1 S o let us leave the first things you need to know about Christ. Let us go on to the teaching that full-grown Christians should understand. We do not need to teach these first truths again. You already know that you must be sorry for your sins and turn from them. You know that you must have faith in God.

Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let us press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God,

2 Y ou know about being baptized and about putting hands on people. You know about being raised from the dead and about being punished forever.

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

3 W e will go on, if God lets us.

This will we do, if God permits.

4 T here are those who have known the truth. They have received the gift from heaven. They have shared the Holy Spirit.

For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5 T hey know how good the Word of God is. They know of the powers of the world to come.

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

6 B ut if they turn away, they cannot be sorry for their sins and turn from them again. It is because they are nailing the Son of God on a cross again. They are holding Him up in shame in front of all people.

and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame.

7 I t is the same with a piece of ground that has had many rains fall on it. God makes it possible for that ground to give good fruits and vegetables.

For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it, and produces a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God;

8 B ut if it gives nothing but weeds, it is worth nothing. It will be hated and destroyed by fire.

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

9 D ear friends, even as we tell you this, we are sure of better things for you. These things go along with being saved from the punishment of sin.

But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this.

10 G od always does what is right. He will not forget the work you did to help the Christians and the work you are still doing to help them. This shows your love for Christ.

For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.

11 W e want each one of you to keep on working to the end. Then what you hope for, will happen.

We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end,

12 D o not be lazy. Be like those who have faith and have not given up. They will receive what God has promised them. God’s Promise

that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherited the promises.

13 W hen God made a promise to Abraham, He made that promise in His own name because no one was greater.

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

14 H e said, “I will make you happy in so many ways. For sure, I will give you many children.”

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

15 A braham was willing to wait and God gave to him what He had promised.

Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

16 W hen men make a promise, they use a name greater than themselves. They do this to make sure they will do what they promise. In this way, no one argues about it.

For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.

17 A nd so God made a promise. He wanted to show Abraham that He would never change His mind. So He made the promise in His own name.

In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath;

18 G od gave these two things that cannot be changed and God cannot lie. We who have turned to Him can have great comfort knowing that He will do what He has promised.

that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us.

19 T his hope is a safe anchor for our souls. It will never move. This hope goes into the Holiest Place of All behind the curtain of heaven.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil;

20 J esus has already gone there. He has become our Religious Leader forever and has made the way for man to go to God. He is like Melchizedek.

where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.