1 So we must pay more careful attention to what we have heard. Then we will not drift away from it.
2 Even the message God spoke through angels had to be obeyed. Every time people broke the Law, they were punished. Every time they didn't obey, they were punished.
3 Then how will we escape if we don't pay attention to God's great salvation? The Lord first announced that salvation. Those who heard him gave us the message about it.
4 God gave witness to it through signs and wonders. He gave witness through different kinds of miracles. He also gave witness through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He gave them out as it pleased him.
5 God has not put angels in charge of the world that is going to come. We are talking about that world.
6 There is a place where someone has given witness to it. He said, "What is a human being that you think about him? What is the son of man that you take care of him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels. You placed on him a crown of glory and honor.
8 You have put everything under his control." (Psalm 8:4-6) So God has put everything under him. Everything is under his control. We do not now see everything under his control.
9 But we do see Jesus already given a crown of glory and honor. He was made a little lower than the angels. He suffered death. By the grace of God, he tasted death for everyone. That is why he was given his crown.
10 God has made everything. He has acted in exactly the right way. He is bringing his many sons and daughters to share in his glory. To do so, he has made the One who saved them perfect because of his sufferings.
11 The One who makes people holy and the people he makes holy belong to the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.
12 He says, "I will announce your name to my brothers and sisters. I will sing your praises among those who worship you." (Psalm 22:22)
13 Again he says, "I will put my trust in him." (Isaiah 8:17) And again he says, "Here I am. Here are the children God has given me." (Isaiah 8:18)
14 Those children have bodies made out of flesh and blood. So Jesus became human like them in order to die for them. By doing that, he could destroy the one who rules over the kingdom of death. I'm talking about the devil.
15 Jesus could set people free who were afraid of death. All their lives they were held as slaves by that fear.
16 It is certainly Abraham's children that he helps. He doesn't help angels.
17 So he had to be made like his brothers in every way. Then he could serve God as a kind and faithful high priest. And then he could pay for the sins of the people by dying for them.