Hebrews 13

Keep Loving, Keep Serving, Keep Praising

1 Keep loving one another like family.

2 Do not forget to welcome strangers. Some people have hosted angels without realizing it.

3 Remember prisoners as though you were locked up with them, and remember the mistreated as people who share the same human body.

4 Honor marriage in every way and keep the marriage bed pure, because God will judge sexual immorality and adultery.

5 Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. God said, “I will never leave you and never abandon you.”

6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can people do to me?”

7 Remember the leaders who taught you God’s word. Look at the outcome of their lives and imitate their faith.

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

9 Do not let all kinds of strange teachings pull you off course. Your heart is strengthened by grace, not food regulations that never helped the people obsessed with them.

10 We have an altar from which those serving in the old tabernacle have no right to eat.

11 The high priest carried animal blood into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but their bodies were burned outside the camp.

12 In the same way, Jesus suffered outside the city gate so He could make the people holy with His own blood.

13 So let us go to Him outside the camp and carry the disgrace He carried.

14 We do not have a permanent city here; we are looking for the city still to come.

15 Through Jesus, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly confess His name.

16 Do not forget to do good and share what you have. Those are sacrifices that please God.

17 Obey your spiritual leaders and cooperate with them. They keep watch over your souls and will answer to God. Let them do it with joy instead of grief, because making their work miserable will not help you.

18 Pray for us. We are confident our conscience is clear, and we want to live honorably in every way.

19 I especially urge you to pray so I can be restored to you soon.

20 May the God of peace, who raised our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant,

21 equip you with everything good for doing His will. May He produce in us what pleases Him through Jesus Christ, to whom glory belongs forever and ever. Amen.

22 Family, I urge you to receive this word of encouragement patiently. I kept this letter brief.

23 Know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come see you with him.

24 Greet all your leaders and all God’s people. The believers from Italy send their greetings.

25 Grace be with all of you. Amen.