Warning Against Falling Away

1Therefore leaving the [†]elementary teaching about the [†]Christ, let us press on to [†]maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2of teaching about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3And this we will do, if God permits. 4For in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, [†]since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 7For ground that drinks the rain which often [†]falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is unfit and close [†]to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

The Inheritance of the Promises

9But we are convinced about you, beloved, of things that are better and that belong to salvation, though we are speaking in this way. 10For God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and continuing to minister to the [†]saints. 11And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence [†]so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12so that you may not become dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

13For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14saying, “I WILL GREATLY BLESS YOU AND I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY YOU.” 15And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16For men swear by [†]one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17[†]In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, guaranteed it with an oath, 18so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have [†]taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19[†]This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and confirmed and one which enters [†]within the veil, 20where a forerunner has entered for us—Jesus, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.