Morning Devotion

A Miktam of David.
¹ Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.
⁴ The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.
⁵ The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
⁷ I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸ I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
¹¹ You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (ESV)

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
² For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads.
³ They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones.
⁴ They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
⁵ For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant—
⁶ the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
⁸ Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah
⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
¹⁰ who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.
¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.”
¹³ O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.
¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
¹⁵ so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane!
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O LORD.
¹⁷ Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace,
¹⁸ that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth. (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
¹³ For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
¹⁹ Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!
²⁰ They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men,
² who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually.
³ They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
⁴ Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet.
⁵ The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
⁶ I say to the LORD, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD!
⁷ O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
⁸ Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah
⁹ As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
¹⁰ Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise!
¹¹ Let not the slanderer be established in the land; let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!
¹² I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.
¹³ Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence. (ESV)

¹ Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
² The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
³ The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
⁴ “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
⁵ The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
⁶ Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
⁷ In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
⁸ At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
¹⁰ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
¹¹ “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (ESV)

²³ During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
²⁴ And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
²⁵ God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
¹ Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
² And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
⁴ When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
⁶ And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
⁷ Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
⁸ and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
⁹ And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
¹⁰ Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
¹² He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
¹⁶ Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt,
¹⁷ and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
¹⁸ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.
²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
²¹ And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,
²² but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” (ESV)

⁵³ And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.
⁵⁴ And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.
⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.
⁵⁶ For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.
⁵⁷ And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying,
⁵⁸ “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’”
⁵⁹ Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.
⁶⁰ And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”
⁶¹ But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
⁶² And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
⁶³ And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need?
⁶⁴ You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.
⁶⁵ And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.
⁶⁶ And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came,
⁶⁷ and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”
⁶⁸ But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed.
⁶⁹ And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.”
⁷⁰ But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
⁷¹ But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”
⁷² And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. (ESV)

³⁶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
³⁷ “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy.
³⁸ As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the LORD, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.”
³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar,
⁴⁰ to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the LORD said to him through Moses.
⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.”
⁴² And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
⁴³ And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting,
⁴⁴ and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
⁴⁵ “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces.
⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”
⁴⁷ So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.
⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
⁴⁹ Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.
⁵⁰ And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff,
³ and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house.
⁴ Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
⁵ And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.”
⁶ Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.
⁷ And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.
⁸ On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
⁹ Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff.
¹⁰ And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.”
¹¹ Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.
¹² And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.
¹³ Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”

¹ So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood.
² And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.
³ They shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die.
⁴ They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, and no outsider shall come near you.
⁵ And you shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel.
⁶ And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the LORD, to do the service of the tent of meeting.
⁷ And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
⁸ Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due.
⁹ This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons.
¹⁰ In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you.
¹¹ This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
¹² All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the LORD, I give to you.
¹³ The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
¹⁴ Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
¹⁵ Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the LORD, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.
¹⁶ And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
¹⁷ But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
¹⁸ But their flesh shall be yours, as the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours.
¹⁹ All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.”
²⁰ And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.
²¹ “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting,
²² so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.
²³ But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
²⁴ For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”
²⁵ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
²⁶ “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.
²⁷ And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.
²⁸ So you shall also present a contribution to the LORD from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the LORD’s contribution to Aaron the priest.
²⁹ Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the LORD; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’
³⁰ Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress.
³¹ And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting.
³² And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’” (ESV)

¹⁷ On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
¹⁸ And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,
¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.
²⁰ And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
²² When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts?
²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.
²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”
²⁷ After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.”
²⁸ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.
³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (ESV)

¹⁰ In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
¹² The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him,
¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.
¹⁴ The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright;
¹⁵ their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
¹⁶ Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.
¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.
¹⁸ The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever;
¹⁹ they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance.
²⁰ But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away. (ESV)

¹ Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
⁵ For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?
⁶ And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
⁷ Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.”
⁸ But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
¹⁰ And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;
¹¹ they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,
¹² like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
¹³ And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

¹ Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
² For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
⁵ For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
⁶ It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
⁷ You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
⁸ putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
⁹ But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
¹⁰ For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
¹¹ For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
¹² saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
¹³ And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
¹⁴ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
¹⁵ and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
¹⁶ For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
¹⁷ Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
¹⁸ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
² who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
³ For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
⁴ (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
⁶ but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.
¹⁰ Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
¹⁴ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
¹⁵ As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
¹⁶ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
¹⁷ And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

¹ Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
² For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
³ For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
⁴ For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
⁵ And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”
⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,
⁷ again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,
¹⁰ for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
¹¹ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV)