New Testament Plan

¹Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware that none of you be found to have fallen short.

²For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.

³For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what he has said, So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest,” even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world.

⁴For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.

⁵Again, in that passage he says, They will never enter my rest.

⁶Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience,

⁷he again specifies a certain day —  today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

⁹Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people.

¹⁰For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his.

¹¹Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

¹²For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

¹³No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens — Jesus the Son of God — let us hold fast to our confession.

¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

¹For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

²He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness.

³Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people.

⁴No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father,

⁶also says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

⁷During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

⁸Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.

⁹After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

¹⁰and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand.

¹²Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.

¹³Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.

¹⁴But solid food is for the mature — for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

¹Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God,

²teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

³And we will do this if God permits.

⁴For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit,

⁵who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age,

⁶and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt.

⁷For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.

⁸But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.

⁹Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation.

¹⁰For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints — and by continuing to serve them.

¹¹Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end,

¹²so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.

¹³For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself:

¹⁴I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.

¹⁵And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise.

¹⁶For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute.

¹⁷Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,

¹⁸so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

¹⁹We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

²⁰Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.