Hebrews:7-10

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* It was this Melchisedek , King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God , who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him ; * and it was to him that Abraham apportioned a tithe of all the spoil . He was first , as his name signifies , King of righteousness , and then King of Salem , that is , King of Peace ; * without father or mother , without lineage , having neither beginning of days nor end of life , but resembling the Son of God , he remains a priest in perpetuity . * But observe how great this man was , to whom even Abraham , the Patriarch , gave a tenth part of the spoils . * Now those of the sons of Levi who are appointed to the priesthood , are authorized by the Law to take tithes of the people , that is , of their brothers , and that too , although these are descended from Abraham . * But this man who had no Levitical genealogy actually took tithes of Abraham , and blessed him to whom the promises belong . * Now it is beyond all controversy that the inferior is always blessed by the superior . * Again it is mortal men who receive tithes in the one case ; while in the other it is he of whom it is attested , "He lives ." * And even Levi , who is the receiver of tithes , so to speak , paid tithes through Abraham ; * for Levi was yet in the loins of his father , when Melchisedek met Abraham . * Now if there were perfection through the Levitical priesthood , (and it was under it that the people received the Law ) why was it still necessary for another kind of priest to arise , after the order of Melchisedek , instead of being reckoned according to the order of Aaron ? * For when the priesthood changes , of necessity the law also changes . * He who is thus described belonged to another tribe , not one member of which has ever served at the altar . * For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah , a tribe of which Moses said nothing concerning the priesthood . * And this is yet more abundantly clear if , after the likeness of Melchisedek , there arises another Priest , * who has become such , not according to the law of a transitory enactment , but according to the energy of an indissoluble life . * For the words are in evidence , Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedek . * For there is a setting aside of a foregoing commandment , because of its weakness and unprofitableness * (for the Law brought nothing to perfection ); and there is the bringing in of a better hope by which we draw near to God ; * mightier because it was not promised apart from an oath . * For although those priests became such without an oath , He had an oath form God who said to him , The Lord hath sworn and will not change , Thou art a priest forever . * And by so much Jesus becomes the guarantor of a better covenant . * And they indeed have been made priests , many in number , because they have been prevented by death from continuing ; * but he , because of his abiding forever , holds his priesthood inviolable . * Hence also he is able to continue saving to the uttermost those who are ever drawing near to God through him , seeing that he is ever living to intercede for them . * For we needed just such a high priest , holy , innocent , undefiled , separated from sinners , and exalted above the heavens ; * one who has no need , like the high priests , to offer up daily sacrifices , first for his own sins , then for those of the people . For his sacrifice was made once for all , when he offered up himself . * For the Law appoints human beings to be high priests , men with all their weakness ; but the word of the oath , which was later than the Law , appoints a Son , perfected forevermore . * The pith of all that we have been saying is this ; we do have such a High Priest ; and he has taken his seat on the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens , * a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle , which the Lord pitched , not man . * For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices ; whence it follows that this High Priest also must have some offering to make . * Now were he on earth , he would not even be a priest , since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law - * those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality , just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle . "See ", he says , "that you make everything on the pattern showed you on the mountain ." * But Jesus has obtained a better ministry , by so much as he is also Mediator of a better covenant , which has been enacted upon better promises . * For if the first covenant had been faultless , there would have been no need for a second . * But finding fault with them , He says . "There are days coming ," says the Lord , "When I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant ; * Not according tot he covenant which I made with their forefathers , On the day when I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt ; For they did not continue in my covenant , And therefore I disregarded them ," says the Lord . * "For this is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel , After these days ," says the Lord ; "I will put my laws into their minds , And upon their hearts will I write them ; And I will be their God , And they shall be my people ; * And they shall not teach every man his fellow citizen , And every man his brother , saying , Know the Lord ; For all shall know me , From the least to the greatest of them . * For I will have mercy upon their wrong-doings , And their sins I will remember no more ." * By calling the covenant "new ," He has made the first one obsolete ; and whatever is becoming obsolete and aged , is near to vanishing . * Now even the first covenant had its ordinances of public worship , and its sanctuary , a material one . * For a tent was built , the outer one called the Holy Place , in which were the lamp and the table and the loaves of the Presence ; * and behind the second veil was the tent called the Holy of Holies . * In it was the golden altar of incense , and also the Ark of the Covenant covered all over with gold , in which was a golden pot holding the manna , and Aarons rod that budded , and the tables of the covenant ; * while above it , overshadowing the mercy-seat , were the cherubim of glory . But I must not speak about these in detail . * Such then were the arrangements . Into the outer tent the priests enter continually in the performance of their duties ; * but into the inner tent the high priest only goes alone , once a year , and that not without blood , which he offers for himself and for the ignorances of the people . * The Holy Spirit teaching by this that the way into the Holiest has not yet been disclosed while the first tent is still standing . * This is a parable , for the present time , according to which gifts and sacrifices are offered that are not able , as far as conscience is concerned , to perfect the worshiper ; * since they consist only in meats and drinks and various ablutions , carnal ordinances , imposed until the time of reformation . * But when Christ came , a High Priest of good things to come , he passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands , that is to say , not of this material creation , * not taking the blood of goats and oxen , but his own blood , and entered once for all into the Holy Place , obtaining for us an eternal redemption . * For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who have been defiled , sanctify to the cleansing of the flesh , * how much more shall the blood of Christ , who through his eternal spirit offered himself free from blemish to God , cleanse your conscience from dead works unto the service of an ever-living God ! * And because of this he is the Mediator of a new testament , in order that , since a death has taken place to atone for offenses committed under the first testament , those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance . * For where there is a testament , there must also be brought forward in evidence the death of the testator . * For a testament is only of force in case of the dead , being never valid so long as the testator lives . * Accordingly we find that not without blood was the first testament enacted . * For after every commandment according to the law had been spoken by Moses to the people , he took the blood of calves and goats , and scarlet wool and hyssop , and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people . * saying , This is the blood of that testament which God commanded in regard to you . * Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of service he sprinkled likewise , and indeed , according to the Law , * almost everything is purified by blood , and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins . * While , then , it was necessary that the copies of the heavenly things should be cleansed by such sacrifices , the heavenly things themselves required nobler sacrifices than these . * For it was not into a Sanctuary made by hands , a mere type of the reality , that Christ entered , but he entered into heaven itself , now to appear in the very presence of God on our behalf . * Nor did he enter to offer himself repeatedly , as the high priest entered into the sanctuary , year after year , with blood that was not his own ; (for in that case he would have needed to suffer repeatedly , ever since the foundation of the world ;)but now , once for all , at the end of the ages , he has appeared to abolish sin , but the offering of himself . * And since it is appointed to men once to die , and after that the judgment ; * so also the Christ , after being once for all offered to bear the sins of many , will appear a second time , without sin , to those who wait for him for salvation . * For the Law , being only a shadow of the good things to come , and not their very substance , its priests cannot with the same sacrifice which year after year they offer continually , make perfect those who draw near . * Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered ? Because the worshippers having been once cleansed , would have had no more consciousness of sin . * But on the other hand , in these sacrifices sins are called to memory , year after year . * For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin . * It is for this reason that the Christ , on coming into the world , declared . Sacrifice and offerings thou dost not desire , But a body didst thou prepare for me ; * In whole burnt offerings and sin offerings Thou hast taken no pleasure . * Then I said , "I am come - in the roll of the book it is written of me - -To do thy will , O God ." * First when it is said , Thou hast no longing for , thou takest no delight in Sacrifices and offerings , or whole burnt offerings and sin offerings , * (offerings regularly made under the law ), and then it is added , Lo , I come to do thy will , he does away with the first , in order that he may establish the second . * And it is by this will that we have been sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all . * For while every priest stands , day after day , at his ministrations , and many times repeats the same sacrifices , which can never take away sins , * this Priest , after offering one Sacrifice for sins , sat down forever on Gods right hand ; * henceforth waiting until his enemies be put as the footstool of his feet . * For by one single offering he has perfected forever those whom he is sanctifying . * And the Holy Spirit also gives his testimony , when he said . * "This is the covenant I will make with them After those days ," says the Lord . "I will set my laws upon their hearts , And I will inscribe them on their minds ." * Then he adds , And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more . * But when these have been remitted , there is no more any offering for sin . * Since , then , we have a cheerful confidence , brothers , to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus , * by the way which he dedicated for us , that new and living way , through the veil (that is , his flesh ); * and since we have a great High Priest over the house of God ; * let us draw near with a true heart , in full assurance of faith , our hearts sprinkled from and evil conscience , and our bodies bathed in pure water . * Let us hold fast the confession of our hope , unwavering (for He is faithful who promised ); * and let us consider one another , to provoke unto love and good works ; * not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together , as is the custom of some , but exhorting one another ; all the more as you behold the Day drawing near . * For if we sin wilfully , after we have received the knowledge of the truth , there no longer remains any other sacrifice for sins , * but a certain fearful expectation of judgment , and a fiery indignation which is about to devour the adversaries . * Any one who set at naught the law of Moses was put to death without pity , on the testimony of two or three witnesses . * How much surer , think you , will be the punishment of one who has trodden under foot the Son of God , and has profaned that covenant blood with which he was sanctified , and has done despite to the spirit of grace ? * For we know Him who said , Vengeance is mine , I will repay , and again , The Lord will judge his people . * IT IS A FEARFUL THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD ! * But ever call to mind the former days , in which , after having been enlightened , you endured a great conflict of sufferings ; * partly by being made a public spectacle in reproaches and afflictions , and partly by sharing the fortunes of those that were so used . * For you did sympathize with the prisoners , and you did take joyfully the confiscation of your goods ; conscious that you had for yourselves greater , even lasting possessions . * Now do not fling away your bold confidence , for it has a great recompense of reward . * For you need stedfastness , so that after having done the will of God , you may receive the promise , * For yet a very , very little while , and then The Coming One will have come , without delay . * But it is by faith that my Righteous One will live , And if he draws back , my soul takes no pleasure in him . * "But we are not of defections unto perdition , but of faith unto the gaining of the soul ." * Now faith is the title-deed of things hoped for ; the putting to the proof of things not seen .

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