For Thou art my hope; O Lord GOD, my trust from my youth.

You will not be afraid of sudden disaster, or when destruction overtakes the wicked; for the LORD will be the source of your confidence, and he will guard your foot from being caught in a trap.

And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

◄ Hebrews 13 ►
Berean Study Bible Par ▾
Brotherly Love

1Continue in brotherly love. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.

4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Christ's Unchanging Nature

5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said:

“Never will I leave you,

never will I forsake you.”a

6So we say with confidence:

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?”

7Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them. 10We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

11Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. 13Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. 14For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Sacrifice, Obedience, and Prayer

15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name. 16And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

17Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.

18Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you soon.

Benediction and Farewell

20Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21equip you with every good thingc to do His will. And may He accomplish in usd what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

22I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.

23Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.

24Greet all your leaders and all the saints.

Those from Italy send you greetings.

25Grace be with all of you.

◄ Hebrews 10 ►
Berean Study Bible Par ▾
Christ's Perfect Sacrifice
(Psalm 147:1-20; Romans 3:1-8)

1For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.

3Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,

but a body You prepared for me.

6In burnt offerings and sin offerings

You took no delight.

7Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll:

I have come to do Your will, O God.’”a

8In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law). 9Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet, 14because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.

15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says:

16“This is the covenant I will make with them

after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put My laws in their hearts

and inscribe them on their minds.”b

17Then He adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts

I will remember no more.”c

18And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.

A Call to Persevere
(Jude 1:17-23)

19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

23Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. 25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,”d and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”e 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32Remember the early days that you were in the light, when you endured a great conflict in the face of suffering. 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to ridicule and persecution; at other times you were partners with those who were so treated. 34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.

35So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward. 36You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. 37For,

“In just a little while,

He who is coming will come and will not delay.

38But My righteous one

will live by faith;f

and if he shrinks back,

I will take no pleasure in him.”g

39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.