For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.

How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for ¹  the Son of God, and profanes ²  the blood of the covenant that made him holy, ³  and insults the Spirit of grace?

For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, ¹  you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. ²  You have gone back to needing ³  milk, not ⁴  solid food.

Therefore we must progress beyond ¹  the elementary ²  instructions about Christ ³  and move on ⁴  to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,

so that we who have found refuge in him ¹  may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

“And there will be no need at all ¹  for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. ² 

So in fact children ¹  were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand ²  on the seashore. ³ 

After God spoke long ago ¹  in various portions ²  and in various ways ³  to our ancestors ⁴  through the prophets,

saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; ¹  in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” ² 

“As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” ¹ 

For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence ¹  firm until the end.

And no one assumes this honor ¹  on his own initiative, ²  but only when called to it by God, ³  as in fact Aaron was.

And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is useless and about to be cursed; ¹  its fate is to be burned.

For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe.

And the others ¹  who became priests were numerous, because death prevented them ²  from continuing in office, ³ 

Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death ¹  without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ² 

But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I ¹  take no pleasure in him. ² 

In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.” ¹