fire.

6:9  This is the way we talk. But dear people, we are sure that better things are true about you. Yes, you show all the good ways of people who have been saved from their wrong ways.

6:10  God does what is right. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for him. You have helped God’s people and you are still helping them.

6:11  We want every one of you to try in the same way. Then you will get what you hope for right up to the end.

6:12  Do not give up. But be like the people who get what God has promised. They believe God and keep on believing for a long time.

6:13  God made a promise to Abraham. God did not have anyone greater than himself to hear his promise.

6:14  So he promised to himself when he said, ‘I will surely bless you and you will have many children.’

6:15  Abraham kept on believing God. And so he got what God had promised him.

6:16  When men make a promise, they ask someone to hear it who is greater than they are. When someone great has heard a promise, it stops any quarrel about it.

6:17  God made a promise to people. He wanted to show them that he would surely do as he said. So he promised to himself to keep the promise.

6:18  These two things cannot be changed and God cannot lie about them. So we can trust him. We have run to him to get what he has promised us.

6:19  This promise gives our hearts something to hold on to. It keeps our hearts strong and steady. It will take us into the Holy Place right inside God’s house.

6:20  Jesus has gone there ahead of us. He has been made high priest for ever like Melchizedek.

Chapter 7

7:1  Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem. He was a priest of God who is the greatest of all. Melchizedek met Abraham when Abraham came back from killing some bad kings. And Melchizedek blessed him.

7:2  Abraham divided all that he took away from the kings into ten parts. He gave Melchizedek one part. First, the name Melchizedek means the king who is true and right with God. Then he was king of Salem. That means king of peace.

7:3  He has no father or mother. The names of the family from which he comes are not written down. It is not written down that he was born or that he died. But, like the Son of God, he stays on being a priest for ever.

7:4  Just think how great he was! Even Abraham, the father of our people, gave him a tenth, one part out of ten, of all he brought back.

7:5  The sons of Levi, who are priests, have the right by law to take a tenth of what the people have. These people are their own brothers. They also are Abraham’s children.

7:6  But Melchizedek was not from Levi’s family. Yet he took a tenth of what Abraham had. And he blessed Abraham, to whom God made the promise.

7:7  Everyone knows this is true. The person who is blessed is not so great as the person who blesses him.

7:8  Here, priests take their tenth, but they are people who will die one day. But Melchizedek, who took his tenth, never dies. The holy writings say it is so.

7:9  And we say that Levi, the priest who takes the tenth from the people, gave his tenth through Abraham.

7:10  He was not yet born when Melchizedek met Abraham.

7:11  It was while the sons of Levi were priests that the law was made for the people. If those priests were good enough, why would another priest need to come who was like Melchizedek? Why would he not be like Aaron?

7:12  If the kind of priest is changed, then the law must be changed also.

7:13  The one we are talking about belonged to another tribe. No man from his tribe ever made sacrifices in God’s house.

7:14  Everyone knows that our Lord Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. And Moses never said anything about priests coming from that tribe.

7:15  You can understand it even better when another priest comes who is like Melchizedek.

7:16  He was not made a priest by law. The law said that the priest must come from a certain tribe. But he was made a priest because he has power to live for ever.

7:17  This is what the holy writings say about him, ‘You are a priest for ever, like Melchizedek.’

7:18  The old law given to Moses by God was put away. It was weak and no good.

7:19  The law did not make anything right. But something better has been brought to us. It is God’s promise. And by that promise we come near to God.

7:20  Also Christ was not made a priest without God’s strong promise. The others were made priests without God’s strong promise.

7:21  But this man was made priest by God’s strong promise. God said to him, ‘The Lord has made a strong promise, and he will not change it. “You are a priest for ever.”’

7:22  Also because of this, Jesus makes a better agreement with God for people.

7:23  The other priests were many, because they died and could not go on with their work.

7:24  But because Jesus lives forever, he is a priest for ever and no one takes his place.

7:25  Because of that, he is able to save people for ever, if they come to God by him. He lives for ever to talk to God for them.

7:26  We needed such a high priest as he is. He is holy. He is good. He has never done any wrong. He has been taken away from among bad people, and taken up higher than the sky.

7:27  He does not need to make sacrifices every day. The other high priests make sacrifices every day, first for the wrong things they have done, and then for the people. He did it once when he offered himself as the sacrifice.

7:28  The law makes men high priests, and they are weak. But the word of God’s promise came after the law. It makes his Son high priest for ever, and he is all right.

Chapter 8

8:1  The real point of what we are saying is this. We now have a high priest who sits beside God’s throne or chief chair in heaven.

8:2  He is priest in the true holy place where God lives. The Lord made that place, man did not.

8:3  Every high priest is chosen to offer gifts and sacrifices. So this high priest must have something to offer also.

8:4  If he were still on earth, he would not be a priest. There are priests on earth already who offer gifts the way the law says.

8:5  The work they do shows what the work of the priest in heaven is. When Moses made a house for God, here is what God told him to do. He said, ‘Be sure you make everything like I showed you on the mountain.’

8:6  But Christ has been given a much better work, because he is the man who is between God and men in making an agreement. This is a much better agreement. It was made by better promises.

8:7  If the first agreement had been all right, there would have been no need to make another.

8:8  When the people had done wrong, God’s words to them were, ‘The days will come, the Lord says, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

8:9  It will not be like the agreement that I made with their fathers. I made that agreement the day I led them by the hand out of the country of Egypt. But they did not keep their part of my agreement, so I left them alone, the Lord says.

8:10  After those days, the Lord says, I will make an agreement with the people of Israel. This is my agreement. I will put my laws in their minds. I will write them in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.

8:11  A man will not need to teach another man, or his brother. He will not say, “Know the Lord,” because everyone from the youngest to the oldest will know me.

8:12  I will be kind even when they do what is not right, and I will never remember the wrong things they do.’

8:13  God says this is a new agreement, and that makes the first one old. When a thing is old and no good, it is about ready to be thrown away.

Chapter 9

9:1  The first agreement had laws about worship. And it had a holy place on earth where the agreement was kept.

9:2  A house was made. In the first part of the house were the light, the table, and the bread of God. This first part was called the Holy Place.

9:3  The next part of the house was called the Most Holy Place.

9:4  In the Most Holy Place was a pan made of gold. In this pan a fire could burn to make a sweet-smelling smoke. The box of the agreement was also in the Most Holy Place. It was covered all over with gold. In this box were: the golden pot, which had some of the food God sent from heaven for the people in the desert; Aaron’s stick which grew flowers on it; and the stones which had God’s agreement written on them.

9:5  On top of the box were the shapes of two angels. They showed that God is great. Their wings spread over the cover of the box. It was the place where God showed that he is kind. But we cannot take time to tell about every part of these things now.

9:6  These things were made ready. The priests always went into the first part of the house to do their work for God.

9:7  But only the high priest went into the second part. And he went in only once a year. He never went in without taking blood with him. He gave the blood to God for the wrong things he had done and for the wrong things people had done.

9:8  This is how the Holy Spirit showed that the way into the Most Holy Place was not yet open to everybody. It was not open as long as the first house was still standing.

9:9  This first part is a picture of the time we are in now. In it gifts and sacrifices are made to God. But they cannot make a person’s heart clean to worship God.

9:10  These are only things to eat and drink and different kinds of washings. They are laws made for the body until the time when everything is made right again.

9:11  But Christ has come as the high priest of the good things which have come. He went through a greater and better house which was not made by men’s hands. It is not a part of this world.

9:12  He did not take the blood of goats and young cows. He took his own blood. And he went into the Most Holy Place just once. He paid for our sins and made us free for ever.

9:13  The priest takes the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes from a young cow that has been burned. He puts this on the people who have done wrong things. This makes their bodies clean.

9:14  If the blood of animals can do that, then the blood of Christ will clean our hearts much better. Christ gave himself to God as the sacrifice. He did this by the Spirit who lives for ever. He was a perfect sacrifice. He will clean our hearts from useless acts of worship. Then we can serve the living God.

9:15  That is why he is the middle man of a new agreement. He died and paid for the wrong things that were done under the first agreement. Because he is a middle man, those people who are called by God can have what he promised. This will belong to them for ever.

9:16  A person can say who will get his things when he dies. He writes this agreement down. Before anyone can have them, it must be proved that the person has died.

9:17  The agreement has no power until the one who made it has died. It has no power as long as the one who made it is living.

9:18  So even the old agreement made by God was not begun without blood.

9:19  Moses told all the people every part of the law. Then he took the blood of young cows and goats. He put some of the blood on the book of the law itself and on all the people. He took water and red wool and a plant called hyssop.

9:20  As he did this, he said, ‘This is the blood for the agreement which God has made for you.’

9:21  In the same way, he put some of the blood on the house he had made for God, and on all the things that were used in worship.

9:22  Yes, by the old law almost everything is made clean with blood. If no animal is killed to give blood, then there is no way for people to be forgiven for the wrong things they have done.

9:23  These things on earth show in a little way what things in heaven are like. The things on earth had to be cleaned by the blood of animals. But the things in heaven had to be cleaned with better sacrifices than these.

9:24  Christ did not go into a holy place made by men’s hands. The holy places on earth only show in a little way what the true holy place in heaven is like. He went into heaven itself. Now he stands before God for our sake.

9:25  Christ did not have to offer himself as a sacrifice many times. He is not like the high priest who went into the Holy Place every year and took blood that was not his own blood.

9:26  If Christ were like him, he would have had to die many times ever since the world was first made. But as it is now, Christ came once in the last days of the world. He came to clean away what is wrong by giving himself as a sacrifice.

9:27  People must die, and after that they will be judged.

9:28  So Christ gave himself as a sacrifice only once. He took on himself the wrong things many people have done. He will come a second time. But he will not come to do anything about the wrong things people have done. He will come to save those who are looking and waiting for him.

Chapter 10

10:1  The law can show only a little about the good things that are coming. It cannot show the good things themselves. People come to worship God. But the law can never make them all right by the same sacrifices that are brought every year.

10:2  If the law could make people all right, they would stop making sacrifices. The people who come to worship would be made clean for all time, and they would not remember the wrong things they had done.

10:3  But, by making these sacrifices, they show that they do remember the wrong things they have done.

10:4  The blood of bulls and goats can never clean wrong things from people’s hearts.

10:5  That is why Christ said when he came into the world, ‘You did not want sacrifices and gifts. But you made a body for me.

10:6  Animals that are burned for sacrifices, and animals killed to clean away the wrong things that people do, did not satisfy you.

10:7  Then I said, “See, I have come to do what you, God, want me to do.” This is what is written about me in the book of the law.’

10:8  First he said, ‘You did not want sacrifices and gifts, and animals that are given to be burned as sacrifices, and animals killed to clean away people’s wrong ways. You did not like them.’ These sacrifices are made to obey the law.

10:9  Then he said, ‘See, I have come to do what you want me to do.’ He took away the first kind of sacrifices so that the second kind would remain.

10:10  God wanted us to be made holy. We have been made holy by Jesus Christ. He made us holy by once making his body a sacrifice.

10:11  Every priest stands day after day doing his work. He makes the same sacrifices many times. But these sacrifices can never clean away the wrong things people have done.

10:12  But Christ made one sacrifice to clean away their wrong ways for ever. Then he sat down beside God.

10:13  Since then, he is waiting till his enemies are put under him.

10:14  By one sacrifice Christ has made right for ever all those people who are being made holy.

10:15  The Holy Spirit tells us about this also.

10:16  First he said, ‘This is the agreement that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts. I will write them in their minds.’

10:17  Then he also said, ‘I will never remember the wrong things they have done and the times they did not obey.’

10:18  When these wrong things have been forgiven, a sacrifice is not needed for them again.

10:19  So, my brothers, we can go into the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.

10:20  He made a new and living way for us. He opened up God’s way specially for us. It lets us through the big curtain or cloth which hides God from us. This happened when Jesus gave his body as a sacrifice.

10:21  Also, we have a high priest who has charge of God’s people.

10:22  So let us come to him with a true heart. Let us come because we believe all these things. Let us come with our hearts washed clean from our wrong ways. Let us come with our bodies washed with clean water.

10:23  We must hold on to God’s promise that we have said we believed. And we must never let go. He has promised and he will do it.

10:24  Let us think of one another and help one another to love and to do good things.

10:25  Do not stop going to church meetings. Some people do stop. But help each other to be strong. You must do it all the more as you see the Great Day coming closer.

10:26  Do we go on doing what is wrong after we know the truth? If we do, then there is no sacrifice any more for the wrong things we do.

10:27  But we will be judged, and that makes us fear. God’s anger will be like a very hot fire that will burn up those who are against him.

10:28  Any man who broke the law of Moses was killed, if two or three people proved that he had broken the law. He will not be forgiven.

10:29  But the person who should have much bigger punishment is the one who turns against the Son of God. That person was made holy by the blood of the new agreement and then calls it nothing. He no longer honours and respects the Spirit who has been so kind to him.

10:30  We know God who has said, ‘I am the one who will punish people. I will repay them.’ Also, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’

10:31  People should fear very much to be punished by the living God.

10:32  Remember the first days when you had the light of God’s truth. In those days you were strong, even though you had to fight against many troubles.

10:33  Sometimes it was because people said and did wrong things to you and everybody saw it. And sometimes it was because you stood with others who had wrong things done to them.

10:34  You shared in the troubles of those who were in prison. When your things were taken from you, you were happy. You knew that you had better things in heaven, things that would always belong to you.

10:35  So do not stop believing God now. Your faith will bring you much reward.

10:36  You must not give up believing. Then you will do what God wants you to do. Then you will get what he promised you.

10:37  The holy writings say ‘In a little while, the one who is to come will come. He will not wait any longer.

10:38  If a person does what is right because he believes in God, he will live. If he turns back, I will not be pleased with him.’

10:39  We are not the people who turn back and so are lost. But we are people who believe, and so we are saved.

Chapter 11

11:1  If people believe God, then they know they have the things they hope to get. It is the proof of things we do not see.

11:2  There were people long ago believed God. He said they were good because they believed him.

11:3  We believe in God, so that is how we know that God made the world by his word. The things we see were made out of things that cannot be seen.

11:4  Because Abel believed God, he made a sacrifice that pleased God more than the one Cain made. Because Abel believed God, God showed that he was good. God was pleased with his gifts. Abel died. But because he believed God, he still speaks to us through his faith.

11:5  Because Enoch believed God, he was taken up into heaven without dying. The people could not find him because God had taken him. Before he was taken up, the holy writings say that he pleased God.

11:6  If a person does not believe God, he cannot please him. Anyone who comes to God must believe that God is real. And he must believe that God will bless those who try to find him. God will reward a person, if he really tries to find God.

11:7  God told Noah about things that would happen. These things had never happened before. Noah believed God; he respected God. He built a big house on a boat, and so his family was saved. By believing God he showed that the other people were wrong. He was put right with God because he believed.

11:8  God called Abraham to go away to a place which he would have as his own. Because Abraham believed God, he obeyed him. He went even though he did not know where he was to go.

11:9  Because he believed God, he lived like a stranger in the land God promised him. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob. They had the same promise he had.

11:10  Abraham was looking for a city which will last for ever. It was the city God planned and made.

11:11  Sarah also believed God, and she was able to have a baby even though she was too old to have children. But she trusted God to do what he had promised.

11:12  Abraham was too old to be a father, but a great nation was born from that one man. They are as many as the stars in the sky and as the sands on the seaside. No man can count them.

11:13  These people all died still believing God. They did not get the things God had promised them. But they saw them far away and were glad to see them. They said they did not belong to this world, but were only travelling in it.

11:14  People who say such things mean they are looking for a country which will be their own.

11:15  If they had wanted the country they left behind, they could have gone back to it.

11:16  But now they want a better country. They want a place in heaven. That is why God wants to be called their God. He has made a city ready for them.

11:17  Abraham believed God when he was tested. The test was to give Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham gave up his only son, even though God had made a promise to him about Isaac.

11:18  God had said to Abraham, ‘Isaac’s children will be called your family.’

11:19  Abraham said in his heart that God could bring Isaac back to life. And so it was just as if he did get his son back.

11:20  Isaac believed God. He gave Jacob and Esau blessings that were to come.

11:21  Jacob believed God. When he was dying, he blessed Joseph’s two sons. He leaned on his walking stick as he worshipped God.

11:22  Joseph believed God. When he died, he remembered God’s promise and talked about the time the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He told them what to do with his bones when they left Egypt.

11:23  The father and mother of Moses believed God. When he was born, they hid him for three months because they saw that he was a very nice baby. They were not afraid of the king’s orders.

11:24  Moses believed God. When he was grown up, he did not want to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

11:25  He chose to have troubles along with God’s people. He thought that was better than the fun which he could have living a wrong life. The fun would last only for a short time.

11:26  He thought it was better to take shame, as Christ did, than to be a rich man in Egypt. He was looking for God’s blessings.

11:27  He believed God and left Egypt. He was not afraid of the king’s anger. He was strong because he saw the one who cannot be seen.

11:28  He believed God and obeyed his law about the Passover Feast, and put blood on the door posts. He did this so that the angel who killed the oldest sons of the Egyptians, would pass over. Then he would not kill the oldest sons in the families of the Jews.

11:29  The people believed God and went through the Red Sea on dry land. When the people of Egypt tried to do that, they were drowned.

11:30  The people believed God and walked around the walls of the city of Jericho for seven days. The walls fell down.

11:31  Rahab was a woman who used her body wrongly for sex to get money. But she believed in God, so she did not die with the people who did not believe in God. This was when the men came to spy out her country. She took them into her house in peace.

11:32  What more should I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

11:33  Men believed God and were able to win over other nations. They made people do what was right. They got what God promised them. They were not eaten by lions.

11:34  The big, hot fire did not burn them. They got away from men who wanted to kill them with long knives or swords. They were weak, but they became strong. They became very strong to fight. They drove away the armies of their enemies.

11:35  Women had children who died and were raised to life again. Some people allowed themselves to be beaten to death. They would not go free because they wanted to rise again to a better life.

11:36  Others were laughed at and beaten very hard. They were even tied with chains and put into prison.

11:37  They were killed with stones. They were tested. They were cut in pieces. They were killed with swords. They walked about wearing skins of sheep and goats. They were very poor. They were treated very badly. They were punished.

11:38  They were really too good to be in this world. They walked about in the desert and in the mountains, and in the holes in the hills and in the holes among the rocks on the earth.

11:39  All of these people had good things said about them because they believed God. But they did not get what God had promised.

11:40  God planned something better. They will be made perfect but only with us.

Chapter 12

12:1  We have all these people all around us, proving to us that we should believe God. So then, like people running a race, we must take off everything that is heavy. We must put off all wrong, wrong things that get in our way. We must not stop running until we reach the mark that has been put in front of us.

12:2  We must keep our eyes on Jesus. He believed from first to last. What was put in front of him made him glad, so he did not give up when the people nailed him on a cross. He did not care about the shame. And now he is sitting beside God.

12:3  Think about him. He did not give up when bad people said wrong things about him. When you think about him, you will not become tired and your hearts will not give up.

12:4  You have been fighting against bad people. But you have not been hurt very much.

12:5  You have forgotten the words spoken to you as sons. ‘My son, when the Lord punishes you, do not think it is a little thing. Do not give up when he tells you that you do wrong.

12:6  The Lord punishes the person he loves. And he beats every son he takes into his family.’

12:7  Do not give up when you are punished. God is treating you like sons. Is there a son who has never been punished by his father?

12:8  You are punished like the other children in the family. If you are not, you do not belong to the family as the other children do.

12:9  And what is more, our fathers on earth punished us and we respected them. We should obey even more the Father of our spirits. If we do, we will live.

12:10  Our fathers on earth punished us for a short time the way they wanted to. But God punishes us the way it is good for us. He is holy and good, so he wants us to become holy also.

12:11  At the time a person is punished, he is not glad. He is sad. But after it is over, there is peace. Then those who are trained by it do what is right.

12:12  So lift up your hands that are hanging down. Make your weak knees strong.

12:13  Walk straight ahead. Then weak feet will not get worse, but will be made well.

12:14  Try to be at peace with all people. And try to be holy. If a person is not holy, he will not see the Lord.

12:15  Take care that no one loses God’s blessing. Take care so that no angry feeling starts to grow in anyone. It will make trouble and many people will become bad.

12:16  Take care that no one takes part in wrong ways of using sex. And take care that no one is like Esau and forgets God. He was the older son. But he sold all that he would get from his father. He sold it for a little food.

12:17  You know that later he wanted to get the blessing, but he did not get it. He could not turn back. He even cried as he begged for the blessing.

12:18  You have not come to the mountain that can be touched and is burning with a big fire. You have not come to the place of darkness and night and storm.

12:19  You have not come to a place where a loud trumpet or horn is blown, and a loud voice is talking. When the people heard the voice, they begged that God would not say anything more to them.

12:20  They were afraid of what he said. He said, ‘If even an animal touches this mountain, it must be killed with stones.’

12:21  Moses was afraid when he saw all this. He said, ‘I fear very much and I tremble.’

12:22  But you have come to a hill called Zion. You have come to the city of the living God. It is the Jerusalem in heaven. You have come to many thousands of angels in a happy gathering.

12:23  You have come to the church people. They are God’s first sons, and their names are written in heaven. You have come to God who is the judge of all people. You have come to the spirits of good people who have been made right.

12:24  You have come to Jesus who is the middle man of a new agreement. You have come to the place where the spilling of his blood has more power than Abel’s.

12:25  Take care that you listen to God who is talking now. The people were punished when they would not listen to the One who talked on earth. And we will be punished much worse if we will not listen to the One who talks from heaven.

12:26  That time his voice shook the earth. But now he has said, ‘Only once more I will shake the earth and the sky also.’

12:27  The words, ‘Only once more’ mean that the things that are shaken will be taken away. They are things that were made. The things which are not shaken will stay.

12:28  We have a place in heaven that cannot be shaken. So let us be glad and worship God and please him. Let us respect and fear him.

12:29  Our God is a fire that can burn up.

Chapter 13

13:1  Keep on loving your Christian brothers.

13:2  Take strangers to your home and care for them. Some people who have done this found out the strangers were angels.

13:3  Remember those who are in prison as if you were in prison with them. And remember those who are having troubles, as if you were having the same troubles.

13:4  Everyone must respect marriage. And the bed must be kept clean. God will punish those who use their bodies for wrong sex.

13:5  Do not let the love of money control your life. Be satisfied with what you have. God himself has said, ‘I will never be away from you. I will never leave you alone.’

13:6  So we can be strong and say, ‘The Lord will help me. I will not be afraid. What can men do to me?’

13:7  Remember your leaders. They have told you the word of God. Think about the way they lived and died, and keep on believing as they did.

13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.

13:9  Do not listen to all kinds of different teaching and strange things. It is better to have a heart that is strong because of God’s blessing than a heart that is thinking about different kinds of food. Different kinds of food do not help people who put their trust in them.

13:10  We have a sacrifice. But priests who serve God on earth have no right to eat from this sacrifice.

13:11  The high priest takes into the Most Holy Place the blood of animals that are sacrificed. He gives it to God to pay for the wrong things people have done. The bodies of these animals are burned outside the town.

13:12  So also Jesus was put to death outside the town. Then he could make the people holy by his own blood.

13:13  So let us go to him outside the town and take the shame as he did.

13:14  Here we do not have a city that will last for ever, but we are looking for the city that will come.

13:15  Let us always give a sacrifice of praise to God through Jesus. We do it by thanking him for all that he has done and also by talking about him. That is the sacrifice we make with our lips to his name.

13:16  But do not forget to do good things for people, and to give what you have to those who need it. These are sacrifices that please God.

13:17  Obey your leaders and do what they tell you. They are watching over your souls. They must give a report. Obey them so they will be glad, and not sad, to give a report. If you make them sad, it is no help to you.

13:18  Talk to God about us. We know that what we do is right. We want to do what is right in every way.

13:19  Here is why I want very much that you talk to God about me. If you do, I will be free to come to you sooner.

13:20  God gives peace. He brought back our Lord Jesus from death. Our Lord Jesus cares for God’s people and he gave his blood for the agreement that stands for ever.

13:21  May God give you everything good so that you will do what he wants you to do. He will do in us, through Jesus Christ, what pleases him. Praise him for ever. May it be so!

13:22  Please, brothers, be patient with the words I have given to help you. I have written a short letter.

13:23  I want you to know that our brother Timothy is free. If he comes here soon, I will come with him to see you.

13:24  Greet all your leaders and all of God’s people. Those who belong to the country of Italy send you greetings.

13:25  May God’s loving kindness be with you all. Amen! May it be so!