010:018 But where these have been forgiven no further offering for
sin is required.
010:019 Since then, brethren, we have free access to the Holy place
through the blood of Jesus,
010:020 by the new and ever-living way which He opened up for us through
the rending of the veil--that is to say, of His earthly nature--
010:021 and since we have a great Priest who has authority over
the house of God,
010:022 let us draw near with sincerity and unfaltering faith,
having had our hearts sprinkled, once for all, from consciences
oppressed with sin, and our bodies bathed in pure water.
010:023 Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our hope,
for He is faithful who gave us the promises.
010:024 And let us bestow thought on one another with a view to arousing
one another to brotherly love and right conduct;
010:025 not neglecting--as some habitually do--to meet together,
but encouraging one another, and doing this all the more
since you can see the day of Christ approaching.
010:026 For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the full
knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains in reserve
any other sacrifice for sins.
010:027 There remains nothing but a certain awful expectation of judgement,
and the fury of a fire which before long will devour the enemies
of the truth.
010:028 Any one who bids defiance to the Law of Moses is put to death
without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
010:029 How much severer punishment, think you, will he be held to deserve
who has trampled under foot the Son of God, has not regarded
as holy that Covenant-blood with which he was set free from sin,
and has insulted the Spirit from whom comes grace?
010:030 For we know who it is that has said, "Vengeance belongs
to Me: I will pay back;" and again, "The Lord will be
His people's judge."
010:031 It is an awful thing to fall into the hands of the ever-living God.
010:032 But continually recall to mind the days now past, when on
being first enlightened you went through a great conflict
and many sufferings.
010:033 This was partly through allowing yourselves to be made
a public spectacle amid reproaches and persecutions,
and partly through coming forward to share the sufferings
of those who were thus treated.
010:034 For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned,
but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken
from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves
a more valuable possession and one which will remain.
010:035 Therefore do not cast from you your confident hope, for it
will receive a vast reward.
010:036 For you stand in need of patient endurance, so that,
as the result of having done the will of God, you may receive
the promised blessing.
010:037 For there is still but a short time and then "The coming One
will come and will not delay.
010:038 But it is by faith that My righteous servant shall live;
and if he shrinks back, My soul takes no pleasure in him."
010:039 But we are not people who shrink back and perish, but are among
those who believe and gain possession of their souls.
011:001 Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope,
and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.
011:002 For by it the saints of old won God's approval.
011:003 Through faith we understand that the worlds came into being,
and still exist, at the command of God, so that what is seen
does not owe its existence to that which is visible.
011:004 Through faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice
than Cain did, and through this faith he obtained testimony
that he was righteous, God giving the testimony by accepting
his gifts; and through it, though he is dead, he still speaks.
011:005 Through faith Enoch was taken from the earth so that he did
not see death, and he could not be found, because God
had taken him; for before he was taken we have evidence
that he truly pleased God.
011:006 But where there is no faith it is impossible truly to please Him;
for the man who draws near to God must believe that there
is a God and that He proves Himself a rewarder of those who
earnestly try to find Him.
011:007 Through faith Noah, being divinely taught about things as yet unseen,
reverently gave heed and built an ark for the safety of his family,
and by this act he condemned the world, and became an heir
of the righteousness which depends on faith.
011:008 Through faith Abraham, upon being called to leave home and go into
a land which he was soon to receive for an inheritance, obeyed;
and he went out, not knowing where he was going to.
011:009 Through faith he came and made his home for a time in a land
which had been promised to him, as if in a foreign country,
living in tents together with Isaac and Jacob, sharers with him
in the same promise;
011:010 for he continually looked forward to the city which has
the foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
011:011 Through faith even Sarah herself received strength to become
a mother--although she was past the time of life for this--
because she judged Him faithful who had given the promise.
011:012 And thus there sprang from one man, and him practically dead,
a nation like the stars of the sky in number, and like the sands
on the sea shore which cannot be counted.
011:013 All these died in the possession of faith. They had not received
the promised blessings, but had seen them from a distance
and had greeted them, and had acknowledged themselves to be
foreigners and strangers here on earth;
011:014 for men who acknowledge this make it manifest that they are
seeking elsewhere a country of their own.
011:015 And if they had cherished the remembrance of the country they
had left, they would have found an opportunity to return;
011:016 but, as it is, we see them eager for a better land, that is to say,
a heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for He has now prepared a city for them.
011:017 Through faith Abraham, as soon as God put him to the test,
offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had joyfully welcomed the promises
was on the point of sacrificing his only son
011:018 with regard to whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac
that your posterity shall be traced."
011:019 For he reckoned that God is even able to raise a man up from
among the dead, and, figuratively speaking, it was from among
the dead that he received Isaac again.
011:020 Through faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even in connexion
with things soon to come.
011:021 Through faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons,
and, leaning on the top of his staff, worshipped God.
011:022 Through faith Joseph, when he was near his end, made mention
of the departure of the descendants of Israel, and gave orders
about his own body.
011:023 Through faith the child Moses was hid for three months by
his parents, because they saw his rare beauty; and the king's
edict had no terror for them.
011:024 Through faith Moses, when he grew to manhood, refused to be
known as Pharaoh's daughter's son,
011:025 having determined to endure ill-treatment along with the people
of God rather than enjoy the short-lived pleasures of sin;
011:026 because he deemed the reproaches which he might meet
with in the service of the Christ to be greater riches
than all the treasures of Egypt; for he fixed his gaze on
the coming reward.
011:027 Through faith he left Egypt, not being frightened by the king's anger;
for he held on his course as seeing the unseen One.
011:028 Through faith he instituted the Passover, and the sprinkling
with blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not
touch the Israelites.
011:029 Through faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they
were passing over dry land, but the Egyptians, when they
tried to do the same, were swallowed up.
011:030 Through faith the walls of Jericho fell to the ground after
being surrounded for seven days.
011:031 Through faith the notorious sinner Rahab did not perish
along with the disobedient, for she had welcomed the spies
and had sheltered them.
011:032 And why need I say more? For time will fail me if I tell
the story of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and of David
and Samuel and the Prophets;
011:033 men who, as the result of faith, conquered whole kingdoms,
brought about true justice, obtained promises from God,
stopped lions' mouths,
011:034 deprived fire of its power, escaped being killed by the sword,
out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in war,
put to flight foreign armies.
011:035 Women received back their dear ones alive from the dead;
and others were put to death with torture, refusing the deliverance
offered to them--that they might secure a better resurrection.
011:036 Others again were tested by cruel mockery and by scourging;
yes, and by chains and imprisonment.
011:037 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were
tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword.
They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins,
enduring want, oppression and cruelty.
011:038 (They were men of whom the world was not worthy.)
They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves
in caves and in holes in the ground.
011:039 And although by their faith all these people won God's approval,
none of them received the fulfilment of His great promise;
011:040 for God had provided for them and us something better, so that
apart from us they were not to attain to full blessedness.
012:001 Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses,
let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily
entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance
the race that lies before us,
012:002 simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith,
who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy
which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with
contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself--
where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God.
012:003 Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted,
compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured
such hostility directed against Him by sinners.
012:004 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted so as
to endanger your lives;
012:005 and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are
addressed to you as sons, and which say, "My son, do not
think lightly of the Lord's discipline, and do not faint
when He corrects you;
012:006 for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines: and He scourges
every son whom He acknowledges."
012:007 The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline.
God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom
his father does not discipline?
012:008 And if you are left without discipline, of which every true
son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards,
and not true sons.
012:009 Besides this, our earthly fathers used to discipline us and we
treated them with respect, and shall we not be still more
submissive to the Father of our spirits, and live?
012:010 It is true that they disciplined us for a few years according
as they thought fit; but He does it for our certain good,
in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character.
012:011 Now, at the time, discipline seems to be a matter not for joy,
but for grief; yet it afterwards yields to those who have passed
through its training a result full of peace--namely, righteousness.
012:012 Therefore strengthen the drooping hands and paralysed knees,
012:013 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame
may not be put entirely out of joint
012:014 but may rather be restored. Persistently strive for peace
with all men, and for that growth in holiness apart from
which no one will see the Lord.
012:015 Be carefully on your guard lest there be any one who falls
back from the grace of God; lest any root bearing bitter
fruit spring up and cause trouble among you, and through it
the whole brotherhood be defiled;
012:016 lest there be a fornicator, or an ungodly person like Esau,
who, in return for a single meal, parted with the birthright
which belonged to him.
012:017 For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to secure
the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no opportunity
for undoing what he had done, though he sought the blessing
earnestly with tears.
012:018 For you have not come to a material object all ablaze with fire,
and to gloom and darkness and storm and trumpet-blast and
the sound of words--
012:019 a sound of such a kind that those who heard it entreated
that no more should be added.
012:020 For they could not endure the order which had been given,
"Even a wild beast, if it touches the mountain, shall be
stoned to death;"