MKJV - Hebrews

Chapter 1

1:1  God, who at many times and in many ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

1:2  has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds,

1:3  who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the word of His power, having made purification of our sins, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high,

1:4  being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

1:5  For to which of the angels did He say at any time, "You are My Son, this day I have begotten Thee?" And again, "I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?"

1:6  And again, when He brings in the First-born into the world, He says, "And let all the angels of God worship Him."

1:7  And of the angels He says, "Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire."

1:8  But to the Son He says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

1:9  You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows."

1:10  And, "You, Lord, have laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.

1:11  They shall perish, but You will remain. And they shall all become old as a garment,

1:12  and as a covering You shall fold them up, and they shall be changed. But You are the same, and Your years shall not fail."

1:13  But to which of the angels, did He say at any time, "Sit on My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool?"

1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation?

Chapter 2

2:1  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

2:2  For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and if every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward,

2:3  how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by those who heard Him;

2:4  God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with different kinds of miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

2:5  For He has not put in subjection to the angels the world to come, of which we speak.

2:6  But one testified in a certain place, saying, "What is man, that You are mindful of him; or the son of man, that You visit him?

2:7  You have made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands.

2:8  You have subjected all things under his feet." For in order that He put all things under him, He did not leave anything not subjected. But now we do not see all things having been put under him.

2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every son.

2:10  For it became Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons into glory, to perfect the Captain of their salvation through sufferings.

2:11  For both He who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers,

2:12  saying, "I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You."

2:13  And again, "I will put My trust in Him." And again, "Behold Me and the children whom God has given Me."

2:14  Since then the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same; that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death (that is, the Devil),

2:15  and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

2:16  For truly He did not take the nature of angels, but He took hold of the seed of Abraham.

2:17  Therefore in all things it behoved him to be made like His brothers, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of His people.

2:18  For in that He Himself has suffered, having been tempted, He is able to rescue those who have been tempted.

Chapter 3

3:1  Therefore, holy brothers, called to be partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,

3:2  who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house.

3:3  For He was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who has built the house has more honor than the house.

3:4  For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

3:5  And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken afterward.

3:6  But Christ was faithful as a Son over his own house; whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

3:7  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear His voice,

3:8  do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,

3:9  when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.

3:10  Therefore I was grieved with that generation and said, They always err in their heart, and they have not known My ways.

3:11  So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest."

3:12  Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,

3:15  while it is said, "Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation."

3:16  For some, when they had heard, did provoke; however, not all who came out of Egypt by Moses.

3:17  But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?

3:18  And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest, but to those who did not believe?

3:19  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Chapter 4

4:1  Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it.

4:2  For also the gospel was preached to us, as well as to them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

4:3  For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, "I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4:4  For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested the seventh day from all His works."

4:5  And in this place again, "They shall not enter into My rest."

4:6  Since then it remains that some must enter into it, and since they to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief,

4:7  He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, "Today," (after so long a time). Even as it is said, "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

4:8  For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.

4:9  So then there remains a rest to the people of God.

4:10  For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.

4:11  Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief.

4:12  For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

4:14  Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

4:15  For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted just as we are, yet without sin.

4:16  Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Chapter 5

5:1  For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things pertaining to God, so that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins,

5:2  who can have compassion on the ignorant and on those who are out of the way. For he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

5:3  And because of this he should, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

5:4  And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called of God, as Aaron was.

5:5  So also Christ did not glorify Himself to be made a high priest, but He who said to Him, "You are My Son, today I have begotten You."

5:6  As He says also in another place, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

5:7  For Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared,

5:8  though being a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

5:9  And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him,

5:10  being called by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek;

5:11  of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be explained since you are dull of hearing.

5:12  For indeed because of the time, you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again what are the first principles of the oracles of God. And you have become in need of milk, and not of solid food.

5:13  For everyone who uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

5:14  But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, even those who because of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Chapter 6

6:1  Therefore, having left the discourse of the beginning of Christ, let us go on to full growth, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

6:2  of the baptisms, of doctrine, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

6:3  And this we will do, if God permits.

6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

6:5  and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come,

6:6  and who have fallen away; it is impossible, I say, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify the Son of God afresh to themselves and put Him to an open shame.

6:7  (For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth plants fit for those by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God.

6:8  But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected and is near cursing, whose end is to be burned.)

6:9  But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this way.

6:10  For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

6:11  And we desire that each one of you show the same eagerness to the full assurance of hope to the end,

6:12  that you be not slothful, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself,

6:14  saying, "Surely in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you."

6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

6:16  For men truly swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

6:17  In this way desiring to declare more fully to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, God interposed by an oath,

6:18  so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,

6:19  which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil,

6:20  where the Forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Chapter 7

7:1  For this Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.

7:2  To him Abraham also gave a tenth of all. He was first by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace,

7:3  without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest continually.

7:4  Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

7:5  And truly they who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priest, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the Law, that is, from their brothers, though they come out of the loins of Abraham.

7:6  But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.

7:7  And without all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.

7:8  And here men who die receive tithes; but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.

7:9  And if I may say so, Levi, also, who receives tithes, paid tithes in Abraham.

7:10  For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

7:11  Therefore if perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the Law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is of necessity a change made in the law also.

7:13  For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man gave attendance at the altar.

7:14  For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.

7:15  And it is still far more evident, since there arises a different priest after the likeness of Melchizedek,

7:16  who is made, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.

7:17  For He testifies, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

7:18  For truly there is a putting away of the commandment which went before, because of the weakness and unprofitableness of it.

7:19  For the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw near to God.

7:20  And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath

7:21  (for those priests were made without an oath, but this one was made with an oath by Him who said to Him, "The Lord swore and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,")

7:22  by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant.

7:23  And they truly were many priests, because they were not allowed to continue because of death;

7:24  but He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

7:25  Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.

7:26  For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens,

7:27  who does not need, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice daily, first for his own sins and then for the people's sins. For He did this once for all, when He offered up Himself.

7:28  For the Law appoints men high priests who have infirmity, but the word of the swearing of an oath, after the Law, has consecrated the Son forever, having been perfected.

Chapter 8

8:1  Now the sum of the things which we have spoken is this: We have such a High Priest, who has sat down on the right of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven,

8:2  a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

8:3  For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One have something to offer also.

8:4  For if indeed He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the Law,

8:5  who serve the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was warned of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. For, He says "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you in the mountain."

8:6  But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which was built upon better promises.

8:7  For if that first covenant had been without fault, then no place would have been sought for the second.

8:8  For finding fault with them, He said to them, "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make an end on the house of Israel and on the house of Judah; a new covenant shall be,

8:9  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt," because they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not regard them, says the Lord.

8:10  "For 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 mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

8:11  And they shall not each man teach his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest.

8:12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more."

8:13  In that He says, A new covenant, He has made the first one old. Now that which decays and becomes old is ready to vanish away.

Chapter 9

9:1  Then truly the first tabernacle had also ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary.

9:2  For the first tabernacle was prepared, in which was both the lampstand, and the table, and the setting out of the loaves, which is called holy.

9:3  And after the second veil was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,

9:4  having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid all around with gold, in which was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

9:5  And over it were the cherubs of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat (about which we cannot now speak piece by piece.

9:6  Now when these things were ordained in this way, the priests always went into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

9:7  But once in the year into the second the high priest goes alone, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people)

9:8  the Holy Spirit signifying by this that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.

9:9  For it was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him who did the service perfect as regards the conscience,

9:10  which stood only in meats and drinks, and different kinds of washings and fleshly ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

9:11  But when Christ had become a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building

9:12  nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh,

9:14  how much more shall the blood of Christ (who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished spot to God) purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

9:15  And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new covenant, so that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

9:16  For where a covenant is, the death of him covenanting must be offered.

9:17  For a covenant is affirmed over those dead, since it never has force when the covenanting one is living.

9:18  From which we see that neither was the first covenant dedicated without blood.

9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,

9:20  saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined to you."

9:21  And likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission.

9:23  Therefore it was necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves were purified with better sacrifices than these.

9:24  For Christ has not entered into the Holy of Holies made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

9:25  Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, even as the high priest enters into the Holy of Holies every year with the blood of others

9:26  (for then He must have suffered often since the foundation of the world), but now once in the end of the world He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

9:27  And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment,

9:28  so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation.

Chapter 10

10:1  For the Law which has a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, appearing year by year with the same sacrifices, which they offer continually, they are never able to perfect those drawing near.

10:2  For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, when they had been once for all purged, would have had no more conscience of sin.

10:3  But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year.

10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

10:5  Therefore when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me.

10:6  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have had no pleasure.

10:7  Then I said, Lo, I come ( in the volume of the Book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God."

10:8  Above, when He said, "Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings and offering for sin You did not desire, neither did You have pleasure in them" (which are offered by the Law),

10:9  then He said, "Lo, I come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first so that He may establish the second.

10:10  By this will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

10:11  And indeed every priest stands daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

10:12  But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God,

10:13  from then on expecting until His enemies are made His footstool.

10:14  For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

10:15  The Holy Spirit also is a witness to us; for after He had said before,

10:16  "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,"

10:17  also He ads, "their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more."

10:18  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

10:19  Therefore, my brothers, having boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus,

10:20  by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh;

10:21  and having a High Priest over the house of God,

10:22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies having been washed with pure water.

10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful who promised),

10:24  and let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works,

10:25  not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

10:26  For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,

10:27  but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

10:28  He who despised Moses' law died without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses.

10:29  Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will be thought worthy to receive punishment, the one who has trampled the Son of God, and who has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

10:30  For we know Him who has said, "Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, says the Lord." And again, "The Lord shall judge His people."

10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

10:32  But call to memory the former days, in which (after you were illuminated) you endured a great fight of afflictions,

10:33  indeed being exposed both by reproaches and afflictions, and while you became companions of those who were so used.

10:34  For you both sympathized with my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance.

10:35  Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward.

10:36  For you have need of patience, so that after you have done the will of God you might receive the promise.

10:37  For "yet a little while, and He who shall come will come and will not delay."

10:38  Now, "the Just shall live by faith. But if he draws back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him."

10:39  But we are not of withdrawal to destruction, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Chapter 11

11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good report.

11:3  Through faith we understand that the ages were framed by a word of God, so that the things seen should not have come into being out of the things that appear.

11:4  By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it he, being dead, yet speaks.

11:5  By faith Enoch was translated so as not to see death, and he was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

11:7  By faith Noah, having been warned by God of things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

11:8  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out into a place which he was afterward going to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he went.

11:9  By faith he lived in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of the same promise with him.

11:10  For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

11:11  Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him who had promised to be faithful.

11:12  Because of this came into being from one, and that from one as good as dead, seed even as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. And they were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

11:14  For they who say such things declare plainly that they seek a fatherland.

11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

11:16  But now they stretch forth to a better fatherland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

11:17  By faith Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son,

11:18  of whom it was said that in Isaac your Seed shall be called,

11:19  concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from where he even received him, in a figure.

11:20  By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

11:21  By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

11:22  By faith, Joseph dying remembered concerning the Exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.

11:23  By faith Moses, having been born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child. And they were not afraid of the king's commandments.

11:24  Having become great, Moses by faith refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

11:25  choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time,

11:26  esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

11:27  By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

11:28  Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest He who destroyed the first-born should touch them.

11:29  By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians attempting to do were drowned.

11:30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed seven days.

11:31  By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

11:32  And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah; also David, and Samuel and the prophets,

11:33  who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

11:34  quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the strangers.

11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings; yes, more, of bonds and imprisonments.

11:37  They were stoned, they were sawed in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.

11:38  The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth.

11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, did not receive the promise,

11:40  for God had provided some better thing for us, that they should not be made perfect without us.

Chapter 12

12:1  Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

12:2  looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God.

12:3  For consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be weary and faint in your minds.

12:4  You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

12:5  And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to children, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him;

12:6  for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives."

12:7  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father does not chasten?

12:8  But if you are without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.

12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

12:10  For truly they chastened us for a few days according to their own pleasure, but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.

12:11  Now chastening for the present does not seem to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it.

12:12  Because of this, straighten up the hands which hang down and the enfeebled knees.

12:13  And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.

12:14  Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord;

12:15  looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness springing up disturb you, and by it many are defiled,

12:16  (lest there be any fornicator, or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

12:17  For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he did not find any place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears).

12:18  For you have not come to the mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, nor to blackness and darkness and tempest,

12:19  and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words (which voice they who heard begged that the word should not be spoken to them any more,

12:20  for they could not endure the thing commanded, "And if so much as a beast should touch the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart,"

12:21  and so fearful was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake).

12:22  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

12:23  to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in Heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

12:24  and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

12:25  See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape, those who refused him that spoke on earth, much more we shall not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven,

12:26  whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I will not only shake the earth, but also the heavens."

12:27  And this word, "Yet once more," signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

12:28  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear,

12:29  for also, "Our God is a consuming fire."

Chapter 13

13:1  Let brotherly love continue.

13:2  Do not be forgetful to entertain strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

13:3  Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them, those who suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

13:4  Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

13:5  Let your way of life be without the love of money, and be content with such things as you have, for He has said, "Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you, never!"

13:6  so that we may boldly say, " The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me."

13:7  Remember your leaders, who have spoken to you the Word of God. Follow their faith, considering the end of their conduct:

13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever.

13:9  Do not be carried about with different and strange doctrines, for it is good for the heart to be established with grace, not with foods, in which those who have walked in them were not helped.

13:10  We have an altar of which they have no right to eat, those who serve the tabernacle.

13:11  For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the Holy of Holies by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.

13:12  Therefore Jesus also, so that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

13:13  Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

13:14  For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

13:15  By Him, then, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

13:16  But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

13:17  Yield to your leaders, and be submissive, for they watch for your souls, as those who must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you.

13:18  Pray for us; for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

13:19  But I beseech you the rather to do this, so that I may be more quickly restored to you.

13:20  Now may the God of peace (who brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant)

13:21  make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

13:22  And I beseech you, brothers, allow the word of exhortation. For I have written a letter to you in few words.

13:23  Know that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.

13:24  Greet all those who have the rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.

13:25  Grace be with you all. Amen.