New American Bible - Revised Edition/The Letter to The Hebrews

**The Letter to The Hebrews**, as translated by the Co-Fraternity of Christian Doctrine in the New American Bible - Revised Edition.

## NOTE

Currently, The New American Bible - Revised Edition's The New Testament text is the exact same as the New American Bible's text, as it is based from the 1986 Revised New Testament. An upcoming revision of The New Testament for The New American Bible - Revised Edition is currently ongoing, and it is expected to be finished sometime around the year 2025 or later, pending approving from the Bishops and the Vatican.

Should it happen, the text here will be changed to reflect the new revision that would make The New American Bible - Revised Edition wholly a revised edition of The New American Bible that is worthy of its name, whereas the original New American Bible article will retain the 1986 New Testament Revision Text.

## READING GUIDES FOR THE BOOK OF REVELATION IN THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE - REVISED EDITION

Here are the following Reading Guides for The Epistle of Jude in The New American Bible - Revised Edition.

## READING GUIDE (THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE - THIRD EDITION)

 **HEBREWS**

 **[see pages 1700–1720 of the New Testament]**

 **BEFORE BEGINNING. . .**

Hebrews is not a real letter but a sermon **(see** **introduction,** **NT,** **1700–1702).**
The best way to experience Hebrews is by reading it out loud from
beginning to end. Subtle points of Greek rhetoric—such as the alliteration
in the opening verses—will still escape the contemporary reader. But oral
recitation helps to catch the sermonic rhythms of Hebrews, its use of “we”
and “you” (so natural to the sermon), and its alternating pattern of
exposition and exhortation. Note, for example, how the opening argument
of **Hebrews 1:5–Hebrews 1:14** leads naturally to the “therefore, we must attend all the more” in
2:1–5. Reading straight through also enables the reader to grasp the
powerful argument that is the outstanding characteristic of this early
Christian writing.

### Toward Understanding Hebrews

Hebrews has significantly shaped the liturgy, doctrine, and spirituality of
the church. Although other New Testament writings speak of Jesus’s death
as a sacrifice, Hebrews’ unique reflection on Melchizedek (chap. 7) and on
Jesus as the Great High Priest influenced the development of Catholic
liturgy. Hebrews’ insistence on Jesus’s full divinity and equally full
participation in human nature contributed to the understanding of Jesus’s
identity as God’s Son (1–2). And Hebrews’ vision of faith as a pilgrimage
toward God (11–12) created a symbolic framework for the Christian
understanding of discipleship as a “journey.” For all its riches, Hebrews
resists easy assimilation for two reasons: the first is that it pre sents a
sustained argument from beginning to end; the second is that its symbols
are hard to understand. Dealing with these difficulties clears the way to
more intelligent and satisfactory reading.

#### The Argument

Some parts of the New Testament, such as the Gospel parables, can be read
apart from their original context and still make sense. But each part of
Hebrews plays a role in a complicated interplay of argument and
explanation concerning Jesus and Christian life. Hebrews resists being
excerpted. It uses a form of argument, found both in Greek philosophy and
rabbinic Judaism, called “from the lesser to the greater.” The argument
goes, “If something is true in a smaller matter, it is even more true in an
analogous greater matter.” In Hebrews, the contrast is between the partial
revelation of God in the past through angels, law, and priesthood, and the
perfect revelation “in the last of these days” through God’s Son, Jesus,
between that former “lesser” salvation and the present “greater” salvation.
The argument in Hebrews has a practical aim. The real point is the
contrast between the response to God’s word by God’s people of the past,
and the response demanded of believers today. A greater blessing and hope
require a greater degree of obedience and loyalty, just as disobedience
carries a greater penalty. The stakes are higher all around.

#### The Symbols

The symbols of Hebrews are sufficiently strange to shake any assumption
that the New Testament world was “just like ours.” Hebrews demands of its
readers, for example, a far more sophisticated grasp of Scripture than that
possessed by most Christians today. Much of its argument, in fact, is based
on complex modes of scriptural interpretation that, while strange to us, were
common in the first century. The version of Scripture used by Hebrews (as
by other New Testament writings) was the Greek translation of the Hebrew
Scriptures known as the Septuagint, and its citations and allusions are from
that version. This reading guide gives some assistance in following
Hebrews’ use of Scripture by providing complete Scripture references.
Citations in the text are flagged with small letters; passages are identified at
the bottom of each page. To fully appreciate Hebrews’ virtuosity, study the
citations in their original context as well as how Hebrews turns them to fit
its argument (as in 10:5–7).

Hebrews’ view of the world is different from that of present-day readers
in an even more fundamental sense. Hebrews works within a philosophical
tradition called Platonism, which saw a great gulf between the spiritual
realm and the material world. Spiritual things are eternal, unchanging;
material things are transitory. As a result, spiritual things are both more real
and better than the material. For Platonic Jews and Christians, the
“spiritual” and “material” realms were under stood in terms of “heaven” and
“earth.”

This is the framework for grasping Hebrews’ point about the superiority
of Jesus’s priesthood. By his resurrection, Jesus entered heaven, where he is
a “priest forever” (5:6), in contrast to the Jewish priesthood, which could
only be temporary. Likewise the “heavenly sanctuary” is superior to the
physical tent of worship described in Scripture (8–9). The symbolism at
times becomes dense and requires patience to disentangle, but the basic
point is clear. The human Messiah Jesus now shares God’s life in heaven.
His priesthood is therefore both the ultimate and eternal “source of
salvation” to others (5:9).

#### The Readers

The original hearers of this sermon had experienced the loss of property as
well as social stigma (10:32–34). They were tempted to seek a more stable
basis for hope than that offered by a crucified messiah. Hebrews addresses
their longing for stability by offering the hope for “a better homeland, a
heavenly one” (11:16). The first readers’ experience can be translated into
that of every age: all of us in various ways experience loss, shame,
desperation, alienation, despair. Hebrews’ message to us is as pertinent as it
was to them: “Oh, that today you would hear his voice: Harden not your
hearts” (4:7). We also are called to go on pilgrimage through our troubled
circumstances, looking to Jesus, who is still and always the “leader and
perfecter of faith” (12:2).

### The Prologue (1:1–4)

The opening sentence is elegantly constructed and introduces Hebrews’
central themes. First is the contrast between God’s partial revelation in the
past (“to our ancestors”) and the perfect revelation now (“to us”) through
God’s Son, which establishes the basic thesis: Jesus is superior to the old
dispensation, or covenant (see 8:13). Second, Jesus’s divine status is clearly
if metaphorically expressed by calling him the “imprint” of God. The
exalted identity attributed to the Son is similar to that in John and Paul (see,
e.g., Jn 1:1–4 and 1 Cor 8:6). Third, the prologue states that the way God
“spoke” in Jesus was through his death for others (the purification from
sins) and his resurrection.

Note the image of enthronement: Jesus “took his seat at the right hand.”
This alludes to Psalm 110:1, the favorite resurrection psalm of early
Christians: “The Lord said to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, while I make
your enemies your footstool’ ” (see also 1:13). Hebrews will also exploit
the fourth verse of this psalm when he develops the comparison between
Jesus and Melchizedek in chapter 7. The image of enthronement runs
throughout the sermon. Jesus is both priest and king. Finally, we notice that
Jesus “inherits” a name better than that of the angels. Jesus is here
portrayed as a forerunner. If they follow him, Christians also will enter into
an inheritance (1:14; 6:12). The mention of angels, in turn, provides a
transition to Hebrews’ argument.

### The Son Is Higher than the Angels (1:5–2:18)

A series of Scripture citations proves that the Son is superior to angels. The
notes in the New Testament, pp. 1702–1704, discuss details of the citations.
In the world of the New Testament, especially in the writings of Judaism,
angels were regarded as the most powerful intermediaries between God and
humans. The tendency to exalt their role is attested in Galatians 4:9 and
Colossians 2:18. What concern does the author address? Jesus in his
humanity did not appear so impressive as these “spiritual” beings. He was
not only human; he suffered and died. Hebrews must overcome the scandal
of a “lowly” Messiah.

Citations from Scripture do not by themselves demonstrate the author’s
point. As in other New Testament writings (e.g., Gal 3:1–5), Hebrews
argues “the greater” from the fact of the readers’ own experience. The work
of God’s Spirit among them is itself powerful “witness” to the salvation
accomplished through Jesus (2:3f). And never content with the speculative,
Hebrews drives home the exhortation. This “greater salvation” demands of
the readers a greater response of alertness (2:1f ).

From the perspective of the power of the Risen Lord, then, Hebrews
takes up the issue of Jesus’s “lowliness.” The author asserts on the basis of
Psalm 8 that Jesus was “lower than the angels” only temporarily. And the
reason was so that he could “taste death for everyone,” that is, act as priest.
On the basis of a messianic reading of Isaiah 8:18f, Hebrews next affirms
the Messiah’s solidarity with humanity. Then, Hebrews turns the tables, and
makes Jesus’s humanity a positive criterion for authentic priesthood.
Because Jesus is one with those he represents before God—he shares the
way they are “tested,” and the way they “fear death”—he can be a
compassionate and merciful priest. It is significant that Hebrews defines
priesthood in terms of personal identity and experience rather than in terms
of religious ceremony. Hebrews thereby anticipates an important principle
of later doctrine: “what is not assumed [by God] cannot be saved.”
Precisely because he is human, Jesus can save humanity.

### Jesus, Faithful and Compassionate High Priest (3:1–5:10)

Moses was so central a figure for Jews that he became a natural point of
contrast for Christian claims about Jesus (see, e.g., Jn 1:17). Hebrews now
contrasts Moses as “the servant of [God’s] house,” and Jesus as “son over
the house” (3:4f). The real contrast in this section, however, is between the
people whom Moses led out of Egypt and the Christians the author of
Hebrews addresses in terms of disobedience and obedient faith (3:7–13).
Hebrews agrees with Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 that what
happened to Israel in the desert is a warning for the present.

The argument here uses complex ancient rules for interpreting Scripture.
Much is made, for example, of the occurrence of specific words, such as
“rest” and “today,” without regard for their original contexts. The premise
for such a procedure is that Scripture speaks to every age in each of its
words, and that every part of Scripture interprets every other part. On that
premise, Hebrews asserts that the “rest” to which Moses led the people (the
land) was not the “rest of God,” namely, God’s own life. For that matter,
neither did all the people of old succeed even in entering that earthly rest,
because of their disobedience. Christians in contrast have hope for the real
rest—of God’s own life—won by Jesus’s resurrection. The point? They are
to obey the call of God and not fall away (4:6). Hebrews’s message is not
trivial. The readers are not engaged in a temporary conquest of territory;
they are called to a share in God’s eternal life, a far more awesome prospect
(4:12f).

Hebrews has identified obedient faith as the fundamental response
demanded by God. The comparison to the wandering Israelites also
establishes Hebrews’ basic image of the church as the people of God on
pilgrimage. The image suggests that the church is not simply an institution
like other institutions. It is never fully “at home” in the world. The church
exists with reference to a higher goal—the “heavenly city”—toward which
it must steadily move like a pilgrim, although this side of death the goal is
never reached. Pilgrims need the sort of attentiveness, patience, obedience,
and endurance demanded by such an exalted goal. Above all, they need
hope (see 6:18). They can move lightly through this worldly existence only
if convinced that their destination is truly “greater” than their present abode.

Hebrews points the reader again to the leader of the pilgrimage, the
“apostle and high priest of our confession” (3:1). In the description of Jesus
as priest (4:14–5:9), Hebrews combines what has come to be called both
“high” and “low” understandings of Jesus. Jesus is definitely “from above”;
he is God’s Son in the fullest sense, but he is also fully human, “from
below.” It is his human existence that defines the path “all the children” are
to follow. As priest, he is exemplar. Jesus is not only “faithful” (3:1f) as all
are called to be; he “learned obedience from what he suffered” (5:8). The
full implications of this statement will become clear only later (see 12:1–
11), but we already understand that Jesus’s suffering deepened his faith, and
his obedience was itself a form of suffering. Jesus progressively became, in
his humanity, perfect Son of God, and therefore the “leader” of all who
follow him.

### Jesus’s Eternal Priesthood and Sacrifice (5:11–10:39)

The long middle section of the sermon argues for the superiority of Jesus’s
priesthood. It begins with an extended exhortation (5:11–6:20), and then
focuses on Jesus’s priestly identity and activity (7–10).

Hebrews presupposes the readers’ grasp of the “basic teaching about
Christ” (6:1), but, in a rebuke as much as an exhortation, he urges them to
move beyond the milk that is fit for babes to the meat that is meant for the
mature (compare Paul’s use of this imagery in 1 Cor 3:1–3). This “mature
teaching” is by no means a matter of moving beyond Jesus or abandoning
Jesus. Such apostasy from Christ Hebrews calls “recrucifying the Son of
God” (6:6). Indeed, God’s promise based on Jesus’s resurrection is utterly
reliable; Jesus is the “anchor of the soul” (6:19), to whose priesthood God
has bound himself by oath (6:13). The nature and implications of Jesus’s
priesthood, however, are precisely what require explication. By it the
Christian hope is made secure. By it Christians are able to become
“imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the
promises” (6:12).

The consideration of Jesus as priest is the climax of Hebrews’ “lesser to
the greater” argument. But because the procedures and symbols of the
ancient Jewish cult are foreign to us today, this section makes for some of
the hardest reading in the New Testament. It is important to remember from
the start that Hebrews’ argument is based on the Christian experience of the
holy Spirit and the conviction that Jesus is Risen Lord, and he has entered
definitively into the life of God (2:3–4). Only this premise makes Hebrews’
reinterpretation of Scripture reasonable. Once that premise is granted,
however, then the major turning points of the exposition make sense.

#### Jesus and Melchizedek (7:1–28)

Why does Hebrews devote so much attention to a figure who appears only
twice in Scripture? Because both appearances are understood as pointing
forward to Christ. In Genesis 14:17–20, Melchizedek is named a priest of
God (although he was a Gentile), whom even Abraham acknowledged by
giving him tithes. Logically, then, a priest descended from Melchizedek
would be superior to one descended from Abraham! Melchize dek’s second
scriptural appearance is in verse 4 of the very Psalm 110 that Christians
regard as a prophecy of Jesus’s resurrection. Melchizedek’s being “without
beginning or end” (because Scripture records neither his birth nor his death)
is therefore an anticipation of the Son of God whose priesthood is eternally
valid. Jesus is a priest forever, “in the manner of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4)
because through his resurrection, Jesus became priest “by the power of a
life that cannot be destroyed” (7:16). He “remains forever” (7:24). His
sacrifice is “once for all” (7:27). He “lives forever to make intercession”
(7:25). The Jewish priesthood descended from Abraham cannot compete.

#### The Old and New Covenants (8:1–13)

God’s revelation in Jesus does more than continue the story of God’s
people; it raises it to a new plane. Jesus’s death and resurrection mark an
absolute beginning. Here, Hebrews’ Platonic worldview and its convictions
concerning the resurrected Lord converge. In 8:1–6, we see the use of
Platonic language, when Moses’s desert sanctuary is called “the copy and
shadow of the heavenly sanctuary” (8:5). Heaven is greater than earth.
More dramatically, Hebrews turns this Platonism into an interpretation of
history: the old covenant is likewise a “shadow” of the new, pointing to but
replaced by the work of God in Jesus. Hebrews exploits Jeremiah’s promise
of a new covenant “in the heart” to affirm that the old order is in fact
obsolescent.

#### The Priestly Act of Jesus (9:1–10:18)

The comparison of covenants now becomes a specific contrast between
ancient cult and Jesus’s death and resurrection. The complexity of the
imagery here is daunting. The reader is offered some help by the notes on
pp. 1711–1714. Even more helpful would be a careful reading of Exodus
25–27 (which describes the Tent of the Wilderness) and Leviticus 16 (which
describes the ritual for the Day of Atonement). Hebrews hammers at two
basic points. First, because Jewish sacrifices had to be repeated, it is
obvious they were not effective—they could not truly purify the human
conscience (9:6, 25; 10:1–3, 11). In contrast, Jesus entered “real” life, so his
sacrifice is eternally valid (9:12, 24–28; 10:10–12). Second, the old cult
sacrificed animals, whereas Jesus gave his own life for others in obedience
to God (8:12–14; 10:5–10, 19). As both priest and victim, furthermore, he
showed himself to be a personal example that others could follow. All
believers have “confidence of entrance into the sanctuary by the new and
living way he opened for us” (10:19f).

#### Exhortation to Fidelity (10:19–39)

In the light of this “greater salvation,” Hebrews warns again of the
consequences of apostasy (10:26–31). Despite their losses and trials,
Christians are called to a still deeper loyalty (10:32–39). By mentioning
endurance and faith as requisites for receiving the promises (10:36–38),
Hebrews prepares for its final stirring exhortation.

### Examples, Discipline, Disobedience (11:1–12:29)

The sermon’s long argument reaches its climax in this exhortation to faith,
understood as loyalty, endurance, and hope. The recital of heroes and
heroines of the past serves to provide examples for the readers in the
present to imitate. Why? Just as the readers had lost property and had been
persecuted, so also had the believers who preceded them. Yet the ancestors
persevered in their search for a better homeland (11:14). The repetition of
the phrase “by faith” summons the readers to join ranks with those on
pilgrimage to God’s presence. Unlike the desert generation that fell by the
way because of disobedience, these exemplars continued faithful, even
though they themselves did not receive the full promise (11:39)! It was left
to Jesus, the “leader and perfecter of faith” (12:2) to provide complete
access to God through his death and resurrection. Because Christians can
now look to him (12:2), there is solid reason to hope while still on the
journey.

By summoning such a “cloud of witnesses” (12:1) to support the
commitment of the readers, Hebrews states a conviction that eventually
became an article of the Christian creed, “the communion of saints.” Those
struggling for God on earth are not alone. They are joined in a larger
fellowship of faith with those who have died and who now support them
with their prayers. The people of faith have solidarity in hope.

This is not blind optimism: the very real alienation, suffering, and
persecution experienced by the ancients is not trivialized. And Jesus, before
he could sit on the throne, had to “endure the cross, despising its shame”
(12:2). Jesus’s human response to God is the perfect example for the faith
of Christians. Faith is always “evidence of things not seen” (11:1), which
means that it is always a risk taken in the face of a pain more palpably
present than the promise. Thus, also, the Christian experience of prayer has
as an essential component the “dark night” of the soul when God seems
more absent than present.

The connection between Sonship and suffering continues in 12:5–13.
The remarks about fathers disciplining their children at first seem banal if
not regressive. But when we remember that Jesus, “Son though he was, . . .
learned obedience from what he suffered” (5:8), we come to appreciate the
profound correspondence between Christology and Christian existence.
What we suffer in our lives, if we can perceive and accept such suffering in
faith, enables God to shape Jesus’s own “sonship” in us. Ancient Greeks
had the maxim mathein pathein, “to learn it is necessary to suffer.” Being
educated as children of God requires a painful transformation, for the goal
is the holy God (12:10).

Hebrews reminds its readers that they have undertaken not a pleasant
stroll through a park but a terrible path toward “the city of the living God”
(12:22), a pilgrimage whose completion means life eternal but whose
abandonment means not seeing the Lord (12:14). Nowhere else does the
New Testament give a sterner reminder of life’s tragic depths and terrifying
heights than in this simple conclusion, “for our God is a consuming fire”
(12:29).

### Final Exhortation, Blessing, Greetings (13:1–25)

Although the final chapter is mainly practical, it is intimately joined to the
theological argument of chapters 1 through 12. Notice, for example, the
plea to “imitate the faith” of leaders, and the motivation of that faith being
the eternal priesthood of Jesus who is “the same yesterday, today, and
forever” (13:7f). The mix of advice about hospitality, marriage, and
possessions (13:1–4) with the command to “go to Jesus outside the camp . .
. for here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come”
(13:13) is altogether typical of this sermon (see also 10:25) and of the early
Christian understanding of existence. Christians live in the world like other
people and participate in its structures. But they are not defined by this
world or its values, even its religious values (13:9–11). No institutional cult
or sacrificial priesthood is legitimated by this severe writing; everything
necessary has been accomplished already by Jesus. Christians are defined
not by their liturgy but by their following the one who suffered “outside the
gate, to consecrate the people by his own blood” (13:12). Christians are
never entirely at ease in the world or even in the church. They are pilgrims,
struggling toward the “God of peace” into whose care the final blessing
(13:20f) entrusts the readers of this profound and powerful sermon.

L.T.J.

### FURTHER READING

**Attridge, H. W. Epistle to the Hebrews. Hermeneia. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989.**

**Johnson, L. T. Hebrews: A Commentary. New Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster John**
Knox, 2006.

**Koester, C. R. Hebrews: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Bible 36.**
New York: Doubleday, 2001.

**Lane, W. L. Hebrews. 2 vols. Word Biblical Commentary. Waco, TX: Word, 1991.**

**Mitchell, A.C. Hebrews. Sacra Pagina 13. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2009.**

## INTRODUCTION

 **THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS**

As early as the second century, this treatise, which is of great rhetorical power and force in its admonition to faithful pilgrimage under Christ’s leadership, bore the title “To the Hebrews.” It was assumed to be directed to Jewish Christians. Usually Hebrews was attached in Greek manuscripts to the collection of letters by Paul. Although no author is mentioned (for there is no address), a reference to Timothy (Hb 13:23) suggested connections to the circle of Paul and his assistants. Yet the exact audience, the author, and even whether Hebrews is a letter have long been disputed.

The author saw the addressees in danger of apostasy from their Christian faith. This danger was due not to any persecution from outsiders but to a weariness with the demands of Christian life and a growing indifference to their calling (Hb 2:1; 4:14; 6:1–12; 10:23–32). The author’s main theme, the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus (Hb 3–10), is not developed for its own sake but as a means of restoring their lost fervor and strengthening them in their faith. Another important theme of the letter is that of the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem (Hb 11:10; 12:1–3, 18–29; 13:14). This theme is intimately connected with that of Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary (Hb 9:11–10:22).

The author calls this work a “message of encouragement” (Hb 13:22), a designation that is given to a synagogue sermon in Acts 13:15. Hebrews is probably therefore a written homily, to which the author gave an epistolary ending (Hb 13:22–25).

The author begins with a reminder of the preexistence, incarnation, and exaltation of Jesus (Hb 1:3) that proclaimed him the climax of God’s word to humanity (Hb 1:1–3). He dwells upon the dignity of the person of Christ, superior to the angels (Hb 1:4–2:2). Christ is God’s final word of salvation communicated (in association with accredited witnesses to his teaching: cf. Hb 2:3–4) not merely by word but through his suffering in the humanity common to him and to all others (Hb 2:5–16). This enactment of salvation went beyond the pattern known to Moses, faithful prophet of God’s word though he was, for Jesus as high priest expiated sin and was faithful to God with the faithfulness of God’s own Son (Hb 2:17–3:6).

Just as the infidelity of the people thwarted Moses’ efforts to save them, so the infidelity of any Christian may thwart God’s plan in Christ (Hb 3:6–4:13). Christians are to reflect that it is their humanity that Jesus took upon himself, with all its defects save sinfulness, and that he bore the burden of it until death out of obedience to God. God declared this work of his Son to be the cause of salvation for all (Hb 4:14–5:10). Although Christians recognize this fundamental teaching, they may grow weary of it and of its implications, and therefore require other reflections to stimulate their faith (Hb 5:11–6:20).

Therefore, the author presents to the readers for their reflection the everlasting priesthood of Christ (Hb 7:1–28), a priesthood that fulfills the promise of the Old Testament (Hb 8:1–13). It also provides the meaning God ultimately intended in the sacrifices of the Old Testament (Hb 9:1–28): these pointed to the unique sacrifice of Christ, which alone obtains forgiveness of sins (Hb 10:1–18). The trial of faith experienced by the readers should resolve itself through their consideration of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary and his perpetual intercession there on their behalf (Hb 7:25; 8:1–13). They should also be strengthened by the assurance of his foreordained parousia, and by the fruits of faith that they have already enjoyed (Hb 10:19–39).

It is in the nature of faith to recognize the reality of what is not yet seen and is the object of hope, and the saints of the Old Testament give striking example of that faith (Hb 11:1–40). The perseverance to which the author exhorts the readers is shown forth in the early life of Jesus. Despite the afflictions of his ministry and the supreme trial of his suffering and death, he remained confident of the triumph that God would bring him (Hb 12:1–3). The difficulties of human life have meaning when they are accepted as God’s discipline (Hb 12:4–13), and if Christians persevere in fidelity to the word in which they have believed, they are assured of possessing forever the unshakable kingdom of God (Hb 12:14–29).

The letter concludes with specific moral commandments (Hb 13:1–17), in the course of which the author recalls again his central theme of the sacrifice of Jesus and the courage needed to associate oneself with it in faith (Hb 13:9–16).

As early as the end of the second century, the church of Alexandria in Egypt accepted Hebrews as a letter of Paul, and that became the view commonly held in the East. Pauline authorship was contested in the West into the fourth century, but then accepted. In the sixteenth century, doubts about that position were again raised, and the modern consensus is that the letter was not written by Paul. There is, however, no widespread agreement on any of the other suggested authors, e.g., Barnabas, Apollos, or Prisc(ill)a and Aquila. The document itself has no statement about its author.

Among the reasons why Pauline authorship has been abandoned are the great difference of vocabulary and style between Hebrews and Paul’s letters, the alternation of doctrinal teaching with moral exhortation, the different manner of citing the Old Testament, and the resemblance between the thought of Hebrews and that of Alexandrian Judaism. The Greek of the letter is in many ways the best in the New Testament.

Since the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, written about A.D. 96, most probably cites Hebrews, the upper limit for the date of composition is reasonably certain. While the letter’s references in the present tense to the Old Testament sacrificial worship do not necessarily show that temple worship was still going on, many older commentators and a growing number of recent ones favor the view that it was and that the author wrote before the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. In that case, the argument of the letter is more easily explained as directed toward Jewish Christians rather than those of Gentile origin, and the persecutions they have suffered in the past (cf. Hb 10:32–34) may have been connected with the disturbances that preceded the expulsion of the Jews from Rome in A.D. 49 under the emperor Claudius. These were probably caused by disputes between Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not.

 **The Divisions of The Letter to The Hebrews**

The principal divisions of the Letter to the Hebrews are the following:

**I. Introduction (1:1–4)**

**II. The Son Higher Than the Angels (1:5–2:18)**

**III. Jesus, Faithful and Compassionate High Priest (3:1–5:10)**

**IV. Jesus’ Eternal Priesthood and Eternal Sacrifice (5:11–10:39)**

**V. Examples, Discipline, Disobedience (11:1–12:29)**

**VI. Final Exhortation, Blessing, Greetings (13:1–25)**

## CHAPTER 1

**1** In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; **2** in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe,

**3** who is the refulgence of his glory,

he very imprint of his being,

and who sustains all things by his mighty word.

When he had accomplished purification from sins,

he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

**4** as far superior to the angels

as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

### Messianic Enthronement.

**5** For to which of the angels did God ever say:

“You are my son; this day I have begotten you”?

Or again:

“I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me”?

**6** And again, when he leads

the first-born into the world, he says:

“Let all the angels of God worship him.”

**7** Of the angels he says:

“He makes his angels winds

and his ministers a fiery flame”;

**8** but of the Son:

“Your throne, O God,

stands forever and ever;

and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

**9** You loved justice and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, anointed you

with the oil of gladness above your companions”;

**10** and:

“At the beginning, O Lord, you established the earth,

and the heavens are the works of your hands.

**11** They will perish, but you remain;

and they will all grow old like a garment.

**12** You will roll them up like a cloak,

and like a garment they will be changed.

But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

**13** But to which of the angels has he ever said:

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies your footstool”?

**14** Are they not all ministering spirits sent to serve, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

## CHAPTER 2

### Exhortation to Faithfulness.

**1** Therefore, we must attend all the more to what we have heard, so that we may not be carried away. **2** For if the word announced through angels proved firm, and every transgression and disobedience received its just recompense, **3** how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? Announced originally through the Lord, it was confirmed for us by those who had heard. **4** God added his testimony by signs, wonders, various acts of power, and distribution of the gifts of the holy Spirit according to his will.

### Exaltation Through Abasement.

**5** For it was not to angels that he subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. **6** Instead, someone has testified somewhere:

“What is man that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man that you care for him?

**7** You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

you crowned him with glory and honor,

**8** subjecting all things under his feet.”

In “subjecting” all things [to him], he left nothing not “subject to him.” Yet at present we do not see “all things subject to him,” **9** but we do see Jesus “crowned with glory and honor” because he suffered death, he who “for a little while” was made “lower than the angels,” that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

**10** For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering. **11** He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers,” **12** saying:

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers,

in the midst of the assembly I will praise you”;

**13** and again:

“I will put my trust in him”;

and again:

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

**14** Now since the children share in blood and flesh, he likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, **15** and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life. **16** Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham; **17** therefore, he had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. **18** Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

## CHAPTER 3

### Jesus, Superior to Moses.

**1** Therefore, holy “brothers,” sharing in a heavenly calling, reflect on Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, **2** who was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was “faithful in [all] his house.” **3** But he is worthy of more “glory” than Moses, as the founder of a house has more “honor” than the house itself. **4** Every house is founded by someone, but the founder of all is God. **5** Moses was “faithful in all his house” as a “servant” to testify to what would be spoken, **6** but Christ was faithful as a son placed over his house. We are his house, if [only] we hold fast to our confidence and pride in our hope.

### Israel’s Infidelity a Warning.

**7** Therefore, as the holy Spirit says:

“Oh, that today you would hear his voice,

**8** ‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion

in the day of testing in the desert,

**9** where your ancestors tested and tried me

and saw my works **10** for forty years.

Because of this I was provoked with that generation

and I said, “They have always been of erring heart,

and they do not know my ways.”

**11** As I swore in my wrath,

“They shall not enter into my rest.”’”

**12** Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. **13** Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. **14** We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end, **15** for it is said:

“Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.’”

**16** Who were those who rebelled when they heard? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt under Moses? **17** With whom was he “provoked for forty years”? Was it not those who had sinned, whose corpses fell in the desert? **18** And to whom did he “swear that they should not enter into his rest,” if not to those who were disobedient? **19** And we see that they could not enter for lack of faith.

## Chapter 4

### The Sabbath Rest.

**1** Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. **2** For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened. **3** For we who believed enter into [that] rest, just as he has said:

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter into my rest,’”

and yet his works were accomplished at the foundation of the world. **4** For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”; **5** and again, in the previously mentioned place, “They shall not enter into my rest.” **6** Therefore, since it remains that some will enter into it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, **7** he once more set a day, “today,” when long afterwards he spoke through David, as already quoted:

“Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

‘Harden not your hearts.’”

**8** Now if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterwards of another day. **9** Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. **10** And whoever enters into God’s rest, rests from his own works as God did from his. **11** Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience.

**12** Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. **13** No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

### Jesus, Compassionate High Priest.

**14** Therefore, 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. **15** For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. **16** So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

## Chapter 5

1 Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness 3 and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. 4 No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him:

“You are my son;

this day I have begotten you”;

6 just as he says in another place:

“You are a priest forever

according to the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; 9 and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 declared by God high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

### Exhortation to Spiritual Renewal.

**11** About this we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, for you have become sluggish in hearing. **12** Although you should be teachers by this time, you need to have someone teach you again the basic elements of the utterances of God. You need milk, [and] not solid food. **13** Everyone who lives on milk lacks experience of the word of righteousness, for he is a child. **14** But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties are trained by practice to discern good and evil.

## CHAPTER 6

**1** Therefore, let us leave behind the basic teaching about Christ and advance to maturity, without laying the foundation all over again: repentance from dead works and faith in God, **2** instruction about baptisms and laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. **3** And we shall do this, if only God permits. **4** For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the holy Spirit **5** and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, **6** and then have fallen away, to bring them to repentance again, since they are recrucifying the Son of God for themselves and holding him up to contempt. **7** Ground that has absorbed the rain falling upon it repeatedly and brings forth crops useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. **8** But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is rejected; it will soon be cursed and finally burned.

**9** But we are sure in your regard, beloved, of better things related to salvation, even though we speak in this way. **10** For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones. **11** We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, **12** so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.

### God’s Promise Immutable.

**13** When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, “he swore by himself,” **14** and said, “I will indeed bless you and multiply” you. **15** And so, after patient waiting, he obtained the promise. **16** Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument. **17** So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath, **18** so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. **19** This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, **20** where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

## CHAPTER 7

### Melchizedek, a Type of Christ.

**1** This “Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High,” “met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings” and “blessed him.” **2** And Abraham apportioned to him “a tenth of everything.” His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. **3** Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

**4** See how great he is to whom the patriarch “Abraham [indeed] gave a tenth” of his spoils. **5** The descendants of Levi who receive the office of priesthood have a commandment according to the law to exact tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, although they also have come from the loins of Abraham. **6** But he who was not of their ancestry received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. **7** Unquestionably, a lesser person is blessed by a greater. **8** In the one case, mortal men receive tithes; in the other, a man of whom it is testified that he lives on. **9** One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, was tithed through Abraham, **10** for he was still in his father’s loins when Melchizedek met him.

**11** If, then, perfection came through the levitical priesthood, on the basis of which the people received the law, what need would there still have been for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not reckoned according to the order of Aaron? **12** When there is a change of priesthood, there is necessarily a change of law as well. **13** Now he of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, of which no member ever officiated at the altar. **14** It is clear that our Lord arose from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. **15** It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek, **16** who has become so, not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. **17** For it is testified:

“You are a priest forever

according to the order of Melchizedek.”

**18** On the one hand, a former commandment is annulled because of its weakness and uselessness, **19** for the law brought nothing to perfection; on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. **20** And to the degree that this happened not without the taking of an oath—for others became priests without an oath, **21** but he with an oath, through the one who said to him:

“The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent:

‘You are a priest forever’”—

**22** to that same degree has Jesus [also] become the guarantee of an [even] better covenant. **23** Those priests were many because they were prevented by death from remaining in office, **24** but he, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. **25** Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.

**26** It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. **27** He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. **28** For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law, appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever.

## CHAPTER 8

### Heavenly Priesthood of Jesus.

**1** The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, **2** a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. **3** Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus the necessity for this one also to have something to offer. **4** If then he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law. **5** They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” **6** Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.

### Old and New Covenants.

**7** For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second one. **8** But he finds fault with them and says:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

**9** It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers

the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;

for they did not stand by my covenant

and I ignored them, says the Lord.

**10** But this is the covenant I will establish with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their minds

and I will write them upon their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

**11** And they shall not teach, each one his fellow citizen

and kinsman, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

for all shall know me,

from least to greatest.

**12** For I will forgive their evildoing

and remember their sins no more.”

**13** When he speaks of a “new” covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. And what has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.

## CHAPTER 9

### The Worship of the First Covenant.

**1** Now [even] the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. **2** For a tabernacle was constructed, the outer one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering; this is called the Holy Place. **3** Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, **4** in which were the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant. **5** Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of expiation. Now is not the time to speak of these in detail.

**6** With these arrangements for worship, the priests, in performing their service, go into the outer tabernacle repeatedly, **7** but the high priest alone goes into the inner one once a year, not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people. **8** In this way the holy Spirit shows that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been revealed while the outer tabernacle still had its place. **9** This is a symbol of the present time, in which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper in conscience **10** but only in matters of food and drink and various ritual washings: regulations concerning the flesh, imposed until the time of the new order.

### Sacrifice of Jesus.

**11** But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, **12** he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. **13** For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, **14** how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

**15** For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. **16** Now where there is a will, the death of the testator must be established. **17** For a will takes effect only at death; it has no force while the testator is alive. **18** Thus not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. **19** When every commandment had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves [and goats], together with water and crimson wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, **20** saying, “This is ‘the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined upon you.’” **21** In the same way, he sprinkled also the tabernacle and all the vessels of worship with blood. **22** According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

**23** Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified by these rites, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these. **24** For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. **25** Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; **26** if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. **27** Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, **28** so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

## CHAPTER 10

### One Sacrifice Instead of Many.

**1** Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year. **2** Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer have had any consciousness of sins? **3** But in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins, **4** for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins. **5** For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

**6** holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.

**7** Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,

Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”

**8** First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. **9** Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. **10** By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

**11** Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. **12** But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; **13** now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool. **14** For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated. **15** The holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying:

**16** “This is the covenant I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord:

‘I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them upon their minds,’”

**17** he also says:

“Their sins and their evildoing

I will remember no more.”

**18** Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.

### Recalling the Past.

**19** Therefore, brothers, since through the blood of Jesus we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary **20** by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, **21** and since we have “a great priest over the house of God,” **22** let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. **23** Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy. **24** We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. **25** We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.

**26** If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins **27** but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. **28** Anyone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. **29** Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant-blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit of grace? **30** We know the one who said:

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay,”

and again:

“The Lord will judge his people.”

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

**32** Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. **33** At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated. **34** You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession. **35** Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. **36** You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

**37** “For, after just a brief moment,

he who is to come shall come;

he shall not delay.

**38** But my just one shall live by faith,

and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.”

**39** We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life.

## CHAPTER 11

### Faith of the Ancients.

**1** Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. **2** Because of it the ancients were well attested. **3** By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible. **4** By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice greater than Cain’s. Through this he was attested to be righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts, and through this, though dead, he still speaks. **5** By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and “he was found no more because God had taken him.” Before he was taken up, he was attested to have pleased God. **6** But without faith it is impossible to please him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. **7** By faith Noah, warned about what was not yet seen, with reverence built an ark for the salvation of his household. Through this he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes through faith.

**8** By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. **9** By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; **10** for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. **11** By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. **12** So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore.

**13** All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, **14** for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. **15** If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. **16** But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

**17** By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, **18** of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” **19** He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol. **20** By faith regarding things still to come Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. **21** By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and “bowed in worship, leaning on the top of his staff.” **22** By faith Joseph, near the end of his life, spoke of the Exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his bones.

**23** By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. **24** By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; **25** he chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. **26** He considered the reproach of the Anointed greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the recompense. **27** By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s fury, for he persevered as if seeing the one who is invisible. **28** By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. **29** By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted it they were drowned. **30** By faith the walls of Jericho fell after being encircled for seven days. **31** By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with the disobedient, for she had received the spies in peace.

**32** What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, **33** who by faith conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions, **34** put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword; out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle, and turned back foreign invaders. **35** Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection. **36** Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. **37** They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point; they went about in skins of sheep or goats, needy, afflicted, tormented. **38** The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and on mountains, in caves and in crevices in the earth.

**39** Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. **40** God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect.

## CHAPTER 12

### God Our Father.

**1** Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us **2** while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. **3** Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. **4** In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. **5** You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons:

“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord

or lose heart when reproved by him;

**6** for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;

he scourges every son he acknowledges.”

**7** Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? **8** If you are without discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards. **9** Besides this, we have had our earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not [then] submit all the more to the Father of spirits and live? **10** They disciplined us for a short time as seemed right to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we may share his holiness. **11** At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

**12** So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. **13** Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.

### Penalties of Disobedience.

**14** Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. **15** See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled, **16** that no one be an immoral or profane person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. **17** For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit his father’s blessing, he was rejected because he found no opportunity to change his mind, even though he sought the blessing with tears.

**18** You have not approached that which could be touched and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness and storm **19** and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them, **20** for they could not bear to hear the command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” **21** Indeed, so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” **22** No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, **23** and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, **24** and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.

**25** See that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much more in our case if we turn away from the one who warns from heaven. **26** His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only earth but heaven.” **27** That phrase, “once more,” points to [the] removal of shaken, created things, so that what is unshaken may remain. **28** Therefore, we who are receiving the unshakable kingdom should have gratitude, with which we should offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe. **29** For our God is a consuming fire.

## CHAPTER 13

**1** Let mutual love continue. **2** Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. **3** Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body. **4** Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the immoral and adulterers. **5** Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never forsake you or abandon you.” **6** Thus we may say with confidence:

“The Lord is my helper,

[and] I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?”

**7** Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. **8** Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

**9** Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching. It is good to have our hearts strengthened by grace and not by foods, which do not benefit those who live by them. **10** We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. **11** The bodies of the animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. **12** Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, to consecrate the people by his own blood. **13** Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach that he bore. **14** For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come. **15** Through him [then] let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. **16** Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.

**17** Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you.

**18** Pray for us, for we are confident that we have a clear conscience, wishing to act rightly in every respect. **19** I especially ask for your prayers that I may be restored to you very soon.

**20** May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord, **21** furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever [and ever]. Amen.

**22** Brothers, I ask you to bear with this message of encouragement, for I have written to you rather briefly. **23** I must let you know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, I shall see you together with him. **24** Greetings to all your leaders and to all the holy ones. Those from Italy send you greetings. **25** Grace be with all of you.

## FOOTNOTES

**Hebrews 1:1-Hebrews 1:4:**

The letter opens with an introduction consisting of a reflection on the climax of God’s revelation to the human race in his Son.

The divine communication was initiated and maintained during Old Testament times in fragmentary and varied ways through **the prophets** **(Hebrews 1:1)**, including Abraham, Moses, and all through whom God spoke.

But now **in these last days** **(Hebrews 1:2)** the final age, God’s revelation of his saving purpose is achieved **through a son**, i.e., one who is Son, whose role is redeemer and mediator of creation.

He was made **heir of all things** through his death and exaltation to glory, yet he existed before he appeared as man; through him God **created the universe**.

**Hebrews 1:3–Hebrews 1:4**, which may be based upon a liturgical hymn, assimilate the Son to the personified Wisdom of the Old Testament as **refulgence of** God’s **glory** and **imprint of his being** **(Hebrews 1:3;** **cf.** **Wisdom 7:26).**

These same terms are used of the Logos in Philo.

The author now turns from the cosmological role of the preexistent Son to the redemptive work of Jesus: he brought about purification from sins and has been exalted to the right hand of God **(see** **Psalms 110:1).**

The once-humiliated and crucified Jesus has been declared God’s Son, and this name shows his superiority to the angels.

The reason for the author’s insistence on that superiority is, among other things, that in some Jewish traditions angels were mediators of the old covenant **(see** **Acts 7:53;** **And** **Galatians 3:19).**

Finally, Jesus’ superiority to the angels emphasizes the superiority of the new covenant to the old because of the heavenly priesthood of Jesus.
**Hebrews 1:5-Hebrews 1:14:**

Jesus’ superiority to the angels is now demonstrated by a series of seven Old Testament texts.

Some scholars see in the stages of Jesus’ exaltation an order corresponding to that of enthronement ceremonies in the ancient Near East, especially in Egypt, namely, elevation to divine status **(Hebrews 1:5–Hebrews 1:6)**; presentation to the angels and proclamation of everlasting lordship **(Hebrews 1:7–Hebrews 1:12)**; enthronement and conferral of royal power **(Hebrews 1:13)**.

The citations from the Psalms in **Hebrews 1:5,** **And** **Hebrews 1:13** were traditionally used of Jesus’ messianic sonship **(cf.** **Acts 13:33)** through his resurrection and exaltation **(cf.** **Acts 2:33–Acts 2:35)**; those in **Hebrews 1:8,** **And** **Hebrews 1:10–Hebrews 1:12** are concerned with his divine kingship and his creative function.

The central quotation in **Hebrews 1:7** serves to contrast the angels with the Son.

The author quotes it according to the Septuagint translation, which is quite different in meaning from that of the Hebrew (“You make the winds your messengers, and flaming fire your ministers”).

The angels are only **sent to serve...those who are to inherit salvation** **(Hebrews 1:14).**
**Hebrews 1:6:**
**And again, when he leads:**

the Greek could also be translated

“And when he again leads”

in reference to the parousia.
**Hebrews 1:8-Hebrews 1:12:**
**O God:**

the application of the name “God” to the Son derives from the preexistence mentioned in **Hebrews 1:2–Hebrews 1:3**; the psalmist had already used it of the Hebrew king in the court style of the original.

**See** **note** **on** **Psalms 45:7.**

It is also important for the author’s christology that in **Hebrews 1:10–Hebrews 1:12** an Old Testament passage addressed to God is redirected to Jesus.
**Hebrews 2:1-Hebrews 2:4:**

The author now makes a transition into exhortation, using an a fortiori argument (as at Hb 7:21–22; 9:13–14; 10:28–29; 12:25).

The word announced through angels **(Hebrews 2:2)**, the Mosaic law, is contrasted with the more powerful word that Christians have received **(Hebrews 2:3–Hebrews 2:4)**.

Christ’s supremacy strengthens Christians against being carried away from their faith.

## CROSS-REFERENCES

**Hebrews 1:2:**
**Isaiah 2:2,** **Jeremiah 23:20,** **Ezekiel 38:16,** **Daniel 10:14,** **John 3:17,** **Romans 8:3,** **Galatians 4:4,** **Proverbs 8:30,** **Wisdom 7:22, John 1:3,** **1 Corinthians 8:6,** **And** **Colossians 1:16.**
**Isaiah 2:2.** **NABRE:**
**Zion, the Royal City of God**
**2** In days to come,

The mountain of the Lord’s house

shall be established as the highest mountain

and raised above the hills.

All nations shall stream toward it.

**Jeremiah 23:20.** **NABRE:**
**20** The anger of the Lord shall not abate

until he has carried out completely

the decisions of his heart.

In days to come

you will understand fully.

**Ezekiel 38:16.** **NABRE:**
**16** You shall rise up over my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In those last days, I will let you invade my land so that the nations acknowledge me, when in their sight I show my holiness through you, Gog.

**Daniel 10:14.** **NABRE:**
**14** and came to make you understand what shall happen to your people in the last days; for there is yet a vision concerning those days.”

**John 3:17.** **NABRE:**
**17** For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

**Romans 8:3.** **NABRE:**
**3** For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

**Galatians 4:4.** **NABRE:**
**4** But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

**Proverbs 8:30.** **NABRE:**
**30** then was I beside him as artisan;

I was his delight day by day,

 playing before him all the while,

**Wisdom 7:22.** **NABRE:**
**22** for Wisdom, the artisan of all, taught me.

**Nature and Incomparable Dignity of Wisdom**

For in her is a spirit

intelligent, holy, unique,

Manifold, subtle, agile,

clear, unstained, certain,

Never harmful, loving the good, keen,

**John 1:3.** **NABRE:**
**3** All things came to be through him,

 and without him nothing came to be.

What came to be

**1 Corinthians 8:6.** **NABRE:**
**6** yet for us there is

one God, the Father,

from whom all things are and for whom we exist,

and one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom all things are and through whom we exist.

**Colossians 1:16.** **NABRE:**

For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible,...
**Hebrews 1:3:**
**Wisdom 7:26,** **2 Corinthians 4:4,** **Colossians 1:15,** **Hebrews 8:1,** **Hebrews 10:12,** **Hebrews 12:2,** **Mark 16:19,** **Acts 2:33,** **Acts 7:55-Acts 7:56,** **Romans 8:34,** **Ephesians 1:20,** **Colossians 3:1,** **And** **1 Peter 3:22.**
**Wisdom 7:26.** **NABRE:**
**26** For she is the reflection of eternal light,

the spotless mirror of the power of God,

the image of his goodness.

**2 Corinthians 4:4.** **NABRE:**
**4** in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

**Colossians 1:15.** **NABRE:**
**II. THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST**
**His Person and Work**
**15** He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation.

**Hebrews 8:1.** **NABRE:**
**Chapter 8**
**Heavenly Priesthood of Jesus.**
**1** The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

**Hebrews 10:12.** **NABRE:**
**12** But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God;

**Hebrews 12:2.** **NABRE:**
**2** while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

**Mark 16:19.** **NABRE:**
**The Ascension of Jesus.**
**19** So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.

**Acts 2:33.** **NABRE:**
**33** Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you [both] see and hear.

**Acts 7:55-Acts 7:56.** **NABRE:**
**55** But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, **56** and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

**Romans 8:34.** **NABRE:**
**34** Who will condemn? It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

**Ephesians 1:20.** **NABRE:**
**20** which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens,

**Colossians 3:1.** **NABRE:**
**IV. THE IDEAL CHRISTIAN LIFE IN THE WORLD**
**Chapter 3**
**Mystical Death and Resurrection.**
**1** If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

**1 Peter 3:22.** **NABRE:**
**22** who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
**Hebrews 1:4:**
**Ephesians 1:21,** **And** **Philippians 2:9-Philippians 2:11.**
**Ephesians 1:21.** **NABRE:**
**21** far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.

**Philippians 2:9-Philippians 2:11.** **NABRE:**
**9** Because of this, God greatly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name

that is above every name,

**10** that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

**11** and every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

**Obedience and Service in the World.**
**Hebrews 1:5:**
**Psalms 2:7,** **And** **2 Samuel 7:14.**
**Psalms 2:7.** **NABRE:**
**7** I will proclaim the decree of the Lord,

he said to me, “You are my son;

today I have begotten you.

**2 Samuel 7:14.** **NABRE:**
**14** I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and with human punishments;
**Hebrews 1:6:**
**Deuteronomy 32:43,** **And** **Psalm 97:7.**
**Deuteronomy 32:43.** **NABRE:**
**43** Exult with him, you heavens,

bow to him, all you divine beings!

For he will avenge the blood of his servants,

take vengeance on his foes;

He will requite those who hate him,

and purge his people’s land.

**Psalm 97:7.** **NABRE:**
**II**
**7** All who serve idols are put to shame,

who glory in worthless things;

all gods bow down before him.
**Psalms 104:4.**
**Psalms 104:4.** **NABRE:**
**4** You make the winds your messengers;

flaming fire, your ministers.
**Hebrews 1:8:**
**Psalms 45:7-Psalms 45:8.**
**Psalms 45:7-Psalms 45:8.** **NABRE**
**7** Your throne, O God, stands forever;

your royal scepter is a scepter for justice.

**8** You love justice and hate wrongdoing;

therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness above your fellow kings.
**Hebrews 1:10-Hebrews 1:12:**
**Psalms 102:26-Psalms 102:28.**
**Psalms 102:26-Psalms 102:28.** **NABRE:**
**26** Of old you laid the earth’s foundations;

the heavens are the work of your hands.

**27** They perish, but you remain;

they all wear out like a garment;

Like clothing you change them and they are changed,

**28** but you are the same, your years have no end.
**Hebrews 1:13:**
**Psalms 110:1.**
**Psalms 110:1.** **NABRE:**
**Psalm 110**
**God Appoints the King both King and Priest**
**1** A psalm of David.

The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand,

while I make your enemies your footstool.”
**Hebrews 1:14:**
**Psalms 91:11,** **And** **Daniel 7:10.**
**Psalms 91:11.** **NABRE:**
**11** For he commands his angels with regard to you,

to guard you wherever you go.

**Daniel 7:10.** **NABRE:**
**10** A river of fire surged forth,

flowing from where he sat;

Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,

and myriads upon myriads stood before him.

The court was convened, and the books were opened.

## OTHER BOOKS OF THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE - REVISED EDITION TRANSLATION

 **THE BOOKS OF THE CATHOLIC BIBLE IN THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE - REVISED EDITION TRANSLATION**

### Old Testament

#### The Pentateuch:

1. The Book of Genesis
2. The Book of Exodus
3. The Book of Leviticus
4. The Book of Numbers
5. The Book of Deuteronomy

#### The Historical Books:

1. The Book of Joshua
2. The Book of Judges
3. The Book of Ruth
4. The First Book of Samuel
5. The Second Book of Samuel
6. The First Book of Kings
7. The Second Book of Kings
8. The First Book of Chronicles
9. The Second Book of Chronicles
10. The Book of Ezra
11. The Book of Nehemiah

#### The Biblical Novellas:

1. The Book of Tobit
2. The Book of Judith
3. The Book of Esther

#### The Maccabean Books:

1. The First Book of Maccabees
2. The Second Book of Maccabees

#### The Poetic Books:

1. The Book of Job
2. The Book of Psalms
3. The Book of Proverbs
4. The Book of Ecclesiastes
5. The Song of Songs
6. The Book of Wisdom
7. The Wisdom of Ben Sira

#### The Prophetic Books:

1. The Book of Isaiah
2. The Book of Jeremiah
3. The Book of Lamentations
4. The Book of Baruch
5. The Book of Ezekiel
6. The Book of Daniel
7. The Book of Hosea
8. The Book of Joel
9. The Book of Amos
10. The Book of Obadiah
11. The Book of Jonah
12. The Book of Micah
13. The Book of Nahum
14. The Book of Habakkuk
15. The Book of Zephaniah
16. The Book of Haggai
17. The Book of Zechariah
18. The Book of Malachi

### New Testament

#### The Four Gospels

1. The Gospel according to Matthew
2. The Gospel according to Mark
3. The Gospel according to Luke
4. The Gospel according to John

#### The Pauline Letters

1. The Letter to The Romans
2. The First Letter to The Corinthians
3. The Second Letter to The Corinthians
4. The Letter to The Galatians
5. The Letter to The Ephesians
6. The Letter to The Philippians
7. The Letter to The Colossians
8. The First Letter to The Thessalonians
9. The Second Letter to The Thessalonians
10. The First Letter to Timothy
11. The Second Letter to Timothy
12. The Letter to Titus
13. The Letter to Philemon

#### The General Letters/Catholic Letters

1. The Letter of James
2. The First Letter of Peter
3. The Second Letter of Peter
4. The First Letter of John
5. The Second Letter of John
6. The Third Letter of John
7. The Letter of Jude