1Every chief priest is chosen from humans to represent them in front of God, that is, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. 2The chief priest can be gentle with people who are ignorant and easily deceived, because he also has weaknesses. 3Because he has weaknesses, he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins in the same way that he does for the sins of his people. 4No one takes this honor for himself. Instead, God calls him as he called Aaron.

5So Christ did not take the glory of being a chief priest for himself. Instead, the glory was given to him by God, who said, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father."

6In another place in Scripture, God said, "You are a priest forever, in the way Melchizedek was a priest."

7During his life on earth, Jesus prayed to God, who could save him from death. He prayed and pleaded with loud crying and tears, and he was heard because of his devotion to God. 8Although Jesus was the Son [of God], he learned to be obedient through his sufferings. 9After he had finished his work, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him. 10God appointed him chief priest in the way Melchizedek was a priest.

11We have a lot to explain about this. But since you have become too lazy to pay attention, explaining it to you is hard. 12By now you should be teachers. Instead, you still need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word. You need milk, not solid food. 13All those who live on milk lack the experience to talk about what is right. They are still babies. 14However, solid food is for mature people, whose minds are trained by practice to know the difference between good and evil.