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A Serious Warning Against Falling Away

¹ Therefore, leaving behind the elementary message about Christ, let us move on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God, ² teaching about baptisms and laying on of hands, and resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. ³ And this we will do, if God permits. ⁴ For it is impossible concerning those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and become sharers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age, ⁶ and having fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, because they^[a] have crucified again for themselves the Son of God and held him up to contempt. ⁷ For ground that drinks the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth vegetation usable to those people for whose sake^[b] it is also cultivated, shares a blessing from God. ⁸ But if it^[c] produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to a curse, whose end is for burning.

⁹ But even if we are speaking in this way, dear friends, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and belonging to salvation. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust, so as to forget your work and the love which you demonstrated for his name by^[d] having served the saints, and continuing to serve them. ¹¹ And we desire each one of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, ¹² in order that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and patience.

The Reliability of God's Promise

¹³ For when^[e] God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying,

¹⁵ And so, by^[h] persevering, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by what is greater than themselves, and the oath for confirmation is the end of all dispute for them. ¹⁷ In the same way God, because he^[i] wanted to show even more to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his resolve, guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ in order that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge may have powerful encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us, ¹⁹ which we have like an anchor of the soul, both firm and steadfast, and entering into the inside of the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus, the forerunner for us, entered, because he^[j] became a high priest forever^[k] according to the order of Melchizedek.