Letter to the Hebrews 5

¹ Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins; and so

² he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness.

³ That is why he has to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.

⁴ No one takes this honour on himself, but each one is called by God, as Aaron was.

⁵ Nor did Christ give himself the glory of becoming high priest, but he had it from the one who said to him: You are my son, today I have become your father,[*a]

⁶ and in another text: You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.[*b]

⁷ During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard.

⁸ Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering;

⁹ but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation

¹⁰ and was acclaimed by God with the title of high priest of the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹ On this subject we have many things to say, and they are difficult to explain because you have grown so slow at understanding.

¹² Really, when you should by this time have become masters, you need someone to teach you all over again the elementary principles of interpreting God’s oracles; you have gone back to needing milk, and not solid food.

¹³ Truly, anyone who is still living on milk cannot digest the doctrine of righteousness because he is still a baby.

¹⁴ Solid food is for mature men with minds trained by practice to distinguish between good and bad.