Chronological Plan

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

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

³who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

⁴having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

⁵For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”?

⁶But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

⁷And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.”

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

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

¹⁰And: “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

¹¹They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment;

¹²Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.”

¹³But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”?

¹⁴Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

¹Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

²For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,

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

⁴God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

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

⁶But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him?

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

⁸You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

⁹But 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, might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

¹¹For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

¹²saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

¹³And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

¹⁴Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

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

¹⁶For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

¹⁷Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

¹⁸For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

¹Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

²who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

³For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.

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

⁵And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,

⁶but Christ 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.

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

⁸Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,

⁹Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.

¹⁰Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’

¹¹So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

¹²Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

¹³but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,

¹⁵while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

¹⁶For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?

¹⁷Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?

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

¹Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

²For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

³For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

⁴For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;

⁵and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”

⁶Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,

⁷again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”

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

⁹There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

¹⁰For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

¹¹Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

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

¹³And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

¹⁴Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

¹⁵For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

¹For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

²He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.

³Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.

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

⁵So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”

⁶As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”;

⁷who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,

⁸though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

⁹And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

¹⁰called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”

¹¹of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

¹²For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

¹³For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

¹⁴But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

¹Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

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

³And this we will do if God permits.

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

⁵and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

⁶if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

⁷For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;

⁸but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

⁹But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.

¹⁰For God is not unjust 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.

¹¹And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,

¹²that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

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

¹⁴saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”

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

¹⁶For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.

¹⁷Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,

¹⁸that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

¹⁹This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,

²⁰where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.