Hebrews
Chapter 7
1 Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of God most high, met Abraham as he returned from defeating the kings and blessed him.
2 Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. He is first called the King of Righteousness, then also the King of Salem, meaning King of Peace.
3 Without a father or mother, without family history, having no start or end to life; but made similar to God’s Son; remains a priest forever.
4 Think about how important this man was, to whom even Abraham, the ancestor, gave a tenth of the goods he won.
5 Truly, the descendants of Levi who become priests are commanded to collect a tenth part of the people’s goods by the law, even from their own relatives who are also descendants of Abraham.
6 The person who did not come from Abraham’s family line still got a tenth of what Abraham had, and blessed Abraham who had been given God’s promises.
7 Without any doubt, the lesser is blessed by the greater.
8 Here, people who will die collect tithes; but there, God collects them, who is known to be alive.
9 I can also say that Levi, who gets tithes, paid tithes through Abraham.
10 He was still in his father’s body when Melchisedec met him.
11 So if the Levitical priests could have made everything perfect, (because under them the people got the law,) why did we need another priest like Melchisedec instead of one from Aaron’s family?
12 When the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed as well.
13 He about whom these things are said belongs to a different tribe, one that has no one serving at the altar.
14 It is clear that our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, a tribe Moses said nothing about regarding priests.
15 It’s even clearer that another priest comes who is like Melchisedec.
16 He was chosen not by the rule of a physical command, but by the power of a life that never ends.
17 He says, “You are a priest forever, following the way of Melchizedek.”
18 Truly, the old rule is cancelled because it was weak and useless.
19 The law made nothing perfect, but a better hope did, and through this we come close to God.
20 Because God made a promise, he became a priest.
21 The previous priests became priests without a promise, but this priest was chosen with a promise when God said to him, “I have promised, and I will not change my mind: you will be a priest forever, just like Melchizedek.”
22 Jesus became a guaranteed promise of a better agreement.
23 There were many priests, because they could not continue their work when they died.
24 This man has a permanent priesthood because he lives forever.
25 He can fully save those who come to God through him, because he always lives to speak for them.
26 A high priest like this suits us, holy, innocent, pure, apart from sinners, and raised above the heavens.
27 He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day like the high priests, who first do it for their own sins, then for the people’s sins. He did this once for all when he sacrificed himself.
28 The law appoints men as high priests even though they have weaknesses; but the promise that came after the law appoints the Son, who is made perfect forever.