New Testament Plan

¹Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

²For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

³For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

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

⁵And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”

⁶Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

⁷again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

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

⁹So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,

¹⁰for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

¹¹Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

¹²For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

¹³And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

¹⁴Since then 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 is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

¹For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

²He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.

³Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.

⁴And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;

⁶as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”

⁷In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

⁸Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

⁹And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

¹⁰being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹About this we have much to say, and it is 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 basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

¹³for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

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

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

³And this we will do if God permits.

⁴For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

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

⁶and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

⁷For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.

⁸But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

⁹Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things — things that belong to salvation.

¹⁰For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

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

¹²so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

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

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

¹⁵And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

¹⁶For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.

¹⁷So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,

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

¹⁹We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

²⁰where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.