The Letter to the
HEBREWS
Author Uncertain
INTRODUCTION: 
As usually translated, the book of Hebrews is often used to prove the authors of the Renewed Covenant writings were contradicting what Yeshua the Messiah himself said. Clement of Alexandria, around 200 C.E., credited it to Sha'ul (Paul), though he died prior to the Temple's destruction, and the letter seems to be comforting those who mourn the loss of the Temple by saying we still have something, and in some ways something even better. It could be written instead for an audience that had been barred from the Temple. There is evidence in Acts that Gentile believers in Yeshua were forbidden entry, but the letter indicates that the Jewish audience was also being persecuted in some way. Either way, the letter tells us that we still have access to YHWH, even if the way we had been meeting with Him is blocked to us. "Church Fathers" Clement, Eusebius, and Jerome all assert that the letter had originally been written in Hebrew. The last time a Hebrew version is known to have been published was by Munster in 1557, and even then it was not widely circulated, and was all but forgotten. However, James Trimm has made the Munster Hebrew manuscript of Hebrews widely available again for the first time in nearly 500 years. This translation uses that text, which has some copyists' errors (mainly substitution of similar letters). It may clear up misconceptions based on the Greek text that support Christian theology but are inconsistent with other parts of Scripture. The earliest Scriptures set parameters for how later ones can be interpreted, and the Hebrew (and Aramaic) text sets additional limits on how the Greek version should be read, as we can compare statements about the Messiah with the way the same words had been used in ages past. That Yeshua is the supreme example (not the negation) of what was said throughout all the previous ages is a major stated theme of this letter, and rather than altering it (as the common view would have us think), Yeshua puts the same covenant on firmer footing, and returns a few aspects of the covenants that preceded Sinai. One notable one is the restoration (through one who would be faithful to carry it out properly) of the original priesthood of the firstborn, as most notably lived out by Shem, the firstborn of Noakh (Melkhitzedeq, according to Yasher 16:11). This was not transferred to the Aharonic line of Levites until after the Golden Calf incident, but it exists at least as a parallel option while the Temple is not functioning, for we do see the Tzadoqite priesthood (one of Aharon’s lines) restored in the yet-to-come fullness of the Renewed Covenant (Y’hezq’el 40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11) while other aspects of the Temple service are carried out by one who appears to be the Messiah himself. (45:16-46:12) “Hebrews shows that Yeshua is the permanent Yom Kippur salvation sacrifice” (Yashanet), which is interesting since the scarlet thread on the “scapegoat” that used to turn white to show YHWH’s acceptance ceased to do so 40 years before the Temple’s destruction—exactly the same time YHWH accepted Yeshua’s offering and demonstrated this by raising him from the dead. Yashanet also adds, “There is no inconsistency in the idea that parts of the Torah were [ordained] to change as the Torah has that 'built into itself.' For example, Israel received new revelation for when they were in the Land. Another example is found in Numbers 27:1-11, where we see the addition of commands to deal with the situation where a man dies without any sons to inherit. In none of these cases does [YHWH] take away the Torah. These things are done, as author David Stern states, ‘Within the framework of one eternal Torah.’”
As usually translated, the book of Hebrews is often used to prove the authors of the Renewed Covenant writings were contradicting what Yeshua the Messiah himself said. Clement of Alexandria, around 200 C.E., credited it to Sha'ul (Paul), though he died prior to the Temple's destruction, and the letter seems to be comforting those who mourn the loss of the Temple by saying we still have something, and in some ways something even better. It could be written instead for an audience that had been barred from the Temple. There is evidence in Acts that Gentile believers in Yeshua were forbidden entry, but the letter indicates that the Jewish audience was also being persecuted in some way. Either way, the letter tells us that we still have access to YHWH, even if the way we had been meeting with Him is blocked to us. "Church Fathers" Clement, Eusebius, and Jerome all assert that the letter had originally been written in Hebrew. The last time a Hebrew version is known to have been published was by Munster in 1557, and even then it was not widely circulated, and was all but forgotten. However, James Trimm has made the Munster Hebrew manuscript of Hebrews widely available again for the first time in nearly 500 years. This translation uses that text, which has some copyists' errors (mainly substitution of similar letters). It may clear up misconceptions based on the Greek text that support Christian theology but are inconsistent with other parts of Scripture. The earliest Scriptures set parameters for how later ones can be interpreted, and the Hebrew (and Aramaic) text sets additional limits on how the Greek version should be read, as we can compare statements about the Messiah with the way the same words had been used in ages past. That Yeshua is the supreme example (not the negation) of what was said throughout all the previous ages is a major stated theme of this letter, and rather than altering it (as the common view would have us think), Yeshua puts the same covenant on firmer footing, and returns a few aspects of the covenants that preceded Sinai. One notable one is the restoration (through one who would be faithful to carry it out properly) of the original priesthood of the firstborn, as most notably lived out by Shem, the firstborn of Noakh (Melkhitzedeq, according to Yasher 16:11). This was not transferred to the Aharonic line of Levites until after the Golden Calf incident, but it exists at least as a parallel option while the Temple is not functioning, for we do see the Tzadoqite priesthood (one of Aharon’s lines) restored in the yet-to-come fullness of the Renewed Covenant (Y’hezq’el 40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11) while other aspects of the Temple service are carried out by one who appears to be the Messiah himself. (45:16-46:12) “Hebrews shows that Yeshua is the permanent Yom Kippur salvation sacrifice” (Yashanet), which is interesting since the scarlet thread on the “scapegoat” that used to turn white to show YHWH’s acceptance ceased to do so 40 years before the Temple’s destruction—exactly the same time YHWH accepted Yeshua’s offering and demonstrated this by raising him from the dead. Yashanet also adds, “There is no inconsistency in the idea that parts of the Torah were [ordained] to change as the Torah has that 'built into itself.' For example, Israel received new revelation for when they were in the Land. Another example is found in Numbers 27:1-11, where we see the addition of commands to deal with the situation where a man dies without any sons to inherit. In none of these cases does [YHWH] take away the Torah. These things are done, as author David Stern states, ‘Within the framework of one eternal Torah.’” CHAPTER 1
1. In ancient days YHWH spoke to the fathers so many times and [with] so many facets through the prophets.
Fathers: or, patriarchs, ancestors. So many: literally, how many. Facets:literally, faces; Trimm renders it manifestations. Aramaic, ways.
2. It has come about in the end of days over [and above what He did] in those days, [that] He has spoken to us through His Son, whom He has appointed to inherit all things, by which He carved out all the ages [of antiquity].
His Son: “Son of Elohim” is a title for the incumbent ruler of Israel in the royal line of Davidic kings. (Psalm 2:7; 1 Chron. 22:10) Carved out: Aramaic, "through whom He made the worlds" (of which the physical world is only one). Uriel ben-Mordechai renders it “for the sake of/by reason of/on account of whom He made the worlds” to agree with Torah, as “by which” implies He created the world through a son who only entered the world 4,000 years later—“in these last days”. In Talmud Sanhedrin 98b we read, “Rab said: ‘The world was created only on David’s account.’ Samuel said, ‘On Moses’ account’. R. Yohanan said, ‘For the sake of the Messiah.’”
3. As [he was] assigned [to do], he is one who has shed light on His weightiness, and he, through the [successful] performance [of a task], is accomplishing all things through the force of His word. Since he had withdrawn and wiped away on his hand the darknesses of our sins, indeed, he has seated himself in the heights, to the right hand of the Sh’kinah.
Assigned: this emphasizes Yeshua’s subordination to the One who made the assignment, but also his success in doing what he was sent to do. Who has shed light on (zahar) His weightiness: Gk., reflected brightness of His splendor. Performance: production, practice, labor; Gk., the instrument used to make an exact image of the underlying reality, who upholds all things... Withdrawn: plucked up, torn away, uprooted, broken like a yoke. Wiped away: imperfect tense in Hebrew, but probably an example of the “waw consecutive” which is read as a series of completed events. Darknesses: or possibly fascinations, charms. Has seated himself: or, has been dwelling or remaining. To the right hand: an allusion to Psalm 110:1. (Compare Yitzhaq, who had been dwelling in the Negev—the south, or the right hand when properly oriented toward the east, as the term implies--Gen. 24:62.) Sh’kinah: YHWH’s “inhabiting” presence.
4. And as he has acquired an honored name, [one] thrust forth beyond the dispatched ones, he is thus through inheritance considered greater and more honored than they.
Acquired: not born with. (Compare Filippians 2:5-11.) Name: or reputation. Dispatched ones: messengers, angels. Through inheritance: Just as Yitzhaq, though much younger and having accomplished far less, was esteemed much more highly than his father’s senior servant, because of his position as son and heir. First-century Jews saw the Messiah as higher than Avraham, the one who “will be exalted and extolled and very high” (Yeshayahu 52:13, which the midrash Yalkut Shim’oni 2:53:3 identified as a Messianic passage and indicated that he would be “raised high above the ministering angels”).
5. To which of the angels did He [ever] say, “You are in the form of My Son; today I have begotten you”? And again [He says] in another place, “I will function as a Father to him, and he will serve as a son for Me”.
Angels: or simply, messengers. He: Aramaic, Eloah. The texts quoted here (Psalm 2:5ff; 2 Shmu’el 7:12ff; 1 Chron. 17:13; 28:6; Psalm 89:20ff) speak specifically of David and Shlomo, and those in their line who would inherit the throne, so this is the context in which such descriptions of the Messiah must be read.
6. And yet another, thus: (When He brought His firstborn Son into the world,) He said, “Let all the messengers of Elohim bow down to him.”
Let: or, “All…shall bow…”, i.e., in homage to the one who was thus named king. The quote is from a phrase present in a text of Deut. 32:43 found at Qumran, but is missing from the Masoretic text. It is, however, quoted in the LXX. It does appear in the Masoretic text of Psalm 97:7, but says there only “Let all the Elohim bow down to Him”, while the LXX version says, “Let all His angels bow down before Him.” The quote here combines the two, suggesting an earlier Hebrew text that included both as well, but from which two derived texts each carried over only a part. Firstborn: This sets the tone for the book’s emphasis on the restoration, at least as one option, of the priesthood of the firstborn son, which was the norm until the Golden Calf incident. Playfair cites “a long-held Jewish tradition that when Adam, God’s original firstborn son, was created…, God commanded His angels/messengers to “worship” (i.e., pay allegiance to) him (Adam). [cf. TB Sanhedrin 59b; 2 Enoch 31:3; Ascension of Isaiah 11:23ff] In an ancient apocryphal story, “The Life of Adam and Eve” [13f], we read: “God, the LORD, spoke, ‘Here is Adam. I have made him in our image and likeness.’ And Michael went out and called all the angels, saying, ‘Worship the image of God as the LORD God has commanded.’ And Michael himself worshipped first." Psalm 89:27 says, “I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.” (See also Midrash Rabbah on Shemoth 19:7)
7. But [in regard] to the angels, He said, “[He is] making winds His messengers, and His ministering servant[s] a kindled fire.”
This from Psalm 104:4. Winds: or, spirits. Servants: the Munster text either leaves out the “His” or has a copyist’s error substituting a yodh for the waw ending found in three Qumran scrolls. (Trimm) A kindled fire: which will accomplish a purpose. One class of “angels” is called s’rafim (burning ones). But the emphasis is on their being servants as opposed to sons. (vv. 4-6)
8. However, to the Son, He said, “Look here, O elohim! Your throne is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
Elohim: an honorific title for a judge, in this case, since the king is the judge of all Israel, and even more fundamentally, the priests are. Rashi explains, “Even a mortal man of flesh and blood can merit this divine title if he sincerely seeks to administer God’s justice on earth”, citing Moshe’s being called “Elohim to Pharaoh” in Ex. 7:1 et al. Contrast Yeshua’s being addressed as elohim with the One called his Elohim in the next verse, to maintain the proper context for understanding what is being said. For ever and ever: literally, “to the age and until…” The quote is from Psalm 45:6-7 (45:7-8 in Hebrew), initially addressed to David or Shlomo, and by derivation applied to their descendant and heir to the throne, Yeshua. Shlomo’s throne is indeed called “the throne of the Kingdom of YHWH”. (1 Chron. 28:5)
9. “You have loved what is right and hated wickedness. Therefore, Elohim--your Elohim--has anointed you with the oil of joy more than your companions.”
Your Elohim: emphasizing that though a judge, he has One still higher than he. Companions: Aramaic, fellows. YHWH chose Yeshua from among other men for special promotion. Now another quote begins:
10. “And You are my Master. Of old You founded the earth; the heavens are the workmanship of Your hands.
You are My Master: The phrase is not in the extant Masoretic Hebrew text. The LXX has “In the beginning, You, O Master, laid the foundation…”, again possibly reflecting a translation from an earlier version in Hebrew, though according to Trimm none has yet been found. The Aramaic leaves out the phrase, "O Master". The fact that the Greek version does not follow the LXX word order suggests that the Greek text of this letter did not exist before the Hebrew version.
11. “They will cease to exist, but You will remain when they all wear out like a garment.
Yeshayau 50:9b also quotes the latter part of this verse from Psalm 102.
12. “Like clothing, You will substitute [something better for] them, and they will change. Truly You will remain where You have been exalted!”
Substitute: the LXX has “fold them” here in Psalm 102 (101 in the LXX). Even the skies will have one day served their purpose. Change: be renewed, discarded, replaced by “new heavens” (Yeshayahu 65:17). Compare 1 Korinthians 15:51. The exact quotation from Psalm 102:27 ends after that word. The next part is more like the next phrase of the LXX version than the Masoretic Hebrew text, but not identical to it either. It may reflect an older Hebrew version. In Aramaic the last phrase is, “your years shall never end.”
13. Indeed, to which of the angels has He said even once, “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies [into] your footstool”?
This quote exactly follows the Masoretic text of Psalm 110:1.
14. Aren’t they all ministering spirits who are sent for service--to wait on the one who inherits deliverance?
To wait: Aramaic, “in the service of those [plural] who shall inherit life everlasting.” This continues the theme of the preeminence of the redeemed human race--those “in Messiah” instead of “in Adam” (1 Korinthians 15:22)—over even angels. (Compare 1 Kor. 6:3.).
CHAPTER 2
1. [This is so we will] perk up, all the more attentive to the words that He will speak to the nation—deserving that a sufficient [number] will not turn aside from the way of truth.
The nation: in context, Israel. Instead of the last phrase, the Aramaic Peshitta has “lest at any time they be lost”; Gk., lest...we should let them slip.
2. Because if this word, which was announced through the angels, was confirmed and established to the point that all rebellion and crookedness received a just and right recompense,
3. how can we imagine we will escape if we fail to [properly] value the great[er] deliverance? Those truths that come from behind what is in the first of the books and will be foremost from the mouth of Adonai Himself (and later, indeed, the same [report] from the mouth of those who heard [it] reached us and was confirmed among us)--
Fail to properly value: or, neglect. Greater deliverance: in the same vein as, but on an even firmer foundation than the initial giving of the Torah itself.
4. that Elohim had strengthened their hold with His signs and His wonders and by many silent [workings] of the spirit of being set-apart, [according] to the voicing of His desire--
Many silent workings: Gk., various ways of distributing. YHWH added even stronger confirmation to the message that should have been clear enough already.
5. because He did not impose the service of the coming age, about which we are speaking, on angels,
6. but one bears witness somewhere and says, “What is mortal man, that You [even] remember him, or the son of Adam, that You attend to him?
The quote here and below is from Psalm 8:4-7, and is part of the liturgy for Yom T’ruah and Yom haKippurim, which is the subject of most of this book. Mortal man: Stern has "mere man".
7. “Yet You have made him fall short of Elohim [only] slightly, and with dignity and splendor You crown him. You have given him dominion over the workmanship of Your hands;
8. “You have put everything under his feet.” And in this tempering all things were covered; indeed, He did not isolate which thing [there might be] that He did not appoint to be under his governance. We [do] admit [that] we do not yet with our eyes see all things indeed [subjected] to him as servants.
Put: legally and officially appointed that this be the order. Tempering: weakening, making to lag behind (i.e., being subjected to him). Compare 1 Cor. 15:27-28.
9. But was he not diminished a little less than the angels? We see that he--Yeshua, who turned aside into servitude and died on the wooden [post]--is crowned with praise and honor in that he, by the mercies of Elohim, died on behalf of all the sons of Adam,
Praise: or, appreciation, increased value. Died: Aramaic and Greek, tasted death—i.e., did not remain dead but experienced its bitterness. Was he not…? Though it does not look at first glance like this is really the case (v. 8), through Yeshua we do see one example of this already coming true, and because of this we can believe there is more of the same to come:
10. because it seemed appropriate to Him by whose direction are all things—every one of them—and through Whom all things are confirmed, that the one who brings many sons to honor should himself be the one who conducts them to their deliverance, having been made complete by means of sufferings.
By whose direction: Trimm renders it “for his sake”; the Aramaic has, “in whose hand”. Confirmed: validated, satisfied, fulfilled, made to endure, preserved.
11. For this reason both the one who makes holy and those who are made holy [come] from one [source]. Therefore he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
Yeshua does not intend to be unique, though he is the first among others; he intends for us to become what he is; therefore, though we honor him, we worship only the One who sent him. (Yochanan 20:17)
12. saying, “I will declare Your Name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will make my boast in Your Name.”
The quote is from Psalm 22:23.
13. And again, “I will put my trust in Him”, and furthermore, “Here I am along with the children whom YHWH has given to me.”
Though there is great similarity to and possibly an allusion to Gen. 33:5, this quote is from Yeshayahu 8:17b-18. The first phrase says, “I will wait expectantly for him” in the Masoretic text, but the rendering here agrees with the LXX reading. The full quotation of the second phrase in Hebrew is, “Indeed, I and the children whom YHWH has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from with YHWH [Master] of Armies, who inhabits Mount Tzion”, and this is the context the author of Hebrews intends to remind us of by quoting just the first line.
14. So since some of the others who are sons are sold into slavery to flesh and blood, in unity with them he too shared in the same with them, from the face of which by means of death he could encircle him who had the power over death
Sold into slavery: literally, mortgaged. Greek, partakers of, but a different term is used here than “shared” later in the verse. The first term means “to share fully”, whereas the latter means “to take part but not all”. M.R. DeHaan points out that Yeshua took part in Adam’s flesh, but not Adam’s blood, and can thus have pure blood, untainted by whatever poison entered via the forbidden fruit and was passed down to the rest of us. Encircle: By Y’shua’s being executed wrongfully, not deserving death, the Accuser became guilty of murder and lost his right to the earth and his title to mankind.
15. in order to rescue those who on account of the fear of death were subservient all the days of their lives.
Fear of death makes us hesitant to risk some things we should risk for the sake of others, and if there is hope of resurrection, we will not consider death the ultimate end, and will therefore be strengthened to take more risks.
16. For He did not select the angels with whom to set [His dwelling] place, but He selected the seed of Avraham for [this purpose].
17. Above any hope at all, it is proper to hasten his becoming a compassionate and faithful high priest with his brothers in every matter in those things which are done before [the face of] Elohim as a form [on which to produce a creation],
Hasten: enjoy, feel. As a form: Heb., k-y-tz-r; Trimm sees this as a scribal error for k-y-p-r, atonement or covering, which agrees with the extant Aramaic version.
18. because since he has [experienced] temptation, is he not able to bring deliverance to those who have been tempted?
I.e., one who has gone through the same thing we are now experiencing, yet has overcome, is in the best position to pull us out of the same situation, knowing where he needs to be sensitive to our weaknesses yet also being confident that he is on firming footing than we are, and that we need to be there too.
CHAPTER 3
1. Therefore, you, set-apart brothers who are also those [being] called by the summons of Heaven, look! [It is binding] on you to attentively contemplate the envoy and the high priest whom we [openly] confess [and celebrate], Y’shua the Messiah,
2. who himself was faithful to the One who appointed him (among His whole household), just as Moshe was as well.
This alludes to Numbers 12:7.
3. For as the builder of a house is worthy to share [in an] honor greater than that [honor which is given to] the house, so he became worthy that a greater honor than that belonging to Moshe should be apportioned to him,
4. since every house [that] exists had to have been built by some man, but the one who created everything, he is the El of Elohim.
5. But Moshe was faithful in his whole household, that they should see who afterward would say likewise.
Or, for them to see who would later say the same.
6. Indeed, Y’shua the Messiah himself will be over His household, so that we can, like him, have that same anticipation along with his household if we press the hope forward until the end,
7. on account of when the spirit of holiness says, “Today, if you will hear His voice,
8. “do not close your hearts tightly like the conflict in the day of testing in the wilderness,
Close tightly: a scribal error for the Hebrew, which says “harden or make difficult”. Conflict: Heb., merivah. Testing: Heb., massah—both names of the same place where the people complained to Moshe about the lack of water. (Ex. 17:7)
9. “where your ancestors tested Me and proved me, and they also saw what I did for forty years.
Proved: through scrutiny.
10. “For this reason I felt a loathing for this generation, so that I came to say, ‘Look! They are a people that are wandering away in their heart, and they have not understood My ways’,
For this reason: This term does not appear in Psalm 95, which actually has “for forty years” as the beginning of this sentence rather than the end of the previous one. The word order of the verse is also slightly altered in Hebrews.
11. “[to] whom I swore in My anger, ‘If they [ever] enter into My resting [place]…’
The quote is from Psalm 95:7-11.
12. For the same [reason], look out, my brothers, so that there will not be an evil heart in which there is no trustfulness—the kind that turns away from the living Elohim.
13. But let [each] man warn his brothers every day and the day of any time that is called “today” so that not one of you might be hooked by an uncircumcised heart over the hand of the sly power of sin,
Hooked: or pierced through, but used of leading an animal by a nose-ring.
14. because we ourselves are sharers of the Messiah in the completing of this--that is, if we endure, staying away from what harms us until the end,
15. in the wisdom of that which we are told: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts like in the conflict.”
Psalm 95:7-8 is quoted again.
16. Because it turned out that a few of them—of those who heard—alas!—immediately rebelled against it (but not all of those who came out of Egypt by the hand of Moshe).
17. I ask you, from where [did] those [come] on which the conception of His anger came up for forty years? Wasn’t it on those who sinned there whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18. But who was it to whom was it sworn that they would not enter into His resting [place]? Wasn’t it to them?
19. It turns out that we see that they were not able to enter into their Land on account of not trusting.
CHAPTER 4
1. So now [what] there is for us [is] to fear and keep watch over ourselves, so that His testimony may not keep us from entering into His resting [place] and we will not become lax, so that none of you may fail to become unified with [the members of] His selfsame [body].
2. Truly it qualifies to establish [the] rise of what will cause agitation for them—more than the ones who heard the word of El concerning a [shared] portion, which did not become any faith in those who heard it,
3. because we who trust are being gathered into His rest, just as He said—“As I swore in My anger, ‘If they [ever] enter into My rest…’—even though in truth when these [things] were being done, the deeds had been completed since the creation of the universe.
“If they ever…”: This is the Hebraic form used to swear an oath. The understanding is “They will never…”
4. This is what it says in another place about the seventh day: “And Elohim ceased from all His work on the seventh day.”
This is a summary of Genesis 2:2, 3.
5. Again He has repeated, “If they [ever] enter into My rest…!”
6. While indeed it follows that there is still hope for that which is prepared at their end that they can enter into—a rest. It was not for those who had it bound onto them at the beginning to enter therein, on account of [the fact that] they did not trust Him.
7. Therefore yet again He defines one [particular] day, and this after He will have been put in straits for a long time, saying in the scroll of David, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts!”
After He will have been put in straits for a long time: i.e., after excruciating patience on His part. This reading fits better with the Greek translation. An alternate interpretation, seemingly more literal according to the Hebrew if the extant text has the correct gaps between words, would read: “(…day) when He is angry, and lo and behold, He will frame a great determined time.”
8. Now if Y’hoshua had brought them to [that] resting-place, He would not have said, “from one [particular] day”.
9. Therefore there still [remains] another resting-place for His presence for the people of Elohim,
10. because whoever enters into his resting place will have rest from his service, just as Elohim ceased from His undertakings.
Service: trade, pursuit, calling, but chiefly, labor as a representative for another.
11. On account of the same, we must actively concern ourselves with being busy about entering into the resting-place so that not one of us falls into the resemblance of those who did not trust Him,
12. because the word of Elohim is alive and forceful, sharper than a two-edged sword that presses until the soul and the spirit are drawn out, even breaking off the limbs and cleaning out the [marrow that is] pressed together with the bones and expanding out the purposes and understandings of the heart.
Alive: still today, not just when it was spoken to these people who failed the test. Forceful: having a firm grip, overcoming, violent, strengthening, repairing. Sharper: alternate reading, a similarly-spelled word, which more specifically means pointed. Presses: Trimm renders it “penetrates”; Gk., pierces. Soul and spirit: or, life and breath—i.e., it is capable of killing those whose motives are not right. Indeed, the author seems to be using an analogy of a hunter and his prey. The Greek version has “the dividing apart of both soul and spirit”, possibly as a parallel way of saying what the last phrase in the verse says. Cleaning out: or, the marrow, which is how the translator into Greek took it.
13. And there is not a created thing which is not seen or laid bare before His face; certainly every thing and [every] word is naked and spread openly before the eyes of Him to whom we speak,
14. and from whom we have a “priest” (that is, Y’shua the Messiah, the son of Elohim) in this [sense]: that he ascended the skies through the Creator—indeed we need to guard this responsibility,
Priest: Possibly by analogy with the high priest whose death liberated the involuntary manslayer from the “imprisonment” in the city of refuge (Num. 35:25), or the fact that the Levitical priests ascended to the altar to do their service.
15. because in this priest we do not have one who is unable to tolerate our weakness, but rather who has become experienced in every [kind of] testing just like we [have], though he missed the target in no way.
Weakness: or defeat; Aramaic, weariness. I.e., the fact that we are worn down by something that is aiming to defeat us. Missed the target in no way: did nothing deserving of death.
16. Therefore in the calamity of our lives let us approach the throne of His mercy concerning this compassion which we have received, and we will find [that] favor time after time.
CHAPTER 5
1. Because every high priest who is selected from the sons of Adam is appointed [administrator] in place of the sons of Adam in relation to YHWH for this purpose: that he may bring offerings and slaughterings near in place of sins,
2. being able also to bear upon [himself the burden of] those in whom there is no knowledge of wisdom in the heart and stray after this [or that], and he himself is also limited by weakness;
3. for this reason he also needs to bring an offering for sins in relation to himself, just as [he does] on behalf of the people.
4. And there is no one who by the hand of a man becomes what he becomes, who takes for himself [the] value of a firstborn, because if he is the one who is called and chosen of Elohim, he is like Aharon.
5. In the same way also the Messiah did not arrogate to himself to become high priest; [he] only [received the position] from the presence of the One who said to him, “You are My son; today I have begotten you.”
This quote is from Psalm 2:7. It refers to the coronation (or anointing) of the king in the Davidic dynasty.
6. As He also says in a different [Psalm], “You are a priest into the age according to the order of Melkhitzedeq.”
This quote is from Psalm 110:4. Order: arrangement, condition, categorization, or manner. Melkhitzedeq: The name means “king of righteousness”. This man met Avram with bread and wine after he returned from rescuing his relative Lot from the foreign kings who had captured him. (Gen. 14:18) Many identify him with Shem, who was Noakh’s firstborn son. (Yasher 16:11; see note on 7:3.)
7. And so it was, due to prayers in the days of his flesh that his deliverance [came] with a great cry to him and bringing near tears and firstfruits [offerings] of strained prayers to this One who [was] able to snatch him away from death, and also having heard by the humble distress that the Elohim remembered.
Strained: the Hebrew term implies that they were due to the pressure of painful affliction.
8. And though he was “Son of Elohim”, he was goading himself, more than all those who would flee for refuge, to carry out his service acceptably.
Son of Elohim: a special title for the king from the line of David. (Psalm 2:10 et al)
9. Thus he became complete; for all those after him who would walk in completeness, he became one who turns [them] to the life of the age to come,
10. who is called by Elohim, “High priest according to the order of Melkhitzedeq”.
11. We have much more to say than this, and such things are hard to explain because you are so lazy and without discernment.
12. Look! Right now, it is [already] your responsibility to be teachers by virtue of your suffering and your skill [since it has been exercised, yet still] you need repetition and prodding and [we have] to start over with you from the beginning [in teaching you] words of Elohim! Because at this point you need, by this analogy, someone to give you milk and not solid food!
13. Because everyone who still has a need for milk do not have the knitting-together for the matter of breaking it down, since he does not have the understanding to receive it because he is a nursing infant!
14. But those who walk in maturity, who walk for themselves due to eating solid food, by virtue of extensive experience have accustomed their senses and trained themselves to distinguish between reasoned judgment and bad [judgment].
CHAPTER 6
1. Therefore, it is now [time] to give a rest to talking about the matters of the beginning of the life of the Messiah, that is, [moving on] from growing to maturity ([as if] to set in place for a second time a foundation of the reversal of the dead works), from [faithful] trust in Elohim,
Grow: or rise, from a word for a watchtower.
2. from immersion, from teaching, from laying on of hands, from the resurrection of the dead, and from enduring judgment.
Immersion: the symbol of repentance and return from any impure state.
3. And that is what we will do if Elohim permits us,
Permits us: gives us leave, allows us to settle in or rest.
4. because where is it laid open that for those who were once enlightened
Laid open: i.e., as a permissible course of action.
5. and tasted of the gifts of the heavens, [who] took up the standing of the Spirit of Holiness, and tasted of the good word of our Elohim and the powers of the age to come,
Gifts: mahanoth (camps), but probably a mis-copying of matanoth, as it was taken in Greek. Standing: or place; Trimm renders it “partnership”. Powers: strengths, abilities, capacities, or wealth. Spirit of Holiness: In Hebrew the phrase (Ruakh haQodesh) means simply the “spirit of being set apart”. But haQodesh is the title of the first main room in the Tabernacle and Temple, which are both pictures of what is in heaven and will meet us here during the Kingdom. (Heb. 8:5; 9:23) Everything in this room was anointed to symbolize being set apart for YHWH’s purposes alone. It was the room where the work of service took place. Thus “ruakh haQodesh” really refers to a “breath or wind of the Kingdom”, for the chief task of the Spirit of Holiness is to establish the principles of the Kingdom in us before it arrives from Heaven. All we say and do should be an example in advance of what the Kingdom holds. We need to learn to live like we are in the Kingdom now, so that when He shows up we will be found ready.
6. that if they go back to turn themselves away, that they can be renewed by means of the repentance? Because they turned aside to their own [way] with the Son of Elohim a second [time] and mixed in its place a return to mockery.
Turned aside: an allusion to Yeshayahu 53:6, which is about Yeshua’s crucifixion. Gk. and Aramaic overtly state “crucified afresh”—which explains the mystery of why Moshe was not to hit the rock the second time (Numbers 20), but only speak to it, since the rock was a picture of Messiah. (1 Cor. 10:4) Mixed…to mockery: Gk.,put him to open shame.
7. Because it is true that the earth, which drinks the rain that comes upon it many times and grows vegetation for those who are cultivating it by way of the pressure of work—this is a formidable blessing from Elohim!
8. Isn’t that which brings forth thorns and thistles seen as nothing because, indeed, it [evidences] a curse, which, as the bottom line, ends up in its being burned?
9. But now, we’re speaking in generalities of truth that apply anywhere, but beloved brothers, we are confident of better things with you and which are in you, and strong enough to keep you attached to deliverance,
10. because YHWH is not unjust so as to forget the exhaustion and labor combined with love that you have shown since you became ministers in His name to those who are set apart—and [so] you still [continue] to minister.
Exhaustion: Trimm, hardship.
11. But what we desire from you is that every one of you will become someone who shows himself to be consistent with Him in being able to discern the hope of remaining firmly established until [the] end.
Consistent: of the same substance, similitude, or strength; part of the same body.
12. Don’t become slack, because if you become sustainers of those who gain through confidence and fulfilling responsibilities, along with them you will inherit what has been secured.
Secured: or promised.
13. Because when Elohim made a promise to Avraham, since He was not able to swear by anything greater than Himself, swore by Himself, saying,
14. “…because blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you.”
15. And like this, when he had waited a long time for what he desired, he attained what he was assured of.
16. But sons of men swear by what is greater than themselves, and for them the oath ends any dispute that may stand between them;
17. by the same token, consider: when Elohim wanted to show the brightness of illumination to the heirs of what He assured, to strengthen the hold of and establish what he had fixed, He added even more to what He said with an oath,
18. so that by two immoveable things [in which it is] emphatically not possible for Elohim to lie, it becomes a firmly-established comfort for us who flee to Him for refuge, and firms up the assurance of the glad news for us, by which we thus have assurance and a firm grip,
19. like a big iron axe that works as an anchor, holding down our souls, by which we are also gathered together on the inside of the veil,
Like a big iron axe: Gk., steadfast and sure. Gathered together: including the idea of being covered and hidden away.
20. into which place the bringer of glad news was brought first--Y’hoshua [who] became a high priest until the age according to the order of Melkhitzedeq.
CHAPTER 7
1. Because this Melchitzedeq, “king of Shalem”, priest of the highest El, the one who met Avram as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and bestowed blessings on him,
2. to whom Avram also distributed a tenth from everything (indeed, firstly being interpreted, “King of righteousness”, then in addition also “King of Shalem”, which is “king of peace”,
3. without father, without mother, without genealogy, nor beginning of days nor having end of life, but having been made similar to the son of Elohim) remains a priest into perpetuity.
Without genealogy: In one sense it would have seemed to his younger contemporaries that Shem (identified with one "Adoni-tsedeq" in the same context with Avraham in Yasher 16:11) had always been around, having passed over from a previous age through the Deluge that destroyed all others of his own generation except his brothers, wife, and sisters-in-law. But genealogy can also be read as “pedigree”, which in the context of the rest of this chapter would suggest the emphasis that he was not of Levitical descent and thus not suitable for the priesthood in an Israelite context. But there was a more ancient, pre-Aharonic priestly order that continued to exist. The call of the Tzadoqite Levites to be priests within Israel did not nullify the earlier order; it simply provided for an alternative within Israel to the firstborn of every family becoming a temple priest. (Num. 3:12) The firstborn was still the priest of the family, for we see some of David’s sons serving as priests, not in Yerushalayim, but over some other peoples. (2 Shmu’el 8:18; 1 Chron. 18:17) David was not a Levite, but was from the tribe of Yehudah, but since Re’uven the firstborn disqualified himself by defiling his father’s bed, and Shim’on and Levi (the next eldest) fell from their father’s graces, Yehudah by default became the firstborn (since he showed himself worthy in the events surrounding the sale and rediscovery of Yosef), and as such was given the scepter. Like Melkhitzedeq, this line was both priestly and royal, and Y’shua, being the firstborn in his family, thus inherited the right to both. So when we say the Messiah is a priestly king in Israel, it is simply another way of saying he is from the line of David. Does Mal’akhi’s reprimand of the priesthood for not fulfilling its role properly (like Re’uven) grant legitimacy for the other priesthood to again surface in Israel through the Messiah?
4. Consider and notice his greatness, in that even our father Avraham gave him a tenth of the spoils,
5. which indeed the sons of L’wi also collect for their priesthood. There is one commandment for them to take up a tithe from the people by mouth of the Torah’s custom, and this was from their brothers, though they also came out from the loins of Avraham.
6. This one, who is in fact not from their clan, took up a tithe from Avraham, and blessed him to whom the blessing would belong!
7. And indeed, there is this, which is not hidden: that the less important one is blessed by the greater.
Not hidden: i.e., obvious to everyone.8. Look! Here sons of humanity who are subject to death receive tithes, but here he of whom it is said that he is alive is the one who receives [them],
9. because we could say that the one who was accustomed to taking up the tithe—he himself was tithing through Avraham’s hand,
10. because he was still in the loins of the patriarch when Melkhitzedeq came out to greet him!
11. For if the payment was made by the hand of the priesthood of Levites on behalf of the people to obtain the Torah, why was there a need for another priest to arise “according to the order of Melkhitzedeq” and not, so to speak, “after the order of Aharon”?
12. It is saying that according to which there is a transfer of the office of the priesthood, of necessity it is saying there is a transfer of the instruction.
Instruction: Heb., torah. Transfer: often misleadingly translated “change”, but James Trimm writes, “In the original Hebrew there is no indication that the Torah or any of its commandments are changed, only that they are repeated. This repetition is all part of the renewal of Torah which is a primary paradigm of the Book of Hebrews in the original Hebrew.” 119 Ministries explains that since there is a transfer of the priesthood back to Melkhitzedeq’s order (which held it before the Levites did), the administration of the Torah is also transferred to the Messiah. I.e., this does not mean the law is changed in the sense that any part of it is done away with, only that different aspects of it may be applicable now and other parts suspended as they were the previous times the Temple service was interrupted, to be resumed when all the elements are back in place.
13. For this is about [one of] whom it is said, “Isn’t this one also from a different clan?” And from a clan that was not one of those that served the altar!
14. Because it is obvious that our Master is a branch from the tribe of Y’hudah, but Moshe did not say a word about a priesthood in such a form as this ordained in regard to what is in place of this [one].
15. And it is still better known and widespread [that there is] another priest comparable to and in the order of Melkhitzedeq,
16. who is not considered to be after the decrees of the flesh, only after the one the life that has no end.
17. But as for him, it is testified containing [the phrase], “You are a priest for the age on the order of Melkhitzedeq.”
18. To me in this there was a carrying away of the first by a weak work and by drunkenness and that which is not worthy for use.
Drunkenness: what apparently led to the death of Aharon’s oldest two sons because of doing their duty wrongly. (Lev. 10:1-9) Trimm writes, “The Hebrew word for ‘carrying away’ is gistal’kah Jeremiah uses a form of this same word to describe the Babylonian captivity (Jer. 29:1, 4, 16, 20, 31; 46:19; 48:7, 11; 49:3). The ‘carrying away’ here is that of the Babylonian captivity and the curse which has come upon Israel for having failed collectively to observe Torah as a people (see Deut. 28-29 and Lev. 26). The Torah promises that if after this curse comes upon us, we repent and turn back to Elohim as a people, he will regather us and renew the covenant with us (Deut.30 and Jer. 31:31f). Hebrews is saying that a ‘carrying away’ resulted from our failure to observe the Torah thus creating the need for a repetition of the Torah through a repetition of the priesthood.”
19. For the Torah did not complete the thing. But a hope that supersedes it entered in on its behalf, by which we approach Elohim.
20. And it is in the face of this word that remains—and it exceeds the strength of the testimony not made with the oath, because the others became cohanim without an oath,
21. but this one with an oath—the one by which it was said to him, “YHWH has sworn and will not relent: you are a cohen until the age on the order of Melkhitzedeq.”
22. Belonging to such a guarantee, Y’hoshua is anointed for us to a covenant that remains, good and in force.
23. Because those who have become cohanim have come to be many, whose title is not able to continue on account of death.
24. But this is someone established as one that can continue perpetually; his high priesthood never comes to an end--
25. that from the midst of this, he is able to completely rescue those who are recorded as coming to Elohim, and he is always alive to intercede [in prayer] on their behalf.
From the midst of this: or, if by scribal error, "by his death".
26. Easily, a high priest such as this appears to have received suitable testimony that he is pious and innocent, without blemish and separate from sins and higher even than the heavens,
27. who does not have day-to-day needs like the one who brings offerings near first for himself and afterward on behalf of the whole assembly of Israel. And this he accomplished in that he brought himself one time to be a drawing-near [offering].
28. Because the Torah made the sons of Adam, who are enslaved to weakness, to be cohanim, but the word of the oath which came to be concerning the Torah is what stands and establishes, “You are the Son of Elohim” to be complete until the hidden [age].
CHAPTER 8
1. Look! This is the whole point of what we are saying: in this [one we have] as our advocate a high priest who is sitting at the right hand of the Sh’khinah in the heavens
2. and we have a supervisor of the holy things and the genuine sanctuary that was raised up [by] Elohim and not [by] a son of Adam--
3. because every high priest is appointed to bring near gifts and ascending [offering]s, but this one who draws near also needs to have something to bring near.
4. And, indeed, if he was in his earthly life, he would not be a cohen, [being] from another tribe than that in which there are cohanim bringing [offerings] near according to what the Torah says,
5. which is a model and an analogy of things which are established, like that which was said from Moshe upon the word of a bat qol around the day on which he was preparing to set up the Tent of Appointment, because it told him, “See that you make all things—all of them—by the pattern that you saw on the mountain.”
Bat qol: “daughter of a voice”, an idiom for a word spoken from the heavens.
6. He has obtained a priesthood which is more excellent than that which they carry out, like that by which he made the covenant firm so many times. It is more excellent than the first, which is established upon a priesthood better than the previous ones,
Priesthood: in the second instance, the Greek says “promises”, which seems to fit better with the plural of the dependent clause, and clarifies that not that another law was enacted that was better than the Torah, but the promises on which its renewal are based:
7. because if the first was without reproof, we would not need to look for a place for another.
Reproof: or pleading, appeal, correction.
8. Because he found fault with them, saying, “‘Behold, the days are coming’, declares YHWH, ‘when My covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Y’hudah [will be a] renewed covenant,
The fault was not with the Torah (which is already perfect, per Psalm 19:7) but with Israel, who broke the covenant and needed to have it renewed. If we take away from something perfect, it becomes less than perfect. (119 Ministries)
9. “‘not like the covenant that I cut with their ancestors on the day when I grasped them by their hands to bring them out from the land of Mitzrayim, in that they broke My covenant, and I despised them’, declares YHWH.
Not like: because this time it will not be broken. And I despised them: the original text says, “though I was a husband to them”. (Yirm. 31:32) Yehudah did not come back with her whole heart (Yirmeyahu 3:10), and the rest of Israel was still estranged from the covenant (Eph. 2:12). The renewal of the covenant takes care of both problems:
10. “‘Because this is the covenant that I will cut with the House of Israel after those days:’, declares YHWH. ‘Look! I will provide My instruction in their innermost parts, and on their heart I will write it, and I will become their Elohim, and they will become a people for Me.
He gives us a "heart transplant" (Y’hezq’El/Ezek. 36:26) which makes us want to obey His commands.
11. “‘And they will no longer teach each [man] his neighbor, or each [man] his brother, saying, “[Get to] know YHWH!” Because all of them will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,
12. “‘because I will forgive their crookednesses, and their errors I will no longer remember.’”
13. And according to that which he said 'renewed covenant' he has antiquated the first to that which has put on antiquity and in coming days, behold, he offers that which is longed for.
Trimm writes, “In the Hebrew text the idea here is that Israel has (by violating Torah) antiquated the Torah but that the days are coming when the renewal of Torah that had been longed for would come. The Hebrew word for ‘longed for’ here is shey’kamah (Strong's 3642), meaning ‘to long for’; ‘to become pale’ or ‘to vanish away’. The Greek translator misunderstood this word as meaning ‘to vanish away’ but in the Hebrew it clearly means that the renewal of the Torah was ‘longed for’.”
CHAPTER 9
1. And also, in truth, the first has requirements and services of Elohim and also holiness of bodies,
2. because the first Tent was established which had in it the menorah and the table and the bread of the faces, and this was called the Holy Place.
3. But behind the second veil was the Tent that was called the Holy of Holies--
4. that which had within it the golden firepan and the ark of the covenant with its inside overlaid with gold, in which there was a golden container with manna [in it], and the rod of Aharon which blossomed, and two slabs.
5. And above it were the kh’ruvim of the distinguished armies—above [and] belonging to the covering; right now we need to speak of something different.
6. And while this was in place, the cohanim went at any time into the outer Tent of Appointment to complete the service of Elohim,
7. but in the inner Tent of Appointment, he entered only one time per year, and not without blood, which he brought near on his own behalf, and also for the unintentional errors of the people.
8. Now in this it is made clear by means of the Spirit of Holiness that the way of the holy things was not revealed as long as the first Tent was established,
9. which was a model of this time in view, in which the cohen brings near offerings and ascendings which it is not in their hands in the face of the time, to allow the servant of Elohim to cross over.
10. For the completeness of the heart in foods alone and in drink and in things like the various kinds of immersions and outward settings-apart of the body that were set in place until the suitable time should come.
11. The Messiah, on the other hand, entered to become high priest for the good things that were prepared, which came through the Tent which is greater and more complete than the first, which is not made by hands, and it is the one that is not built like those buildings that were built as it [was].
12. Also, not by means of blood of goats and calves, only one time he entered the interior of the Holy Place by means of blood of judgment in his own soul, and that which secured for us now an eternal redemption.
13. And if the blood of the bulls and goats and also the ashes of the red cow by which the cohen purified the ritually impure [served] for the purification of the body,
14. Above one as much and as many as that belonging to our Messiah, who offered himself to Elohim by means of the Spirit of Holiness without any blemish, be a purifier of our consciences from dead labors to serve the living Elohim.
Our consciences: or possibly, what is reserved and kept safe for us.
15. By the weight of this word he is the mediator of a renewed covenant between Himself and us, which is not different, so that, since a death had occurred toward a release [effected by the paying of a ransom] of the violations against the original covenant, those who are being called might receive the promise [offered] of [what was given as] an eternal inheritance.
Renewed: or “new”, which can mean “never used”, which is why this covenant, which is really a renewal of the “old”, can be called “new”—it was hardly ever “taken out of the box”. Notice that Y’shua’s death applies in particular to rectifying the condition of those who had lost a prior inheritance—that is, the “lost sheep of the House of Israel”, whose ancestors broke the first covenant. YHWH finally made a way for the Land and all other promises under Torah to be recovered by their descendants. As Yirmeyahu 31 stipulates, the renewed covenant applies specifically to the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah. No one else is mentioned.
16. Because in every place in which there is a covenant, you need there to be the death of the one who established the covenant,
Covenant: here it seems to be speaking of a “last will and testament”.
17. because the covenant is withdrawn, being established within the death of the one who makes the covenant, and it has no power while its master is still alive.
18. And from this matter also, the first covenant is not established without blood,
19. because on the day that Moshe told the people what belonged to the words of YHWH by the mouth of the instruction, he took the life of calves with water and purple [cloth] and hyssop, and from this [he sprinkled] the document and all the people.
Life: i.e., the blood. (Lev. 17:11) Purple: the Torah actually specifies scarlet/crimson.
20. And he said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which YHWH cuts with you [all] in regard to the words of the commandment!”
21. Moreover, the Tent and all its implements of the service of Elohim, he sprinkled in this manner by himself with blood.
22. And almost all things are purified with blood, by the mouth of the commandments of the Torah, and without the shedding of blood there is seen no covering of anything.
23. By the mouth like you, it is necessary that every blueprint and every pattern of the things that are in the heavens be purified by things like this; reliable things—the substance of the heavenly [things themselves]—they are purified by slaughterings better than [these] good things and more forceful than they.
24. For the Messiah did not enter into the sanctuary that was built by hands—that which was a model, a shadow of the real ones, but he, through what he established, enters into the heavenly on behalf of what will appear at the time that yet remains in the presence of Elohim.
25. Also, he does not bring himself near [as an offering] many times, like the high priest who enters into the sanctuary and who comes near every year with sprinkled blood.
26. Because if this were the case, he would have been corrected many times since the beginning of creation of the universe, but indeed, at the hidden end of the age, he appears once as something that will ascend as a covering over the crookednesses.
27. So in this way it is decreed in regard to the children of Adam that [they must] die once, and after this will come the court-ruling.
28. Thus our Messiah was presented only one time to make a covering over the crookednesses of many, and with a second coming, he will allow himself to be seen for those who [patiently but expectantly] wait for him, outside of [any connection to] wrongdoing, unto an eternal deliverance.
Only one time: This is why it was so important for Moshe to speak to the rock rather than striking it the second time. For breaking this picture, Moshe was not permitted into the Promised Land. Sins: literally, mistakes or wanderings-away—an apt description of the other tribes of Israel.
CHAPTER 10
1. Now the Torah, which holds a shadow of the coming benefits, [though] not itself [being] the likeness of the things, is never able, by the same slaughters brought continually [year] by year, to accomplish closure for those who are drawing near.
Shadow: or outline, sketch. It depicts accurately the shape of the real thing it aims for--the change of heart it is designed to teach us. Continually: literally, toward the carrying-through. The Torah can never perfect the individual. But as we will see, it was never meant to.
2. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being brought, since those who performed the sacred rituals, once [they] had been cleansed, [would] no longer have consciousness of sins?
Rituals: This was addressed to those who had experienced the Temple and seen all of these offerings going on. Consciousness: Before the Torah was given, there was no recognition of sin (Rom. 4:15), as there was with Adam before he partook of the Tree of the Knowledge and realized his guilt. That is what we are trying to get back to, and when there is full obedience in the whole body, we will be. (v. 18)
3. But in them [instead] there is a reminder of sins [year] by year,
We deal with the same sins year by year. We would hope it is on a more mature level each time, but each year the festival cycle spotlights a different aspect of completeness that we have not yet achieved. As we apply what we learned last year, we have a higher perspective from which to view them, but this only makes us realize there are more areas in which we fall short. There are more habits that we did not previously realize were sin. The end of the cycle, Sukkoth, highlights the fact that since the Messiah is not yet reigning and ruling over all nations, we have at least one more cycle to go through. As we will see later in the chapter, the sins that Y’shua’s death addressed are the type that relate to inadvertent sin—slips of the mind (Lev. 4:2), so the repetitions are memory aids so that we can learn to hear, learn to repent, etc., a little bit more fully with each go-round.
4. since it is not possible [for the] blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
They can only remove the legal guilt for having done the sin on one particular occasion, but not the possibility of doing it again, and are actually mainly for the sake of our sensing a closure and gaining a sense of how serious it is to disobey, rather than having any actual connection to the sin itself; only as we serve one another in unity can the actual practice of the sin be removed from Israel:
5. That is why when he comes into the world, he says, “You did not intend slaughter and offerings, but You fitted me with a properly-equipped body.
Properly-equipped: perfectly joined together, or prepared to perfection, a term used in Mat. 4:21 for repairing nets, thus it includes the sense of reconstitution of something once broken, a restoration or setting right—in this case, of Adam’s fallen body, back to what his was before he introduced the poison of the bad fruit into the veins of every descendant except this one, who was born of a virgin, so the egg preserved intact through the lineage of one fertilization after another and thus many deaths of its hosts, until this time it could again be manifested exactly as YHWH had created it the first time. What is this body that can take away the sins that the slaughterings could not? A human body with untainted, uncorrupted blood, thus greater than both any other human body and more acceptable than any sinless animal’s body. (Custance) But it was not just Yeshua’s physical body (though this is included as something he had available to offer), but a unified people with him as their Head. Only as a part of this can individuals be perfected. (Webster) Bulls and goats represent us, but what YHWH really wants is us. Laying down our lives for one another keeps us from committing all (kinds of) sins. (Prov. 10:12) It is the job of his Body to remove the sins of Israel, as the priests did in times past. (Lev. 5 et al) This final phrase is from the LXX; the Masoretic text says, “You have dug my ears open.” The passage quoted throughout this section is Psalm 40:6-8.
6. “You did not prefer whole burnt offerings or [those brought] in regard to sin.
He would rather that we did not miss the mark at all, but carried out the positive commands--the “thou shalts”: love YHWH and love our neighbors as our selves. Then we would not need to bring offerings for our sins very often. The original altar was designed to be very small. It should have only had to be used for festival offerings; instead, by Y’shua’s time, it was big enough to drive an 18-wheel truck onto and turn around!
7. “At that time, I said, ‘Look! I am here (in the scroll of the book it was written about me) to do Your will, O Elohim.’”
8. Above, when He said, “You did not intend slaughter or offerings, whole burnt offerings or [those] brought in regard to sin,” according to the Torah,
Slaughter and offerings are just the means to teach us; in themselves they accomplish nothing, serving as a picture of what is meant to be in our hearts. They can become an excuse to avoid the deeper issues, like merely saying, “I’m sorry” without making reparations for what we broke: “Just so I bring this bull, it doesn’t matter how I treat my brother.” That we have done this for so long is one reason we are still in exile. He left us here so we could learn to truly care for one another, then bring into his Kingdom an already-intact unity, as YHWH’s pure Land deserves. As the stones for the Temple were cut off-site, so it will be for the Temple built of living stones—the best we can find; don’t let them remain defective just because he has paid the price! When that is established, we will receive the Temple back as well.
9. “at that time,” He said, “Look! I am here to accomplish Your purpose, O Elohim.” He is taking up the first in order that he might firmly establish the second,
Taking up: often mistranslated “taken away”, but the word-picture in Greek depicts standing between two things and lifting them both up, like two buckets balanced on a pole. First: or, principal one. Second: the other of the two things that have just been discussed, that is, “a properly-equipped body”. He took the physical Temple up, storing it in the Kingdom until we are ready to use it properly, placing our focus instead more directly on the things it was meant to teach—how to function as a unified body and uphold one another so that we each hit the target instead of missing it. This had already taken place once before the time this was written. They had no time for bickering and infighting when they had a common enemy. In the first exile the Jewish community had been strengthened and YHWH deemed it fit for the Temple to be rebuilt, because they had again learned to care for one another. It was still standing when this was written, though a very short time later it was about to be taken away again, because, the Mishnah tells us, most of the Jews hated their brothers and were more interested in their own ideas about halakhah receiving attention than in meeting their brothers’ needs. It may be because this was imminent that YHWH allowed this account to be written which reminded us that we can still accomplish the things the Temple was meant to teach us without it being physically present; the picture was removed because we were forgetting what it was really about. But w the Temple will one day be restored (Yehezq’El 40-47; Mat. 24:15), so we should never think of the present parenthetical age as superseding the earlier ages, since the Kingdom which is yet to come is described as “the time of restoration of all things.” Y’shua the King himself is also in safe keeping there until that time. (Acts 3:21) When we care for each part of the body and learn to see each one’s best characteristics as our own, we will be ready for him to return.
10. in which “purpose” we are rendered set-apart, through the one-time act of bringing near the body of Y’shua the Messiah.
One-time: the Greek term covers both the ideas of all at once and once for all. Bringing near: or simply, offering, as Y’shua did, but his Body will one day be brought near all at once. He made it possible for all of Israel to again be under the same offering, but his self-sacrifice was a means to an end, so we should not become overly caught up in every offering prescribed in the Torah being somehow a picture of him. He made a way for us to draw near as a community. What is it? In the context of Leviticus 4, it is simply the mature obedience he exemplified. The bull is offered there so we do not continue to make foolish, childish mistakes. Y’shua’s mind was constantly on the Kingdom, so he was not constantly forgetful. His focus was a mature one: “Not my will, but Yours.” In Efesians 4, Sha’ul (Paul) saw the need clearly: for us all to grow up, no longer being like children who spit at one another. But if we do nothing in response to the sacrifice Y’shua brought, nothing changes for us. It is not something to just be acknowledged in our minds, but something to be known intimately, which is only possible when we enter into the same activity.
11. And indeed, every priest stands by daily, performing the sacred rituals and often presenting the same sacrifices, which can never entirely remove sin.
They were not designed to take away sin, but to remove the guilt so we could move on to better things, and to teach us how to offer up different parts of ourselves. They are not to let us think we “got away with” the sin they were meant to cover, but to kill off those parts of us that are still immature. When we actually slaughter an animal, it is much harder to forget this lesson.
12. This [man], on the other hand, having presented [only] one sacrifice on account of sins [which continues] toward perpetuity, sat down by the right hand of YHWH,
On account of: has the connotation of “over and above”. It is not as if our sin no longer existed or that we could not partake of the same sins again, but they have been superseded by the power he provided each of us to overcome them (as the law of aerodynamics can supersede the law of gravity)—if we choose to utilize it.
13. from then on, receiving out until his enemies be set down as a footstool for his feet.
Receiving out: i.e., collecting unto Himself those who are called out; alt., waiting expectantly. He sat down, but cannot fully relax until he has an “ottoman” or “hassock” formed as we bring everything, including our own thoughts, into submission to Him (2 Cor. 10:5)—i.e., until we lay down our lives for him as he did for us. We are the Body he left behind to defeat the rest of the enemies. They are not fully overcome until we walk in the way He has provided and pioneered. Our missings-of-the-mark are his enemies. Doing away with them is our job. He cannot enjoy his position until we, too, overcome sin, and he has been waiting a very long time.
14. Thus, by one act of offering, he has accomplished perpetual completion for those [who are] being rendered set-apart.
Notice both the final and continuous (ongoing) aspects of this concept. This sacrifice benefited not only Yehudah, who by and large were the only ones profiting from the physical Temple in the day this was written, but brought all of scattered Israel under the same umbrella. But it was only the beginning of bringing to completion what he set in motion. He provided us with all that we need to finish the job. But we need to go get what he made available to us! If he had done everything there is to do, as many teach, what motivation would there be for us to become mature and live righteous, set-apart lives?
15. The Spirit of Holiness also bears witness for us, for after having said beforehand,
16. “‘This is the covenant that I will enter into with regard to them after those days,’ says YHWH: ‘Supplying My instructions against their hearts, I will also inscribe them on their minds,
After those days: i.e., at the time the unification of his Body has become complete. Against their hearts: or, upon their hearts. (This is Yirmeyahu 31:33.)
17. “‘and I will no longer remember their errors or violations of Torah at all.’”
Violations of Torah: or, lawless actions. When we are no longer “without Torah”, we will be mature enough to teach it to the other nations that have been brought into subjection to the king in David’s line. (Yeshayahu 2:3; Mikha 4:2)
18. Now wherever there is forgiveness of these things, there [will be] no further bringing [offerings] dealing with sin.
Forgiveness: release or remission of a penalty. So why will animals still be offered during the Messianic Kingdom, the time of the restoration of all things? After a very long process, we will no longer need this type of sacrifice that is a picture of our immaturity (the young bull as in Lev. 4), but the many other types of offerings will remain in practice, since they have to do with the desire to draw near to YHWH; that will only increase in the coming Age. And why did we ever bring offerings? Not to get rid of sin (v. 4), but to learn. They do not just allow us to come closer to Him, but help us learn how to stay close to Him. (It is about us, not the animals.) And the nations will be coming up to the feasts, and someone will need to teach them how to draw near so that they can know YHWH as well. Each offering teaches us how to offer up a different part of ourselves. Each teaches a different lesson, and there will also be children being born then who will need to be taught how to rightly divide YHWH’s word of truth, and how to become part of the community.
19. Therefore, brothers, having unreserved confidence for the entering of the Holy [Place] in the blood of Y’shua,
The Holy Place: the first room one enters in the Tabernacle or Temple, not the second, which is called the Holy of Holies; that can only be entered by YHWH’s bride once she is completely unified. The Holy Place is dedicated to the service of YHWH and of the whole community of Israel, and that is what he again gave us access to.
20. which he initiated for us by a recently-slaughtered yet living way through the veil, that is, his flesh.
Initiated: or, consecrated, dedicated. Recently-slaughtered yet living: His death and resurrection, His death for the sake of our revival to life, and our dying to self so that Israel might live after having slaughtered our own immature ways as well. The blood of the offerings was also “kept alive” by the priest swirling it around in the pitcher until he got to the altar so it would not coagulate first.
21. Indeed, having a High Priest over the Dwelling Place of Elohim,
He is here figuratively a high priest, though not from the tribe of Levi, because in Leviticus 4, the one officiating over this particular offering is called the “anointed priest” , or cohen mashiakh—“Messiah priest”. The kings in David's line do officiate over certain offerings, but not to the detriment of the Levitical priests in any way. When one tried to do so, he became leprous for life. (2 Chron. 26:16ff)
22. let us approach with a genuine heart, in full assurance of [His] trustworthy character, with hearts sprinkled clean from a consciousness of evil and body washed with pure water.
Approach: or, draw near. (Compare Esther 5:22.) Genuine: connotes not only resembling but being exactly what it claims to be in every respect; sincere and not having any form of pretense. This consciousness of evil came about when Adam and Chawwah, having been genuinely deceived, disobeyed the only negative command YHWH had given. (Compare Lev. 4:2) Before that, they did not know evil intimately. But they made excuses and “passed the buck”, so the problem has remained with us ever since, since we have not adequately matured. Like Adam, we are still thinking about the other delights in the Garden rather than about His commands, which would enable us to live life in the freest manner. The antidote is to pay closer attention to becoming a mature, united people—the “ancient Adam” again, as pictured in Y’shua (who was even “mistaken” for “the gardener” after he conquered this enemy). That is all YHWH ever wanted to begin with. So we need to give it higher priority and more commitment. Washed with pure water: Custance connects this with the idea that “the association between moral cleansing of guilt and physical purification from defilement, seems to be reflected by the many occasions upon which ritual washing is prescribed in the Bible for those engaged in the service of the Lord. See, for instance, Exodus 30:17—21; Leviticus 8:6, ... Acts 22:16; 1 Corinthians 6: 11; Hebrews 10:22. And as having an obvious bearing, see also Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:1, and John 13:10. It may be argued that cleansing of the body without cleansing the spirit is ineffective, except for social reasons. The observation is clearly correct. But by the same token, it may well be that cleansing the spirit without cleansing the body would seem to be equally ineffective. The highly spiritual individual who doesn't care for the cleanliness of his person can only be half-highly spiritual!” He notes that during the Holocaust, with what may be the most squalid conditions ever seen on earth, it was often “the tiniest…token of attention to the cleanliness of the body was often enough to keep the spirit alive. When that token was abandoned, the individual was already as good as dead.” Custance quotes Terrence Des Pres, who noted that "If spiritual resilience declines, so does physical endurance. If the body sickens, the spirit begins to lose its grip. There is a strange circularity about existence in extremity. Survivors preserve their dignity in order 'not to begin to die': they care for the body as a matter of 'moral survival'."
23. Let us take firm possession of the expectation that we profess to be ours, without wavering, because the One who promised [to furnish it] is reliable.
How do we do this?
24. That is, let us pay close attention to spurring one another on toward commitment and commendable actions,
25. not abandoning the gathering of ourselves together, as certain ones are accustomed to [doing], but [rather] coming alongside to strengthen [one another], and so much the more insofar as you discern the Day approaching.
Here the intended application is spelled out clearly so that no one can miss it.
26. Because if we go on erring willfully after having received the [precise, correct] knowledge of what is true, there is no further sacrifice left in regard to sins,
27. but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery punitive zeal which is about to consume those who oppose.
The sins that can be covered are the unintentional ones (Lev. 4); if we are conscious of what we are doing and still do it anyway, we can only expect to have much trouble in our lives, because YHWH has not provided for the consequences of this sin to be removed by any means. (Compare Ex. 21:14; 23:21).
28. Anyone who disregarded Moshe’s law died with no pity upon [the word of] two or three witnesses;
29. how much worse a penalty do you suppose he will be deemed deserving of who has spurningly trampled the Son of Elohim and considered the blood of the covenant by which he was set apart [to be] a profane thing, and has insulted the Spirit of Empowering Favor?
30. For we have experienced the One who said, “‘Revenge belongs to Me; I will pay back,’ says YHWH”, and furthermore, “‘YHWH will judge His people.’”
31. [It is a] formidable thing to fall into the hands of the Elohim of [the] living!
32. But bring back to remembrance the earlier days in which, having been enlightened, you endured the great struggle of [the] sufferings you underwent,
33. this indeed while you were being made a spectacle both [through] scorn and pressure, [or] becoming comrades of those treated like that,
34. because you indeed had empathy with me in my chains, and accepted the plundering of your possessions with joy, understanding that you had within yourselves a more excellent property in heaven—and one that lasts.
Compare Gen. 45:20. In heaven: where it is held for us until the Messianic Kingdom, the Sabbath Millennium, when earth and heaven will again converge. (Compare Mat. 6:20, which alludes to Ex. 16:23.) What we store in that “bank” will outlast the vicissitudes of the spiritual attacks of this age.
35. This being so, do not throw away your [conspicuous, bold] confidence, which holds repayment on a grand scale,
Repayment: of what is due one because of the suffering he has been asked to endure.
36. because you have need of perseverance, so that, once you have done what YHWH wants, you might carry away the promised blessing.
37. For “a very, very little [while] longer [and] the One who is coming will arrive, and [He] will not delay.”
The One who is coming: a quote from Havaquq 2:3 in the LXX; Heb., “coming it will come”.
38. But “the righteous will live through faithfulness”, though “if he shrinks back, My soul will not be pleased with him”.
The order of Havaquq 2:4 in the LXX is reversed here for emphasis. The Hebrew of the second part (here) reads, “His soul is puffed up and is not upright.”
39. But we are not among those who steal back timidly into destruction; rather, [we] belong to [the] faithfulness that leads to the obtaining [and preserving] of a [living] soul.
A living soul: what Adam was called in Gen. 2:7. By enduring the firings of YHWH’s forge, we will be able to restore what Adam lost.
CHAPTER 11
1. Look: faithfulness is the principle underlying the things we are confident about and the proof of the illuminated things that are not visible,
Faithfulness: or firm confidence.
2. by the service of which the ancients found a testimony.
Testimony: as of witnessing evidence.
3. By means of the trustworthiness we understand that the worlds were made within the words of Elohim—that everything visible [came] from nothing that exists.
Worlds: often a mystical description of the different dimensions of reality that go beyond those our senses can perceive.
4. By means of Hevel’s faithfulness, there came to be a greater drawing near, and he received before Elohim [something] more excellent than that of Qayin, by means of which he achieved a testimony that he was righteous. Even though he was silenced, he provided a witness from his death and by his hand, though he is indeed dead, he still speaks now.
5. By means of faithfulness, Elohim took Hanokh in order that death should not surmount him, and he was no longer there, because Elohim took him before it could take him. He had a testimony that He was pleased with him, as it was said, “Hanokh walked with the Elohim”, but without [being] with faithfulness, it is not opened up for any human being to be welcomed before Elohim.
6. For whoever desires to come to Elohim, he needs to be confident that Elohim exists and that for all who seek Him, He will provide a repayment.
7. By means of faithfulness Noakh honored the Elohim and built the ark to rescue his household, in which he received from Elohim a description of a thing not yet seen, in the midst of which he overrode the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by the service of faithfulness.
Honored: or, gave authority/weightiness to. Description: Trimm, warning. Overrode: The verbal picture in Hebrew is of surmounting by being carried aloft above it.
8. By active service of faithfulness, Avraham listened when he was called to go into a Land where there would be an inheritance for him, and he left, though he did not know to what place he was going.
9. By active service of faithfulness, he was a sojourner in the Land that was promised to him, as if in a foreign land, and dwelt in tents with Yitzhaq and Yaaqov, who, like him, were heirs of the same promise,
10. because he was on the lookout in regard to a city which has a foundation that is built and formed by Him who is Elohim.
Foundation: the mystical connection between earth and heaven, i.e., Yerushalayim.
11. By active service of faithfulness, Sarah, too, received of it the point of becoming pregnant and giving birth, past the time of her growing old, because she swore that He who had made a promise to her was faithful.
12. And for that reason he also changed from one who was as if he had a dead body, and from them were born as many as the stars of the sky and as the sand upon the shore, and came to be innumerable.
13. All of these died, trusting but not receiving what was promised—except that they saw it from far away, and were confident and satisfied with this, having given witness that they were pilgrims and sojourners in the Land.
Pilgrims and sojourners: guests but having no permanent stake there, as was the case until Avraham anchored one there by purchasing Sarah’s tomb.
14. Because those who say, “That is His city” [show] by this [that] they are seeking a Land that is [yet] coming.
15. Now if they had been remembering the one from which they had come out, there would have been occasion to turn around and go back to the same one they had come out of.
16. But, look indeed! They chose what is better and more excellent and set-apart and heavenly. On account of this, Elohim is not ashamed to be called their Elohim, because He has built a city for them.
17. By active service of faithfulness, Avraham brought Yitzhaq near [as an offering] when he was put to the test and rendered up his only son through whom the securing-promise had been received--
18. [he] to whom it was said that “in Yitzhaq you will be proclaimed to have descendants.”
19. And he remembered that by the hand of Elohim he had been made alive and also [comprehended that he could come back to life] from the dead; thus he was figuratively given back the resurrection of the dead.
Figuratively: as a likeness. Yitzhaq did not get to the point of needing a physical resurrection, but in the reasoning process of his father, he fully expected that this would take place if YHWH appeared to be making the fulfillment of the promise impossible.
20. By active service of faithfulness, Yitzhaq, blessed Yaaqov and Esau from the words about things to come.
21. By active service of faithfulness, on the day of his death, Yaaqov blessed Yosef’s two sons, bowing down on the head of his staff.
22. By active service of faithfulness, on the day of his death, Yosef spoke about the Exodus of the descendants of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.
23. By active service of faithfulness, at birth Moshe was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that he was a lovely child, and were not fearful of the king’s order.
24. By active service of faithfulness, Moshe, when he grew up, did not desire to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
25. who made the better choice of bearing the great and distressing troubles along with Elohim’s people rather than the momentary pleasures of going astray in error,
26. because he considered the healing of the anointing the far more excellent [choice] than the treasuries of Mitzrayim; in principle he looked toward the compensation.
Healing: or loosening, weaker [position]. Mitzrayim: Egypt.
27. By active service of faithfulness, Moshe cut [himself off] from Mitzrayim, and was not fearful in the face of the fierce wrath of the king, because in this way he was preserved by his purposes, if only seeing that which cannot [be seen].
28. By active service of faithfulness, he kept the feast of Pesakh and spreading the blood as decreed, so that the one who slaughtered the firstborn of Mitzrayim would not strike them [down].
29. By active service of faithfulness, they walked through the midst of the Sea of Reeds as if on dry ground and as they fled from the very ones who would be submerged.
30. By active service of faithfulness, the walls of Y’rikho fell down after they had encircled it seven days.
31. By active service of faithfulness, Rahav the [infidel] prostitute avoided being destroyed along with those who did not believe by receiving the spies peacefully into her home.
32. And what [else] do I have? I will not speak further, because the time is cut short if I wish to recount [the stories] of Gid’on and of Baraq and of Shimshon and of Yifthakh and of David and of Shmu’el and of the prophets,
33. who through faithfulness subdued kingdoms and did deeds of righteousness and overtook that which was promised—who averted the throats [of lions]
34. and [military] force and fire, and divided the prices of a sword, and who were refined in their strength and became capable [through experience], who became heroes in battle, who later took foreign army camps captive.
Took…captive: or, recovered (i.e., their own armies taken captive by foreign armies).
35. The women received their husbands who were raised from the dead. Some ended up being slaughtered and they did not accept ransom for them on account of a greater and more excellent benefit.
36. And for this some of them had to bear scorn and beating and piercings, also being bound in prison and burned,
37. who were stoned and cut [in two] by saws, or thrust through by a sword. They went about clothed in skins of kids and sheep and goats, in neediness and oppression.
38. And they understood this: that the world was not worthy of them, and went about in river-valleys in the wilderness, on the mountains, in notches in the rocks, and holes in the ground.
39. Now all of these achieved the testimony by means of the faithfulness, yet did not receive what was promised;
40. something that Elohim made secure—which is a more excellent benefit in the flow [of events], since it is not brought to completion without [the rest of] us.
CHAPTER 12
1. Because of this, we ourselves, being surrounded by so many—such a crushing number of witnesses, need to altogether lay to rest all the burdens along with every sin that presses hard without leaving, sticking to us, and we have [the responsibility] to run amid humility in the battle that is stuck on us,
2. and to look upon Y’hoshua, who is the initiator and completer of the faithfulness—who with joy took on the burden of the binding and affliction, not considering the disgrace at all, and who sat down at the right hand, by the throne of his Elohim.
3. Therefore remember him who endured and bore such words of scorn against himself from wrongdoers, so as not to be exhausted in your spirits and abandon him.
4. Because you have not yet withstood to the point of blood concerning your victory against sin.
Victory: The Hebrew word includes the whole process of getting there, through endurance and pressing toward a goal.
5. And so quickly you have forgotten the consolation which speaks to you as to children in such fashion: “My son, do not consider the [chastening] correction of Elohim to be despicable or refuse it when He warns you,
6. because “the one whom YHWH loves, He sets straight, and every son at whom He hammers away, He receives.”
This is a paraphrase of Proverbs 3:12.
7. And if you accept correction when YHWH summons you for inspection, [you are] like sons, and what son is there whom his father does not admonish?
8. And indeed, if there is among you [one] who is not being corrected, you are not YHWH’s sons—only illegitimate children and not [true] sons.
9. Even the fleshly fathers we had, if they overdid [the correction] and we feared them, how many times more should we subject ourselves upward, under the hand of the Father of Spirits, in order that we may have life?
Subject ourselves upward: implied in the Hebrew text, for when He subdues us, it is for a positive, profitable purpose.
10. And though they, for a short time, they set us straight by however they struck us, but this is beneficial for us so that we may participate in His holiness.
As with any elite society in the civil world, if we accept the discipline it takes to make us truly proficient, we can be put into a category in which we share some of His characteristics.
11. But all rearing, while it is occurring, [seems like] enmity [and is not] seen as a joy; rather [as] a thing of sorrow! But later it provides the comforting fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised in the midst of it to get a firmer grip.
12. So for a second time, strengthen your weakened hands and your faltering knees,
13. and make the straight paths with your feet over your freshly-grown grass, over which there will not be another from you. Be made mature from the journey, so what is bent will not be weakened, but grow more robust.
14. Chase after the peace with all the sons of Adam, and the holiness without which no human being can see YHWH.
15. And watch out in regard to these things that there does not come to be one among you who falls behind with the kindness of Elohim and that there will not come to be a root among you that bears poisonous or bitter fruit and spreads by oozing out, and they grow and defile you
16. and that there does not come to be one among you who is adulterous and turbulent like Esau, who sold his birthright for merely one meal.
17. But you know that in the end when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was turned away, because he did not find a place for repentance despite [his] tears.
Turned away: the Hebrew word implies that this is not by words but by the shaking of the head.
18. Because you have not come to the mountain which you can no longer touch and is burning with fire and also to the dimness and darkness and terrifying wind,
19. nor even to the sound of trumpets nor to the voice of words that shook them from being rebels to quieting down and asking that this word not be spoken to them
20. because they were not able to bear that in which any beast that touched the mountain would be stoned to death or thrust through, urging them on,
21. and the sight was so frightening that even Moshe said, “I am full of terror and quaking!”
22. Only you have come to Mount Tzion and to the Place of the living Elohim, to Yerushalayim of the Heavens and to multiple myriads or messengers
23. and to the assembly of the firstborn who were inscribed in the Heavens and to Elohim, the Judge of all the earth and to the spirits of the righteous ones made perfect,
24. and to the mediator of a renewed covenant, better than that one, which speaks better things than that of Hevel.
25. Look at him, and see to it that you do not disobey the one who has been speaking with you, because if they were not able to escape who disobeyed the one who spoke on the earth, how much more if we do [the same]—if we disobey the one who speaks from the heavens--
26. Whose voice at that time shook the earth? But look! Now He has made a promise and said, “One more time watch me shake not only the earth but even the heavens as well!”
27. But when He says, “One more time”, by this He means to indicate the removal of those things that can be shaken, since what is built well on what is established—that which is not shaken.
Gk., so that which cannot be shaken will remain.
28. Therefore, we receive a kingdom that will not be shaken, so we have to have kindness, which we must have in order to serve Elohim as we wish—in respect and in awe,
Kindness: Since our security is already provided for, we can treat others more patiently than if we still feared for our own welfare.
29. because YHWH our Elohim is a consuming fire.
CHAPTER 13
1. Love of brothers will strengthen you in your very midst.
2. And do not forget to lodge travelers with a willing heart, because by means of this thing, a few of us have [shown hospitality to] messengers of [Elohim] without knowing it.
Like the Greek myth of Baucis and Philemon, this could be a test. But the more important reason to do so is to meet the need of His people, whoever they may be.
3. Remember those who are in prison as if you were in fetters with them, and those who are burdened with oppression like yourselves, because you are [part] of them, weighed down in the body.
4. Marriage is honorable in the eyes of all men, and the marriage bed is without compromise, but prostitutes and adulterers Elohim will judge.
Though the act may be the same, the context is all-important.
5. But let your ways be without greed and His oath in your allotments, because He has said, “I will never let you go or abandon you.”
Greed: literally, miserly grasping.
6. Concerning this we may feel at ease to say, “YHWH is for me, to help me; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
This is a quote from Psalm 118:6.
7. Remember your teachers, who have proclaimed the word of YHWH to you: both consider their goals and walk in the footsteps of their faithfulness.
8. Y’hoshua the Messiah is yesterday and today, and also [will be] forever and ever.
The Greek version has, “is the same…”
9. Do not let anything lead you away into any kind of perverse doctrine, because this is the thing to consider: that your hearts should be strengthened by showing each other mercy, and not by means of foods which have not earned us any reward, if in this you desire to serve Elohim.
Doctrine: Heb., torah. Foods: apparently a spurious teaching that was making the rounds at that time concerning something to do with the Tabernacle:
10. We have an altar, and they do not have permission to eat from it, nor complete the ministry-services of the Tent,
11. because [as a] sign, the blood of animals that the high priest lifted up in the Sanctuary to cover over the crookednesses was burned outside the camp,
12. and by this means the body of Y’hoshua our Messiah, the blood of whose body sets the people apart, suffered outside the city.
13. Therefore, let us allow ourselves to be led to walk “outside the camp” and share in his shame.
14. Because in this city we do not have an eternal place; we only search for the [prepared] one that is yet to come.
15. So indeed, we have [the responsibility] to bring near to its midst a continual offering of poured-out praise to my Elohim; this has the fruit of lips that make His name known.
Continual offering: the precise terminology for the everyday offerings in the sanctuary.
16. But to do good and share a portion with them, do not forget, for such drawing-near [offering]s—these are good in the eyes Elohim.
17. Listen to the voice of your teachers, humbling yourselves under their hands, because they are the guardians in front of your souls, as those who need to give an accounting [to YHWH], in order that they may do this with joy and not with lamentation, because this is not a fragrant aroma for you.
Fragrant aroma: reminiscent of the “soothing aroma to YHWH” that some of the offerings were called.
18. Pray—with us as witnesses—that he may comfort us, that we may have good knowledge, remembering our gifting so we can walk the path of the upright in the presence of every human being.
19. But I urge you to increase your doing this so that at a time that is near I may come to you.
Urge: or warn, in the sense of shining a light on, possibly also to highlight this for emphasis.
20. And behold Elohim, the Prince of Peace, who brought the great shepherd of the flock out from [among] the dead amidst the bloods of a covenant [that lasts for] ages—our master Y’hoshua the Messiah.
21. He will make you firm[ly established] in all good acts, to accomplish what He desires and may work in your innermost that which is pleasing before Him, through Y’hoshua, one anointed, to whom belongs the authority from eternity and until… Amen!
22. Now [what] I seek from you, my brothers, [is] that with great patience you carry the word of compassion, because I will write to you shortly.
This verse is identical to the next verse in the Hebrew text, probably by some scribal error, so this is from the Aramaic text.
23. Notice that the brother Timoti has [had the door] unlocked, but if he comes soon enough, we will be able to [come] see you together
24. and visit. With peace to your teachers and [to] all the set-apart ones; the brothers who are in Italy greet you with, “Shalom!”
25. May mercy be with you all. Amen!
[Written from the land of Italy by means of Timoti.]
