A Letter to the HEBREWS Chapter5

The Letter to the HEBREWS

 Chapter Five 

1 For 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. 

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

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

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

5 So 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”;

6 as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,

       after the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In 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. 

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

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

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

Warning Against Falling Away

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 

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

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

  

A Letter to the HEBREWS Chapter4

The Letter to the HEBREWS

 Chapter Four

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

2 For 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. 

3 For 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. 

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

5 And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again 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.”

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

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

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

12 For 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. 

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

Jesus the Great High Priest

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

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

16 Let 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.

A Letter to the HEBREWS Chapter3

The Letter to the HEBREWS - Chapter Three

Jesus Greater Than Moses

1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honour than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

A Rest for the People of God

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 

“Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.

10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;  they have not known my ways.’

11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today”, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

A Letter to the HEBREWS Chapter2

The Letter to the HEBREWS  Chapter Two

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 

2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,

3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 

4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

The Founder of Salvation

5 Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been 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 have crowned him with glory and honour,

8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

    in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”  And again,

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

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Psalm 60

Psalm 60

He Will Tread Down Our Foes

To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

1

O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;

    you have been angry; oh, restore us.

2 

You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open;

    repair its breaches, for it totters.

3 

You have made your people see hard things;

    you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

4 

You have set up a banner for those who fear you,

    that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah

5 

That your beloved ones may be delivered,

    give salvation by your right hand and answer us!

6 

God has spoken in his holiness:

    “With exultation I will divide up Shechem

    and portion out the Vale of Succoth.

7 

Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;

    Ephraim is my helmet;

    Judah is my scepter.

8 

Moab is my washbasin;

    upon Edom I cast my shoe;

    over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

9 

Who will bring me to the fortified city?

    Who will lead me to Edom?

10 

Have you not rejected us, O God?

    You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.

11 

Oh, grant us help against the foe,

    for vain is the salvation of man!

12 

With God we shall do valiantly;

    it is he who will tread down our foes.

PSALMS 58 and 59

Psalm 58

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. 

A Miktam of David.

1 

Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?

    Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

2 

No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;

    your hands deal out violence on earth.

3 

The wicked are estranged from the womb;

    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

4 

They have venom like the venom of a serpent,

    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

5 

so that it does not hear the voice of charmers

    or of the cunning enchanter.

6 

O God, break the teeth in their mouths;

    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

7 

Let them vanish like water that runs away;

    when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

8 

Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,

    like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

9 

Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,

    whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10 

The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;

    he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 

Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;

    surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Psalm 59

Deliver Me from My Enemies

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. 

A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.

1

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

    protect me from those who rise up against me;

2 

deliver me from those who work evil,

    and save me from bloodthirsty men.

3 

For behold, they lie in wait for my life;

    fierce men stir up strife against me.

For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,

4 

    for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.

Awake, come to meet me, and see!

5 

    You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.

Rouse yourself to punish all the nations;

    spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

6 

Each evening they come back,

    howling like dogs

    and prowling about the city.

7 

There they are, bellowing with their mouths

    with swords in their lips—

    for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”

8 

But you, O Lord, laugh at them;

    you hold all the nations in derision.

9 

O my Strength, I will watch for you,

    for you, O God, are my fortress.

10 

My God in his steadfast love[c will meet me;

    God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

11 

Kill them not, lest my people forget;

    make them totter[d] by your power and bring them down,

    O Lord, our shield!

12 

For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,

    let them be trapped in their pride.

For the cursing and lies that they utter,

13 

    consume them in wrath;

    consume them till they are no more,

that they may know that God rules over Jacob

    to the ends of the earth. Selah

14 

Each evening they come back,

    howling like dogs

    and prowling about the city.

15 

They wander about for food

    and growl if they do not get their fill.

16 

But I will sing of your strength;

    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress

    and a refuge in the day of my distress.

17 

O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,

    for you, O God, are my fortress,

    the God who shows me steadfast love.