1This Melchisedec was king of Salem and priest of the most high God. He met Abraham as Abraham was coming back from defeating the kings, and he blessed him.
2And Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything. His name means first "King of righteousness," and then he is also King of Salem, which means "King of peace."
3He has no father, no mother, no family line; he has no beginning of days and no end of life. He is made like the Son of God, and he remains a priest for ever.
4Now think how great this man was. Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.
5The sons of Levi who take up the work of the priesthood have a command in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, even though those brothers also come from the body of Abraham.
6But this man, who does not belong to their family line, took tithes from Abraham, and he blessed the man who had the promises.
7No one can argue with this: the lesser person is blessed by the greater.
8Here, men who die receive tithes. But there, he receives them of whom it is said that he lives.
10For Levi was still in the body of his ancestor when Melchisedec met him.
11Now the people were given the law under the priesthood of Levi. If that priesthood could have brought perfection, why was there still need for another priest to come, one named after the order of Melchisedec and not after the order of Aaron?
12For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed too.
13The one these things are said about belonged to another tribe, and no man from that tribe ever served at the altar.
14It is clear that our Lord came from Juda, and Moses said nothing about priests coming from that tribe.
15And it is clearer still, because another priest has come who is like Melchisedec.
16He was not made a priest by a law about bodily descent, but by the power of a life that never ends.
17For this is said of him, "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
18So the earlier command is set aside, because it was weak and of no use.
19For the law made nothing perfect. Instead, a better hope has been brought in, and by it we come near to God.
20And he was not made a priest without an oath.
21(Those other priests were made priests without any oath, but he was made a priest with an oath, by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.")
22And so Jesus has been made the guarantee of a better covenant.
23There were many of those priests, because death did not allow them to continue.
24But this man continues for ever, so his priesthood never passes to another.
25So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to plead for them.
26Such a high priest was right for us: one who is holy, who does no harm, who is undefiled, set apart from sinners, and lifted higher than the heavens.
27He does not need to offer sacrifices every day, as those high priests did, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He did this once for all when he offered up himself.
28The law makes men high priests who are weak. But the word of the oath, which came after the law, makes the Son a high priest, and he is made perfect for ever.