Hebrews 6
1 Therefore let us leave the commencement of the word of the Messiah, and let us proceed to the completion. Or will ye again lay another foundation for the repentance which is from dead works, and for the faith in God,
Therefore leaving elementary instruction about the Christ, let us advance to mature manhood and not be continually re-laying a foundation of repentance from lifeless works and of faith in God,
2 and for the doctrine of baptism, and for the laying on of a hand, and for the resurrection from the dead, and for the eternal judgment? (aiōnios g166)
or of teaching about ceremonial washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and the last judgement. (aiōnios g166)
3 We will do this, if the Lord permit.
And advance we will, if God permits us to do so.
4 But they who have once descended to baptism, and have tasted the gift from heaven, and have received the Holy Spirit,
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away-- (aiōn g165)
6 cannot again sin, and a second time be renewed to repentance; or a second time crucify and insult the Son of God.
it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for, to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.
7 For the earth that drinketh the rain which cometh often upon it, and produceth the herb that is of use to those for whom it is cultivated, receiveth a blessing from God.
For land which has drunk in the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sakes, indeed, it is tilled, has a share in God's blessing.
8 But if it should put forth thorns and briers, it would have reprobation, and be not far from a curse, and its end would be a burning.
But if it only yields a mass of thorns and briers, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and in the end will be destroyed by fire.
9 But, in regard to you, my brethren, we are persuaded better things, and things pertaining to life, although we thus speak.
But we, even while we speak in this tone, have a happier conviction concerning you, my dearly-loved friends--a conviction of things which point towards salvation.
10 For God is not unrighteous, to forget your works, and your charity which ye have shown in his name, in that ye have ministered and do minister to the saints.
For God is not unjust so that He is unmindful of your labour and of the love which you have manifested towards Himself in having rendered services to His people and in still rendering them.
11 And we desire, that each one of you may show this same activity, for the completion of your hope, even to the end:
But we long for each of you to continue to manifest the same earnestness, with a view to your enjoying fulness of hope to the very End;
12 and that ye faint not; but that ye be emulators of them who by faith and patience have become heirs of the promise.
so that you may not become half-hearted, but be imitators of those who through faith and patient endurance are now heirs to the promises.
13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, because there was none greater than himself by whom he could swear, he swore by himself;
For when God gave the promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
14 and said: Blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
saying, "Assuredly I will bless you and bless you, I will increase you and increase you."
15 And so he was patient, and obtained the promise.
And so, as the result of patient waiting, our forefather obtained what God had promised.
16 For men swear by one greater than themselves: and in every controversy that occurs among them, the sure termination of it is by an oath.
For men swear by what is greater than themselves; and with them an oath in confirmation of a statement always puts an end to a dispute.
17 Therefore, God, being abundantly willing to show to the heirs of the promise, that his promising was irreversible, bound it up in an oath;
In the same way, since it was God's desire to display more convincingly to the heirs of the promise how unchangeable His purpose was,
18 so that, by two things which change not, and in which God cannot lie, we, who have sought refuge in him, might have great consolation, and might hold fast the hope promised to us;
He added an oath, in order that, through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for Him to prove false, we may possess mighty encouragement--we who, for safety, have hastened to lay hold of the hope set before us.
19 which is to us as an anchor, that retaineth our soul, so that it swerveth not; and it entereth into that within the veil,
That hope we have as an anchor of the soul--an anchor that can neither break nor drag. It passes in behind the veil,
