^1. THEREFORE leaving the [3] elementary teaching about the [2] Christ, let us press on to [1] maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

^2. of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

^3. And this we will do, if God permits.

^4. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

^5. and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

^6. and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, [4] since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

^7. For ground that drinks the rain which often [5] falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

^8. but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close [7] to being cursed, and [6] it ends up being burned.

^9. But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that [8] accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.

^10. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the [9] saints.

^11. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence [10] so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,

^12. so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

^13. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

^14. saying, � I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.�

^15. And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

^16. For men swear by [11] one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

^17. [13] In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, [12] interposed with an oath,

^18. so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have [14] taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

^19. [16] This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters [15] within the veil,

^20. where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.