[6:9] But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. [6:10] For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. [6:11] We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, [6:12] that you won't be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherited the promises. [6:13] For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he swore by himself, [6:14] saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you."[*] [6:15] Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. [6:16] For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. [6:17] In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; [6:18] that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. [6:19] This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil; [6:20] where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
[7:1] For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, [7:2] to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace; [7:3] without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually. [7:4] Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the best spoils. [7:5] They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham, [7:6] but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises. [7:7] But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. [7:8] Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes of whom it is testified that he lives. [7:9] We can say that through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes, [7:10] for he was yet in the body of his father when Melchizedek met him. [7:11] Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people have received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise 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 also in the law. [7:13] For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. [7:14] For it is evident that our Lord has sprung out of Judah, about which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. [7:15] This is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest, [7:16] who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life: [7:17] for it is testified,
"You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."[*]
[7:18] For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness [7:19] (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. [7:20] Inasmuch as he was not made priest without the taking of an oath [7:21] (for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him,
"The Lord swore and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.'"[*]
[7:22] By so much, Jesus has become the collateral of a better covenant. [7:23] Many, indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death. [7:24] But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. [7:25] Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.
[7:26] For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; [7:27] who doesn't need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself. [7:28] For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.
[8:1] Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, [8:2] a servant of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. [8:3] For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. [8:4] For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; [8:5] who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, "See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain."[*] [8:6] But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law. [8:7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. [8:8] For finding fault with them, he said,
"Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; [8:9] not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn't continue in my covenant, and I disregarded 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, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [8:11] They will not teach every man his [fellow citizen,] and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. [8:12] For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more."[*]
[8:13] In that he says, "A new covenant," he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.