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Love one another, be hospitable, and help imprisoned and other mistreated believers.
Hebrews 13:1-3
1 Continue to love your fellow believers.
2 Do not forget to be hospitable to needy travelers [LIT]. You need to know that by being hospitable, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
3 Remember to help those who are in prison because they are Christians, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are being mistreated {whom people are mistreating} because they are believers. As you do that, consider that you you could suffer as they do.
Respect the marriage relationship, and avoid covetousness.
Hebrews 13:4-6
4 You must ◄respect/keep sacred► the marriage relationship in every way, and you must keep sexual relations [EUP] pure, because God will surely condemn those who act immorally and those who act adulterously.
5 Live without constantly coveting money, and be content with the things you possess, remembering what Moses wrote that God has said about supplying what you need,
I will never leave you,
I will never stop providing for you [DOU].
6 So we can say confidently as the Psalmist said,
Since the Lord is the one who helps me, I will not be afraid! People can do nothing to me that will deprive me of God’s blessings [RHQ].
Remember how your former spiritual leaders lived and imitate their faith; since Christ never changes, do not be diverted to strange teachings.
Hebrews 13:7-9
7 Your spiritual leaders used to tell you the message from God before they died. Remember how they conducted their lives. By considering ◄how they died/what resulted from how they lived►, imitate how they believed in Christ/God.
8 Jesus Christ is the same now as he was previously, and he will be the same forever.
9 So, do not let yourselves be diverted {let anything divert you} so that you believe various teachings that are contrary to God’s truth. It is good that God acts kindly toward us so that we may be strengthened spiritually. Obeying rules about various foods, rules that have not benefited those who obeyed them, will not benefit us.
We must stop practicing Jewish sacrifices and rituals, and go to Jesus to be saved, since we do not have a city like Jerusalem where we must offer sacrifices, but instead we wait for a future everlasting heavenly city.
Hebrews 13:10-14
10 We have Jesus [MTY]. All those who continue to observe the Jewish rituals [MTY] of sacrifice have no right to obtain the benefits of his sacrifice [MET].
11 After the high priest brings into the most holy place the blood of animals that they have sacrificed to atone for sins, the bodies of those animals are burned {they burn the bodies of those animals} outside the camp.
12 Similarly, Jesus suffered and died outside the gate of Jerusalem in order that he might make us, his people, holy by offering his own blood as a sacrifice to atone for our sins.
13 So, we must abandon performing Jewish sacrifices and rituals [MET] in order to be saved, and let us go to Jesus to be saved. As we do that, we must be willing to let others reproach us just like people reproached Jesus.
14 Here on earth, we believers do not have a city such as Jerusalem where we must continually offer sacrifices [MET]. Instead, we are waiting for a future heavenly city that will last forever.
Since Christ sacrificed himself for us, let our continual praise of God be our sacrifice.
Hebrews 13:15
15 With the help of Jesus, we must continually praise God. That will be something we can sacrifice to him [MET] instead of our sacrificing animals only at specific times. Specifically, we must say openly [MTY] that we have trusted in Christ [MTY].
Continually do good deeds and share with others, because this too will be a sacrifice pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:16
16 Be continually [LIT] doing good deeds for others, and be continually sharing with others the things you have, because doing things like that will also be as though you are offering sacrifices that will please God.
Obey your spiritual leaders.
Hebrews 13:17
17 Obey your spiritual leaders; do what they tell you, since they are the ones who are looking out for your spiritual welfare [SYN]. Some day they will have to stand before God so that he can say if he approves of what they have done. Obey them in order that they can do the work of guarding you joyfully, and not have to do it sadly, because if you cause them to do it sadly, that will certainly not help you at all (OR, they will not be able to help you at all).
Pray for me that God will quickly remove the things that hinder my coming to you.
Hebrews 13:18-19
18 Pray for me. I am certain that I have not done anything that displeases God. I have tried to act honorably toward you in every way.
19 I urge you earnestly to pray that God will quickly remove the things that hinder my coming to you.
May God equip you with everything good that you need, and may Christ be praised forever.
Hebrews 13:20-21
20 Jesus provides for us, protects us, and guides us as a great shepherd does for his sheep [MET]. And God, who gives us inner peace, brought our Lord Jesus back to life. By doing that, God ratified his eternal covenant with us by the blood that flowed from Jesus when he died on the cross.
21 So I pray that God will equip you with everything good that you need in order that you may do the things that he desires. May he accomplish in our lives whatever he considers pleasing as a result of Jesus Christ equipping us. May Jesus Christ be praised forever. ◄Amen!/May it be so!►
Patiently consider what I have written in this short exhortation.
Hebrews 13:22
22 My fellow believers, I appeal to you that you patiently consider what I have written in this short letter, to exhort you.
Since Timothy has been released from prison, he will accompany me when I go to see you.
Hebrews 13:23
23 I want you to know that our fellow believer Timothy has been released {the authorities have released our fellow believer Timothy} from prison. If he comes here soon, he will accompany me when I go to see you.
Greet your spiritual leaders and all other believers; the believers who are from Italy send you their greetings.
Hebrews 13:24
24 Tell all your spiritual leaders and all the other fellow believers in your city that ◄I am thinking fondly about them/I am sending them my greetings►. The believers in this area who have come from Italy want you to know they are ◄thinking about you/sending you their greetings►.
May God act graciously to you all.
Hebrews 13:25
25 I pray that you will continue to experience God’s acting kindly toward you all.