Bible in 90 Days

1 Long ago, at different times and in various ways, God’s voice came to our ancestors through the Hebrew prophets. ² But in these last days, it has come to us through His Son, the One who has been given dominion over all things and through whom all worlds were made.

³ This is the One who—imprinted with God’s image, shimmering with His glory—sustains all that exists through the power of His word. He was seated at the right hand of God once He Himself had made the offering that purified us from all our sins. ⁴ This Son of God is elevated as far above the heavenly messengers as His holy name is elevated above theirs.

⁵ For no heavenly messengers have ever heard God address them with these words of the psalms:

Or heard Him promise,

⁶ Now, when the Son, the firstborn of God, was brought into the world, God said,

⁷ Concerning them, God said,

⁸ But to the Son He said,

¹⁰ And God continues,

¹³ Did God ever say to any of the heavenly messengers,

¹⁴ No, of course not. The heavenly messengers are only spirits and servants, sent out to minister to those who will certainly inherit salvation.

2 That is why we ought to pay even closer attention to the voice that has been speaking so that we will never drift away from it. ² For if the words of instruction and inspiration brought by heaven’s messengers were valid, and if we live in a universe where sin and disobedience receive their just rewards, ³ then how will we escape destruction if we ignore this great salvation? We heard it first from our Lord Jesus, then from those who passed on His teaching. ⁴ God also testifies to this truth by signs and wonders and miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit lighting on those He chooses.

⁵ Now clearly God didn’t set up the heavenly messengers to bring the final word or to rule over the world that is coming. ⁶ I have read something somewhere:

When God placed everything under the son of man, He didn’t leave out anything. Maybe we don’t see all that happening yet; ⁹ but what we do see is Jesus, born a little lower than the heavenly messengers, who is now crowned with glory and honor because He willingly suffered and died. And He did that so that through God’s grace, He might taste death on behalf of everyone.

¹⁰ It only makes sense that God, by whom and for whom everything exists, would choose to bring many of us to His side by using suffering to perfect Jesus, the founder of our faith, the pioneer of our salvation. ¹¹ As I will show you, it’s important that the One who brings us to God and those who are brought to God become one, since we are all from one Father. This is why Jesus was not ashamed to call us His family, ¹² saying, in the words of the psalmist,

¹³ And in the words of Isaiah,

And again,

¹⁴ Since we, the children, are all creatures of flesh and blood, Jesus took on flesh and blood, so that by dying He could destroy the one who held power over death—the devil— ¹⁵ and destroy the fear of death that has always held people captive.

¹⁶ So notice—His concern here is not for the welfare of the heavenly messengers, but for the children of Abraham. ¹⁷ He had to become as human as His sisters and brothers so that when the time came, He could become a merciful and faithful high priest of God, called to reconcile a sinful people. ¹⁸ Since He has also been tested by suffering, He can help us when we are tested.

3 So all of you who are holy partners in a heavenly calling, let’s turn our attention to Jesus, the Emissary of God and High Priest, who brought us the faith we profess; ² and compare Him to Moses, who also brought words from God. Both of them were faithful to their missions, to the One who called them. ³ But we value Jesus more than Moses, in the same way that we value a builder more than the house he builds. ⁴ Every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. ⁵ Moses brought healing and redemption to his people as a faithful servant in God’s house, and he was a witness to the things that would be spoken later. ⁶ But Jesus the Anointed was faithful as a Son of that house. (We become that house, if we’re able to hold on to the confident hope we have in God until the end.)

⁷ Listen now, to the voice of the Holy Spirit through what the psalmist wrote:

¹² Brothers and sisters, pay close attention so you won’t develop an evil and unbelieving heart that causes you to abandon the living God. ¹³ Encourage each other every day—for as long as we can still say “today”—so none of you let the deceitfulness of sin harden your hearts. ¹⁴ For we have become partners with the Anointed One—if we can just hold on to our confidence until the end.

¹⁵ Look at the lines from the psalm again:

¹⁶ Now who, exactly, was God talking to then? Who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all of those whom Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷ And who made God angry for an entire generation? Wasn’t it those who sinned against Him, those whose bodies are still buried in the wilderness, the site of that uprising? ¹⁸ It was those disobedient ones who God swore would never enter into salvation’s rest. ¹⁹ And we can see that they couldn’t enter because they did not believe.

4 That’s why, as long as that promise of entering God’s rest remains open to us, we should be careful that none of us seem to fall short ourselves. ² Those people in the wilderness heard God’s good news, just as we have heard it, but the message they heard didn’t do them any good since it wasn’t combined with faith. ³ We who believe are entering into salvation’s rest, as He said,

even though God’s works were finished from the very creation of the world. ⁴ (For didn’t God say that on the seventh day of creation He rested from all His works?^{[n] 5} And doesn’t God say in the psalm that they would never enter into salvation’s rest?^[o])

⁶ So if God prepared a place of rest, and those who were given the good news didn’t enter because they chose disobedience over faith, then it remains open for us to enter. ⁷ Once again, God has fixed a day; and that day is “today,” as David said so much later when he wrote in the psalm quoted earlier:

⁸ Now if Joshua had been able to lead those who followed him into God’s rest, would God then have spoken this way? ⁹ There still remains a place of rest, a true Sabbath, for the people of God ¹⁰ because those who enter into salvation’s rest lay down their labors in the same way that God entered into a Sabbath rest from His.

¹¹ So let us move forward to enter this rest, so that none of us fall into the kind of faithless disobedience that prevented them from entering. ¹² The word of God, you see, is alive and moving; sharper than a double-edged sword; piercing the divide between soul and spirit, joints and marrow; able to judge the thoughts and will of the heart. ¹³ No creature can hide from God: God sees all. Everyone and everything is exposed, opened for His inspection; and He’s the One we will have to explain ourselves to.

¹⁴ Since we have a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God who has passed through the heavens from death into new life with God, let us hold tightly to our faith. ¹⁵ For Jesus is not some high priest who has no sympathy for our weaknesses and flaws. He has already been tested in every way that we are tested; but He emerged victorious, without failing God. ¹⁶ So let us step boldly to the throne of grace, where we can find mercy and grace to help when we need it most.

5 Remember what I said earlier about the role of the high priest, even the ones chosen by human beings? The job of every high priest is reconciliation: approaching God on behalf of others and offering Him gifts and sacrifices to repair the damage caused by our sins against God and each other. ² The high priest should have compassion for those who are ignorant of the faith and those who fall out of the faith because he also has wrestled with human weakness, ³ and so the priest must offer sacrifices both for his sins and for those of the people. ⁴ The office of high priest and the honor that goes along with it isn’t one that someone just takes. One must be set aside, called by God, just as God called Aaron, the brother of Moses.

⁵ In the same way, the Anointed One, our Liberating King, didn’t call Himself but was appointed to His priestly office by God, who said to Him,

⁶ and who also says elsewhere,

⁷ When Jesus was on the earth, a man of flesh and blood, He offered up prayers and pleas, groans and tears to the One who could save Him from death. He was heard because He approached God with reverence. ⁸ Although He was a Son, Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. ⁹ And once He was perfected through that suffering He became the way of eternal salvation for all those who hear and follow Him, ¹⁰ for God appointed Him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹ I have a lot more to say about this, but it may be hard for you to follow since you’ve become dull in your understanding. ¹² By this time, you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet I feel like you want me to reteach you the most basic things that God wants you to know. It’s almost like you’re a baby again, coddled at your mother’s breast, nursing, not ready for solid food. ¹³ No one who lives on milk alone can know the ins and outs of what it means to be righteous and pursue justice; that’s because he is only a baby. ¹⁴ But solid food is for those who have come of age, for those who have learned through practice to distinguish good from evil.

6 So let’s push on toward a more perfect understanding and move beyond just the basic teachings of the Anointed One. There’s no reason to rehash the fundamentals: repenting from what you loved in your old dead lives, believing in God as our Creator and Redeemer, ² teaching about baptism,^[s] setting aside those called to service through the ritual laying on of hands, the coming resurrection of those who have died, and God’s final judgment of all people for all time. ³ No, we will move on toward perfection, if God wills it.

^4-6 It is impossible to restore the changed heart of the one who has fallen from faith—who has already been enlightened, has tasted the gift of new life from God, has shared in the power of the Holy Spirit, and has known the goodness of God’s revelation and the powers of the coming age. If such a person falls away, it’s as though that one were crucifying the Son of God all over again and holding Him up to ridicule. ⁷ You see, God blesses the ground that drinks of the rain and then produces a bountiful crop for those who cultivate it. ⁸ But land that produces nothing but thorns and brambles? That land is worthless and in danger of being cursed, burned to the bare earth.

⁹ But listen, my friends—we don’t mean to discourage you completely with such talk. We are convinced that you are made for better things, the things of salvation, ¹⁰ because God is not unjust or unfair. He won’t overlook the work you have done or the love you have carried to each other in His name while doing His work, as you are still doing. ¹¹ We want you all to continue working until the end so that you’ll realize the certainty that comes with hope ¹² and not grow lazy. We want you to walk in the footsteps of the faithful who came before you, from whom you can learn to be steadfast in pursuing the promises of God.

¹³ Remember when God made His promise to Abraham? He had to swear by Himself, there being no one greater: ¹⁴ “Surely I will bless you and multiply your descendants.”^{[t] 15} And after Abraham had endured with patience, he obtained the promise he had hoped for. ¹⁶ When swearing an oath to confirm what they are saying, humans swear by someone greater than themselves and so bring their arguments to an end. ¹⁷ In the same way, when God wanted to confirm His promise as true and unchangeable, He swore an oath to the heirs of that promise. ¹⁸ So God has given us two unchanging things: His promise and His oath. These prove that it is impossible for God to lie. As a result, we who come to God for refuge might be encouraged to seize that hope that is set before us. ¹⁹ That hope is real and true, an anchor to steady our restless souls, a hope that leads us back behind the curtain to where God is (as the high priests did in the days when reconciliation flowed from sacrifices in the temple) ²⁰ and back into the place where Jesus, who went ahead on our behalf, has entered since He has become a High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

7 In the Book of Genesis, we read about when Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from defeating King Chedorlaomer and his allies. Melchizedek blessed our ancestor, and ² Abraham gave him a tenth of everything captured in the battle.^[u]

Let’s look more closely at Melchizedek. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; and his title, king of Salem, means “king of peace.” ³ The Scriptures don’t name his mother or father or descendants, and they don’t record his birth or his death. We could say he’s like the Son of God: eternal, a priest forever.

⁴ And just imagine how great this man was, that even our great and honorable patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils. ⁵ Compare him to the priests who serve in our temple, the descendants of Levi, who were given a commandment in the law of Moses to collect one-tenth of the income of the tribes of Israel. The priests took that tithe from their own people, even though they were also descended from Abraham. ⁶ But this man, Melchizedek, who did not belong to that Levite ancestry, collected a tenth part of Abraham’s income; and although Abraham had received the promises, it was Melchizedek who blessed Abraham. ⁷ Now I don’t have to tell you that it is the lesser one who receives a blessing from the greater. ⁸ In the case of the priests descended from Levi, they are mortal men who receive a tithe of one-tenth; but the Scriptures record no death of Melchizedek, the one who received Abraham’s tithe. ⁹ I guess you could even say that Levi, who receives our tithes, originally paid tithes through Abraham ¹⁰ because he was still unborn and only a part of his ancestor when Abraham met Melchizedek.

¹¹ If a perfect method of reconciling with God—a perfect priesthood—had been found in the sons of Levi (a priesthood that communicated God’s law to the people), then why would the Scriptures speak of another priest, a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, instead of, say, from the order of Aaron? What would be the need for it? It would reflect a new way of relating to God ¹² because when there is a change in the priesthood there must be a corresponding change in the law as well. ¹³ We’re talking about someone who comes from another tribe, from which no member has ever served at God’s altar. ¹⁴ It’s clear that Jesus, our Lord, descended from the tribe of Judah; but Moses never spoke about priests from that tribe. ¹⁵ Doesn’t it seem obvious? Jesus is a priest who resembles Melchizedek in so many ways; ¹⁶ He is someone who has become a priest, not because of some requirement about human lineage, but because of the power of a life without end. ¹⁷ Remember, the psalmist says,

¹⁸ Because the earlier commandment was weak and did not reconcile us to God effectively, it was set aside— ¹⁹ after all, the law could not make anyone or anything perfect. God has now introduced a new and better hope, through which we may draw near to Him, ²⁰ and confirmed it by swearing to it. ²¹ The Levite order of priests took office without an oath, but this man Jesus became a priest through God’s oath:

²² So we can see that Jesus has become the guarantee of a new and better covenant. ²³ Further, the prior priesthood of the sons of Levi has included many priests because death cut short their service, ²⁴ but Jesus holds His priesthood permanently because He lives His resurrected life forever. ²⁵ From such a vantage, He is able to save those who approach God through Him for all time because He will forever live to be their advocate in the presence of God.

²⁶ It is only fitting that we should have a High Priest who is devoted to God, blameless, pure, compassionate toward but separate from sinners, and exalted by God to the highest place of honor. ²⁷ Unlike other high priests, He does not first need to make atonement every day for His own sins, and only then for His people’s, because He already made atonement, reconciling us with God once and forever when He offered Himself as a sacrifice. ²⁸ The law made imperfect men high priests; but after that law was given, God swore an oath that made His perfected Son a high priest for all time.

8 So let me sum up what we’ve covered so far, for there is much we have said: we have a High Priest, a perfect Priest who sits in the place of honor in the highest heavens, at the right hand of the throne of the Majestic One, ² a Minister within the heavenly sanctuary set up by the Lord, not by human hands.

³ As I have said, it is the role of every high priest to offer gifts and sacrifices to God, so clearly this Priest of ours must have something to offer as well. ⁴ If He were on earth, then He would not be a priest at all because there are already priests who can offer gifts according to the law of Moses ⁵ in a sanctuary that is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary. We know this because God admonished Moses as he set up the tent for the Lord’s sanctuary: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I showed you on the mountain.”^{[x] 6} But now Jesus has taken on a new and improved priestly ministry; and in that respect, He has been made the Mediator of a better covenant established on better promises. ⁷ Remember, if the first covenant had been able to reconcile everyone to God, there would be no reason for a second covenant. ⁸ God found fault with the priests when He said through the prophet Jeremiah,

¹³ With the words “a new covenant,” God made the first covenant old, and what is old and no longer effective will soon fade away completely.

9 Even that first covenant had rules and regulations about how to worship and how to set up an earthly sanctuary for God. ² In the Book of Exodus,^[z] we read how the first tent was set aside for worship—we call it the holy place—how inside it they placed an oil lamp, a table, and the bread that was consecrated to God. ³ Behind a second dividing curtain, there was another tent which is called the most holy place. ⁴ In there they placed the golden incense altar and the golden ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the golden urn that contained manna (the miraculous food God gave our ancestors in the desert), Aaron’s rod that budded,^[aa] and the tablets of the covenant that Moses brought down from the mountain. ⁵ Above the ark were the golden images of heavenly beings^[ab] of glory who shadowed the mercy seat.

I cannot go into any greater detail about this now. ⁶ When all is prepared as it is supposed to be, the priests go back and forth daily into the first tent to carry out the duties described in the law. ⁷ But once a year, the high priest goes alone into that second tent, the most holy place, with blood to offer for himself and the unwitting errors of the people. ⁸ As long as that first tent is standing, the Holy Spirit shows us, the way into the most holy place has not yet been revealed to us. ⁹ That first tent symbolizes the present time, when gifts and sacrifices can be offered; but it can’t change the heart and conscience of the worshiper. ¹⁰ These gifts and sacrifices deal only with regulations for the body—food and drink and various kinds of ritual cleansings necessary until the time comes to make things truly right.

¹¹ When the Anointed One arrived as High Priest of the good things that are to come, He entered through a greater and more perfect sanctuary that was not part of the earthly creation or made by human hands. ¹² He entered once for all time into the most holy place—entering, not with the blood of goats or calves or some other prescribed animal, but offering His own blood and thus obtaining redemption for us for all time. ¹³ Think about it: if the blood of bulls or of goats, or the sprinkling of ashes from a heifer, restores the defiled to bodily cleanliness and wholeness; ¹⁴ then how much more powerful is the blood of the Anointed One, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself as a spotless sacrifice to God, purifying your conscience from the dead things of the world to the service of the living God?

¹⁵ This is why Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant: through His death, He delivered us from the sins that we had built up under the first covenant, and His death has made it possible for all who are called to receive God’s promised inheritance. ¹⁶ For whenever there is a testament—a will—the death of the one who made it must be confirmed ¹⁷ because a will takes effect only at the death of its maker; it has no validity as long as the maker is still alive. ¹⁸ Even the first testament—the first covenant—required blood to be put into action. ¹⁹ When Moses had given all the laws of God to the people, he took the blood of calves and of goats, water, hyssop, and scarlet wool; and he sprinkled the scroll and all the people, ²⁰ telling them, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for us.”^{[ac] 21} In the same way, he also sprinkled blood upon the sanctuary and upon the vessels used in worship. ²² Under the law, it’s almost the case that everything is purified in connection with blood; without the shedding of blood, sin cannot be forgiven.

²³ Since what was given in the old covenant was the earthly sketch of the heavenly reality, this was sufficient to cleanse the earthly sanctuary; but in heaven, a more perfect sacrifice was needed. ²⁴ The Anointed One did not enter into handcrafted sacred spaces—imperfect copies of heavenly originals—but into heaven itself, where He stands in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵ There He does not offer Himself over and over as a sacrifice (as the high priest on earth does when he enters the most holy place each year with blood other than his own) ²⁶ because that would require His repeated suffering since the beginning of the world. No, He has appeared once now, at the end of the age, to put away sin forever by offering Himself as a sacrifice.

²⁷ Just as mortals are appointed to die once and then to experience a judgment, ²⁸ so the Anointed One, our Liberating King, was offered once in death to bear the sins of many and will appear a second time, not to deal again with sin, but to rescue those who eagerly await His return.

10 We have seen how the law is simply a shadow of the good things to come. Since it is not the perfect form of these ultimate realities, the offering year after year of these imperfect sacrifices cannot bring perfection to those who come forward to worship. ² If they had served this purpose, wouldn’t the repetition of these sacrifices have become unnecessary? If they had worked—and cleansed the worshipers—then one sacrifice would have taken away their consciousness of sin. ³ But these sacrifices actually remind us that we sin again and again, year after year. ⁴ In the end, the blood of bulls and of goats is powerless to take away sins. ⁵ So when Jesus came into the world, He said,

⁸ Now when it says that God doesn’t want and takes no real pleasure in sacrifices, burnt offerings, and sin offerings (even though the law calls for them), ⁹ and follows this with “See, I have come to do Your will,”^[ae] He effectively takes away the first—animal sacrifice—in order to establish the second, more perfect sacrifice. ¹⁰ By God’s will, we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus the Anointed once and for all time.

¹¹ In the first covenant, every day every officiating priest stands at his post serving, offering over and over those same sacrifices that can never take away sin. ¹² But after He stepped up to offer His single sacrifice for sins for all time, He sat down in the position of honor at the right hand of God. ¹³ Since then, He has been waiting for the day when He rests His feet on His enemies’ backs,^[af] as the psalm says. ¹⁴ With one perfect offering, Jesus has perfected forever those who are being made holy, ¹⁵ as the Holy Spirit keeps testifying to us through the prophet Jeremiah. After he says,

then He adds,

¹⁸ When there is forgiveness such as this, there is no longer any need to make an offering for sin.

¹⁹ So, my friends, Jesus by His blood gives us courage to enter the most holy place. ²⁰ He has created for us a new and living way through the curtain, that is, through His flesh. ²¹ Since we have a great High Priest who presides over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with true hearts full of faith, with hearts rinsed clean of any evil conscience, and with bodies cleansed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold strong to the confession of our hope, never wavering, since the One who promised it to us is faithful. ²⁴ Let us consider how to inspire each other to greater love and to righteous deeds, ²⁵ not forgetting to gather as a community, as some have forgotten, but encouraging each other, especially as the day of His return approaches.

²⁶ Now if we willfully persist in sin after receiving such knowledge of the truth, then there is no sacrifice left for those sins— ²⁷ only the fearful prospect of judgment and a fierce fire that will consume God’s adversaries. ²⁸ Remember that those who depart from the law of Moses are put to death without mercy based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.^{[ai] 29} Just think how much more severe the punishment will be for those who have turned their backs on the Son of God, trampled on the blood of the covenant by which He made them holy, and outraged the Spirit of grace with their contempt. ³⁰ For we know the God who said, “Vengeance belongs to Me—I will repay,”^[aj] also said, “The Eternal One will judge His people.”^{[ak] 31} It is truly a frightening thing to be on the wrong side of the living God.

³² Instead, think back to the days after you were first enlightened and understood who Jesus was: when you endured all sorts of suffering in the name of the Lord, ³³ when people held you up for public scorn and ridicule, or when they abused your partners and companions in the faith. ³⁴ Remember how you had compassion for those in prison and how you cheerfully accepted the seizure of your possessions, knowing that you have a far greater and more enduring possession. ³⁵ Remember this, and do not abandon your confidence, which will lead to rich rewards. ³⁶ Simply endure, for when you have done as God requires of you, you will receive the promise. ³⁷ As the prophet Habakkuk said,

³⁹ My friends, we are not those who give up hope and so are lost; but we are of the company who live by faith and so are saved.

11 Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen. ² It was by faith that our forebears were approved. ³ Through faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God; everything we now see was fashioned from that which is invisible.

⁴ By faith Abel presented to God a sacrifice more acceptable than his brother Cain’s. By faith Abel learned he was righteous, as God Himself testified by approving his offering. And by faith he still speaks, although his voice was silenced by death.

⁵ By faith Enoch was carried up into heaven so that he did not see death; no one could find him because God had taken him. Before he was taken up, it was said of him that he had pleased God. ⁶ Without faith no one can please God because the one coming to God must believe He exists, and He rewards those who come seeking.

⁷ By faith Noah respected God’s warning regarding the flood—the likes of which no one had ever seen—and built an ark that saved his family. In this he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸ By faith Abraham heard God’s call to travel to a place he would one day receive as an inheritance; and he obeyed, not knowing where God’s call would take him. ⁹ By faith he journeyed to the land of the promise as a foreigner; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, his fellow heirs to the promise ¹⁰ because Abraham looked ahead to a city with foundations, a city laid out and built by God.

¹¹ By faith Abraham’s wife Sarah became fertile long after menopause because she believed God would be faithful to His promise. ¹² So from this man, who was almost at death’s door, God brought forth descendants, as many as the stars in the sky and as impossible to count as the sands of the shore.

¹³ All these I have mentioned died in faith without receiving the full promises, although they saw the fulfillment as though from a distance. These people accepted and confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on this earth ¹⁴ because people who speak like this make it plain that they are still seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If this was only a bit of nostalgia for a time and place they left behind, then certainly they might have turned around and returned. ¹⁶ But such saints as these look forward to a far better place, a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God because He has prepared a heavenly city for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he endured God’s testing, offered his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice. The one who had received God’s promise was willing to offer his only son; ¹⁸ God had told him, “It is through Isaac that your descendants will bear your name,”^{[am] 19} and he concluded that God was capable of raising him from the dead, which, figuratively, is indeed what happened.

²⁰ By faith Isaac spoke blessings upon his sons, Jacob and Esau, concerning things yet to come.

²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed the sons of his son Joseph, bowing in worship as he leaned upon his staff.^[an]

²² By faith Joseph, at his life’s end, predicted that the children of Israel would make an exodus from Egypt; and he gave instructions that his bones be buried in the land they would someday reach.

²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw that he was handsome; and they did not fear Pharaoh’s directive that all male Hebrew children were to be slain.

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be identified solely as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter ²⁵ and chose instead to share the sufferings of the people of God, not just living in sin and ease for a time. ²⁶ He considered the abuse that he and the people of God had suffered in anticipation of the Anointed One more valuable than all the riches of Egypt because he looked ahead to the coming reward.

²⁷ By faith Moses left Egypt, unafraid of Pharaoh’s wrath and moving forward as though he could see the invisible God. ²⁸ Through faith, he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of blood on the doorposts among the Hebrews so that the destroyer of the firstborn would pass over their homes without harming them. ²⁹ By faith the people crossed through the Red Sea as if they were walking on dry land, although the pursuing Egyptian soldiers were drowned when they tried to follow.

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho toppled after the people had circled them for seven days. ³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab welcomed the Hebrew spies into her home so that she did not perish with the unbelievers.

³² I could speak more of faith; I could talk until time itself ran out. If I continued, I could speak of the examples of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and all the prophets. ³³ I could give accounts of people alive with faith who conquered kingdoms, brought justice, obtained promises, and closed the mouths of hungry lions. ³⁴ I could tell you how people of faith doused raging fires, escaped the edge of the sword, made the weak strong, and—stoking great valor among the champions of God—sent opposing armies into panicked flight.

³⁵ I could speak of faith bringing women their loved ones back from death and how the faithful accepted torture instead of earthly deliverance because they believed they would obtain a better life in the resurrection. ³⁶ Others suffered mockery and whippings; they were placed in chains and in prisons. ³⁷ The faithful were stoned, sawn in two,^[ao] killed by the sword, clothed only in sheepskins and goatskins; they were penniless, afflicted, and tormented. ³⁸ The world was not worthy of these saints. They wandered across deserts, crossed mountains, and lived in the caves, cracks, and crevasses of the earth.

³⁹ These, though commended by God for their great faith, did not receive what was promised. ⁴⁰ That promise has awaited us, who receive the better thing that God has provided in these last days, so that with us, our forebears might finally see the promise completed.

12 So since we stand surrounded by all those who have gone before, an enormous cloud of witnesses, let us drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to us and slackens our pace, and let us run with endurance the long race set before us.

² Now stay focused on Jesus, who designed and perfected our faith. He endured the cross and ignored the shame of that death because He focused on the joy that was set before Him; and now He is seated beside God on the throne, a place of honor.

³ Consider the life of the One who endured such personal attacks and hostility from sinners so that you will not grow weary or lose heart. ⁴ Among you, in your striving against sin, none has resisted the pressure to the point of death, as He did.

⁵ Indeed, you seem to have forgotten the proverb directed to you as children:

⁷ Endure hardship as God’s discipline and rejoice that He is treating you as His children, for what child doesn’t experience discipline from a parent? ⁸ But if you are not experiencing the correction that all true children receive, then it may be that you are not His children after all. ⁹ Remember, when our human parents disciplined us, we respected them. If that was true, shouldn’t we respect and live under the correction of the Father of all spirits even more? ¹⁰ Our parents corrected us for a time as seemed good to them, but God only corrects us to our good so that we may share in His holiness.

¹¹ When punishment is happening, it never seems pleasant, only painful. Later, though, it yields the peaceful fruit called righteousness to everyone who has been trained by it. ¹² So lift up your hands that are dangling and brace your weakened knees. ¹³ Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame in you won’t be put out of joint, but will heal.

¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, since no one will see God without it. ¹⁵ Watch carefully that no one falls short of God’s favor, that no well of bitterness springs up to trouble you and throw many others off the path. ¹⁶ Watch that no one becomes wicked and vile like Esau, the son of Isaac, who for a single meal sold his invaluable birthright. ¹⁷ You know from the stories of the patriarchs that later, when he wished to claim his blessing, he was turned away. He could not reverse his action even though he shed bitter tears over it.

¹⁸ You have not come to the place that can be touched (as Israel did at Mount Sinai)—to a mountain crowned with blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and a windstorm— ¹⁹ or to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of a voice—a voice and message so harsh that the people begged not to hear another word. ²⁰ (They could not bear the command that was given: that if even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned. ²¹ The sight was so terrible that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”)^[aq]

²² No, instead you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to heavenly messengers unnumbered, to a joyful feast, ²³ to the assembly of the firstborn registered as heaven’s citizens, to God the righteous Judge of all, and to the spirits of all the righteous who have been perfected. ²⁴ You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant between God and humanity, and to His sprinkled blood, which speaks a greater word than the blood of Abel crying out from the earth.

²⁵ See that you don’t turn away from the One who is speaking; for if the ones who heard and refused the One who spoke on earth faced punishment, then how much more will we suffer if we turn away from the One speaking from heaven— ²⁶ the One whose voice in earlier times shook the earth now makes another promise: “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens”?^{[ar] 27} The phrase, “Yet once more,” means that those things that can be shaken will be removed and taken away, namely, the first creation. As a result, those things that remain cannot be shaken. ²⁸ Therefore, let us all be thankful that we are a part of an unshakable Kingdom and offer to God worship that pleases Him and reflects the awe and reverence we have toward Him, ²⁹ for He is like a fierce fire that consumes everything.^[as]

13 Let love continue among you. ² Don’t forget to extend your hospitality to all—even to strangers—for as you know, some have unknowingly shown kindness to heavenly messengers in this way. ³ Remember those imprisoned for their beliefs as if you were their cellmate; and care for any who suffer harsh treatment, as you are all one body.

⁴ Hold marriage in high esteem, all of you, and keep the marriage bed pure because God will judge those who commit sexual sins.

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have because He has said, “I will never leave you; I will always be by your side.”^{[at] 6} Because of this promise, we may boldly say,

⁷ Listen to your leaders, who have spoken God’s word to you. Notice the fruits of their lives and mirror their faith.

⁸ Jesus the Anointed One is always the same: yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ Do not be carried away by diverse and strange ways of believing or worshiping. It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about what you can eat (which do no good even for those who observe them). ¹⁰ We approach an altar from which those who stand before the altar in the tent have no right to eat. ¹¹ In the past, the bodies of those animals whose blood was carried into the sanctuary by the high priest to take away sin were all burned outside the camp. ¹² (In the same way, Jesus suffered and bled outside the city walls of Jerusalem to sanctify the people.)

¹³ Let’s then go out to Him and resolve to bear the insult and abuse that He endured. ¹⁴ For as long as we are here, we do not live in any permanent city, but are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, then, let us keep offering to God our own sacrifice, the praise of lips that confess His name without ceasing. ¹⁶ Let’s not neglect what is good and share what we have, for these sacrifices also please God.

¹⁷ Listen to your leaders and submit to their authority over the community, for they are on constant watch to protect your souls and someday they must give account. Give them reason to be joyful and not to regret their duty, for that will be of no good to you.

^18-19 Pray for us, for we have no doubt that our consciences are clean and that we seek to live honestly in all things. But please pray for me that I may be restored to you even more quickly.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who brought the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, back from the dead through the blood of the new everlasting covenant, ²¹ perfect you in every good work as you work God’s will. May God do in you only those things that are pleasing in His sight through Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, to whom we give glory always and forever. Amen.

²² Please, brothers and sisters, pay attention to this word of exhortation, for I have written only a few words to you.

²³ I want to tell you that our brother Timothy has been set free; and if he arrives soon, he will come with me when I see you next.

²⁴ Give my greetings to your leaders and to all of God’s people. Those of Italy greet you.

²⁵ May grace always be with you.

1 James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, to the twelve tribes of Israel who are spread across the earth: I send you my warmest welcome!

^2-4 Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing. ⁵ If you don’t have all the wisdom needed for this journey, then all you have to do is ask God for it; and God will grant all that you need. He gives lavishly and never scolds you for asking.

⁶ The key is that your request be anchored by your single-minded commitment to God. Those who depend only on their own judgment are like those lost on the seas, carried away by any wave or picked up by any wind. ⁷ Those adrift on their own wisdom shouldn’t assume the Lord will rescue them or bring them anything. ⁸ The splinter of divided loyalty shatters your compass and leaves you dizzy and confused.

⁹ If you are a brother of humble means, celebrate the fact that God has raised you up. ¹⁰ If you are rich and seemingly invincible, savor the humble reality that you are a mere mortal who will vanish like a flower that withers in the field. ¹¹ The sun rises with a blazing heat that dries the earth and causes the flower to wither and fall to the ground and its beauty to fade and die. In the same way, the rich will fall and die in the midst of their busy lives.

¹² Happy is the person who can hold up under the trials of life. At the right time, he’ll know God’s sweet approval and will be crowned with life. As God has promised, the crown awaits all who love Him.

¹³ No one who is tempted should ever be confused and say that God is testing him. The One who created us is free from evil and can’t be tempted, so He doesn’t tempt anyone. ^14-15 When a person is carried away with desire, lured by lust, and when desire becomes the focus and takes control, it gives birth to sin. When sin becomes fully grown, it produces death.

¹⁶ My dearly loved brothers and sisters, don’t be misled. ¹⁷ Every good gift bestowed, every perfect gift received comes to us from above, courtesy of the Father of lights. He is consistent. He won’t change His mind or play tricks in the shadows. ¹⁸ We have a special role in His plan. He calls us to life by His message of truth so that we will show the rest of His creatures His goodness and love.

¹⁹ Listen, open your ears, harness your desire to speak, and don’t get worked up into a rage so easily, my brothers and sisters. ²⁰ Human anger is a futile exercise that will never produce God’s kind of justice in this world. ²¹ So walk out on your corrupt liaison with smut and depraved living, and humbly welcome the word of truth that will blossom like the seed of salvation planted in your souls.

²² Put the word into action. If you think hearing is what matters most, you are going to find you have been deceived.

^23-24 If some fail to do what God requires, it’s as if they forget the word as soon as they hear it. One minute they look in the mirror, and the next they forget who they are and what they look like. ²⁵ However, it is possible to open your eyes and take in the beautiful, perfect truth found in God’s law of liberty and live by it. If you pursue that path and actually do what God has commanded, then you will avoid the many distractions that lead to an amnesia of all true things and you will be blessed.

²⁶ If you put yourself on a pedestal, thinking you have become a role model in all things religious, but you can’t control your mouth, then think again. Your mouth exposes your heart, and your religion is useless. ²⁷ Real, true religion from God the Father’s perspective is about caring for the orphans and widows who suffer needlessly and resisting the evil influence of the world.

2 My brothers and sisters, I know you’ve heard this before, but stop playing favorites! Do not try to blend the genuine faith of our glorious Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, with your silly pretentiousness. ² If an affluent gentleman enters your gathering wearing the finest clothes and priceless jewelry, don’t trip over each other trying to welcome him. And if a penniless bum crawls in with his shabby clothes and a stench fills the room, don’t look away or pretend you didn’t notice—offer him a seat up front, next to you. ^3-4 If you tell the wealthy man, “Come sit by me; there’s plenty of room,” but tell the vagrant, “Oh, these seats are saved. Go over there,” then you’ll be judging God’s children out of evil motives.

⁵ My dear brothers and sisters, listen: God has picked the poor of this world to become unfathomably rich in faith and ultimately to inherit the Kingdom, which He has pledged to those who love Him. ⁶ By favoring the rich, you have mocked the poor. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it the rich who step on you while climbing the ladder of success? And isn’t it the rich who take advantage of you and drag you into court? ⁷ Aren’t they the ones mocking the noble name of our God, the One calling us?

⁸ Remember His call, and live by the royal law found in Scripture: love others as you love yourself.^[av] You’ll be doing very well if you can get this down. ⁹ But if you show favoritism—paying attention to those who can help you in some way, while ignoring those who seem to need all the help—you’ll be sinning and condemned by the law. ¹⁰ For if a person could keep all of the laws and yet break just one; it would be like breaking them all. ¹¹ The same God who said, “Do not commit adultery,”^[aw] also says, “Do not murder.”^[ax] If you break either of these commands, you’re a lawbreaker, no matter how you look at it. ¹² So live your life in such a way that acknowledges that one day you will be judged. But the law that judges also gives freedom, ¹³ although you can’t expect to be shown mercy if you refuse to show mercy. But hear this: mercy always wins against judgment! Thank God!

¹⁴ Brothers and sisters, it doesn’t make any sense to say you have faith and act in a way that denies that faith. Mere talk never gets you very far, and a commitment to Jesus only in words will not save you. ¹⁵ It would be like seeing a brother or sister without any clothes out in the cold and begging for food, and ¹⁶ saying, “Shalom, friend, you should get inside where it’s warm and eat something,” but doing nothing about his needs—leaving him cold and alone on the street. What good would your words alone do? ¹⁷ The same is true with faith. Without actions, faith is useless. By itself, it’s as good as dead. ¹⁸ I know what you’re thinking: “OK, you have faith. And I have actions. Now let’s see your faith without works, and I’ll show you a faith that works.”

¹⁹ Do you think that just believing there’s one God is going to get you anywhere? The demons believe that, too, and it terrifies them! ²⁰ The fact is, faith has to show itself through works performed in faith. If you don’t recognize that, then you’re an empty soul. ²¹ Wasn’t our father Abraham made right with God by laying his son Isaac on the altar? ²² The faith in his heart was made known in his behavior. In fact, his commitment was perfected by his obedience. ²³ That’s what Scripture means when it says, “Abraham entrusted himself to God, and God credited him with righteousness.”^[ay] And living a faithful life earned Abraham the title of “God’s friend.”^{[az] 24} Just like our father in the faith, we are made right with God through good works, not simply by what we believe or think. ²⁵ Even Rahab the prostitute was made right with God by hiding the spies and aiding in their escape.^{[ba] 26} Removing action from faith is like removing breath from a body. All you have left is a corpse.

3 My brothers and sisters, do not encourage a large number of you to become teachers because teachers will be held to a higher standard. ² We all stumble along the way. If a person never speaks hurtful words or shouts in anger or profanity, then he has achieved perfection. The one who can control his tongue can also control the rest of his body. ³ It’s like when we place a metal bit into a horse’s mouth to ride it; we can control its entire body with the slightest movement of our hands. ⁴ Have you ever seen a massive ship sailing effortlessly across the water? Despite its immense size and the fact that it is propelled by mighty winds, a small rudder directs the ship in any direction the pilot chooses. ⁵ It’s just the same with our tongues! It’s a small muscle, capable of marvelous undertakings.

And do you know how many forest fires begin with a single ember from a small campfire? ⁶ The tongue is a blazing fire seeking to ignite an entire world of vices. The tongue is unique among all parts of the body because it is capable of corrupting the whole body. If that were not enough, it ignites and consumes the course of creation with a fuel that originates in hell itself. ⁷ Humanity is capable of taming every bird and beast in existence, even reptiles and sea creatures great and small. ⁸ But no man has ever demonstrated the ability to tame his own tongue! It is a spring of restless evil, brimming with toxic poisons. ⁹ Ironically this same tongue can be both an instrument of blessing to our Lord and Father and a weapon that hurls curses upon others who are created in God’s own image. ¹⁰ One mouth streams forth both blessings and curses. My brothers and sisters, this is not how it should be. ¹¹ Does a spring gush crystal clear freshwater and moments later spurt out bitter salt water? ¹² My brothers and sisters, does a fig tree produce olives? Is there a grapevine capable of growing figs? Can salt water give way to freshwater?