Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins.

²And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses.

³That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.

⁴And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was.

⁵That is why Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. ”

⁶And in another passage God said to him, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁷While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.

⁸Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

⁹In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.

¹⁰And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.

¹²You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.

¹³For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.

¹⁴Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

¹So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.

²You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

³And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

⁴For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened — those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit,

⁵who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come —

⁶and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

⁷When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing.

⁸But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.

⁹Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.

¹⁰For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.

¹¹Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true.

¹²Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

¹³For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:

¹⁴“I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”

¹⁵Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

¹⁶Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.

¹⁷God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.

¹⁸So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

¹⁹This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.

²⁰Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

¹This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him.

²Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.”

³There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors — no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.

⁴Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.

⁵Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham.

⁶But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God.

⁷And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.

⁸The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on.

⁹In addition, we might even say that these Levites — the ones who collect the tithe — paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him.

¹⁰For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.

¹¹So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?

¹²And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it.

¹³For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests.

¹⁴What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

¹⁵This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared.

¹⁶Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.

¹⁷And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless.

¹⁹For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

²⁰This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath,

²¹but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’”

²²Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.

²³There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.

²⁴But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.

²⁵Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

²⁶He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.

²⁷Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.

²⁸The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.

¹Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.

²There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

³And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.

⁴If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law.

⁵They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”

⁶But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

⁷If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.

⁸But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.

⁹This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the LORD.

¹⁰But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹¹And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already.

¹²And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

¹³When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

¹That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth.

²There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place.

³Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place.

⁴In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

⁵Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.

⁶When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties.

⁷But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

⁸By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.

⁹This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.

¹⁰For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies — physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.

¹¹So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.

¹²With his own blood — not the blood of goats and calves — he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

¹³Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.

¹⁴Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

¹⁵That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

¹⁶Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead.

¹⁷The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.

¹⁸That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.

¹⁹For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool.

²⁰Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.”

²¹And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship.

²²In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

²³That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

²⁴For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.

²⁵And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.

²⁶If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.

²⁷And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,

²⁸so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

¹The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.

²If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

³But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.

⁴For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.

⁶You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.

⁷Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God — as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”

⁸First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses).

⁹Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.

¹⁰For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

¹¹Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.

¹²But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

¹³There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet.

¹⁴For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

¹⁶“This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

¹⁷Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.”

¹⁸And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

¹⁹And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.

²⁰By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

²¹And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,

²²let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

²³Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

²⁴Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

²⁵And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

²⁶Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.

²⁷There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.

²⁸For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

²⁹Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.

³⁰For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The LORD will judge his own people.”

³¹It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.

³³Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.

³⁴You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.

³⁵So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!

³⁶Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

³⁷“For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.

³⁸And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”

³⁹But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.

¹Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

²Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.

³By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

⁴It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.

⁵It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying — “he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.

⁶And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

⁷It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

⁹And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith — for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.

¹⁰Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

¹¹It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.

¹²And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead — a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.

¹³All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.

¹⁴Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.

¹⁵If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.

¹⁶But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,

¹⁸even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”

¹⁹Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

²⁰It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.

²¹It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.

²²It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.

²³It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.

²⁴It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

²⁵He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.

²⁶He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.

²⁷It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

²⁸It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.

²⁹It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.

³⁰It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.

³¹It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

³²How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets.

³³By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions,

³⁴quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.

³⁵Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.

³⁶Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons.

³⁷Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.

³⁸They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised.

⁴⁰For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

²We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

³Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

⁴After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

⁵And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you.

⁶For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”

⁷As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?

⁸If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.

⁹Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?

¹⁰For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.

¹¹No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening — it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

¹²So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.

¹³Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

¹⁴Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

¹⁵Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

¹⁶Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.

¹⁷You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.

¹⁸You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.

¹⁹For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking.

²⁰They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”

²¹Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”

²²No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering.

²³You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect.

²⁴You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.

²⁵Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!

²⁶When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.”

²⁷This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.

²⁸Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

²⁹For our God is a devouring fire.

¹Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.

²Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

³Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.

⁴Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

⁵Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

⁶So we can say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

⁷Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.

⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

⁹So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.

¹⁰We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp.

¹²So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.

¹³So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore.

¹⁴For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

¹⁵Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.

¹⁶And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

¹⁷Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.

¹⁸Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do.

¹⁹And especially pray that I will be able to come back to you soon.

²⁰Now may the God of peace — who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood —

²¹may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

²²I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to pay attention to what I have written in this brief exhortation.

²³I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released from jail. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you.

²⁴Greet all your leaders and all the believers there. The believers from Italy send you their greetings.

²⁵May God’s grace be with you all.

¹This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes” — Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!

²Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

³For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

⁴So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

⁵If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

⁶But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

⁷Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

⁸Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

⁹Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.

¹⁰And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field.

¹¹The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.

¹²God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

¹³And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.

¹⁴Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

¹⁵These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

¹⁶So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.

¹⁷Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

¹⁸He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

¹⁹Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

²⁰Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

²¹So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

²²But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

²³For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.

²⁴You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.

²⁵But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

²⁶If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

²⁷Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

¹My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?

²For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes.

³If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor” — well,

⁴doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?

⁵Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?

⁶But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

⁷Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear?

⁸Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

⁹But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.

¹⁰For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.

¹¹For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.

¹²So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.

¹³There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.

¹⁴What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?

¹⁵Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,

¹⁶and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” — but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

¹⁷So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

¹⁸Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

¹⁹You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.

²⁰How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

²¹Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

²²You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.

²³And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.

²⁴So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

²⁵Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.

²⁶Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.

¹Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.

²Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

³We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth.

⁴And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong.

⁵In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.

⁶And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

⁷People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish,

⁸but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.

¹⁰And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

¹¹Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?

¹²Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

¹³If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.

¹⁴But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.

¹⁵For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

¹⁶For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.

¹⁸And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

¹What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?

²You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

³And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong — you want only what will give you pleasure.

⁴You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

⁵Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.

⁶And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

⁹Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

¹¹Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.

¹²God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

¹³Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”

¹⁴How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog — it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.

¹⁵What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”

¹⁶Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.

¹⁷Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.