Chapter 7

¹For this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was on his way back from defeating the kings, and gave him his blessing, ²to whom Abraham apportioned one tenth of all the spoil, who is first, as his name shows, king of righteousness and then king of Salem, which means king of peace— ³with no father or mother or ancestry, and with no beginning to his days nor end to his life, but like no one but the Son of God, continues as priest forever.

⁴Now see how great this man must have been to have the patriarch Abraham give him a tenth of the spoil. ⁵Those of the descendants of Levi who are appointed to the priesthood are directed by the Law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their own brothers, although they are descended from Abraham like themselves. ⁶But this man, whose ancestry is not connected with theirs, collected tithes from Abraham himself, and gave his blessing to the man who had received the promises from God. ⁷But, beyond any doubt, it is the inferior that is blessed by the superior. ⁸In the one case, mortal men collect tithes; but in the other, one who, it is intimated, lives on. ⁹In one way of putting it, Levi himself, the collector of the tithes, through Abraham paid him tithes, ¹⁰for none of Abraham’s posterity was yet begotten at the time of his meeting with Melchizedek.

¹¹Now if anything final had been really accomplished through the Levitical priesthood, for even the giving of the Law was based upon it, what further need would there have been of appointing a different priest of the priesthood of Melchizedek, instead of choosing one of the priesthood of Aaron? ¹²For when there is a change in the priesthood, a change necessarily takes place in the Law as well. ¹³For he of whom all this was said was related to a tribe no member of which ever officiated at the altar. ¹⁴For it is perfectly clear that our Lord sprang from the tribe of Judah, with reference to which Moses said nothing at all about priests. ¹⁵The point is still more clear in view of the fact that the appointment of the new priest resembles that of Melchizedek, ¹⁶for he is appointed not for possessing any legal physical qualifications, but by virtue of a life that cannot end. ¹⁷For the psalm bears witness,

“You are a priest forever, of the priesthood of Melchizedek!”

¹⁸So an earlier regulation is abrogated because it was poor and ineffective ¹⁹(for there was nothing final about the Law), and a better hope begins to dawn, through which we may approach God. ²⁰And in proportion as Jesus was not appointed priest without God’s making oath to it, ²¹the agreement which he guarantees is better than the old one, ²²for God took no oath in appointing the old priests, but he made oath to his appointment, when he said to him,

“The Lord has sworn it and he will not change;

You are a priest forever!”

²³The old priests too had to be numerous, because death prevented their continuing in office. ²⁴But he continues forever, and so his priesthood is untransferable. ²⁵Therefore, he is able to save forever all who come to God through him, because he lives and intercedes for them forever.

²⁶Such a high priest we needed—godly, blameless, unstained, removed from sinful men and raised above the very heavens; ²⁷who does not need, as the old high priests did, to offer sacrifices every day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people—for this last he has done once for all, in offering up himself. ²⁸For the Law appoints to the high priesthood men full of imperfection; but this utterance about the making of the oath, which came long after the Law, appoints a son, fully qualified to be high priest forever.