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[a] 20 Yeshua has entered there as a forerunner on our behalf, having become Kohen Gadol “forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”[b]

Melchizedek, a Kohen Forever

For this Melchizedek was king of Salem, kohen of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, [c] and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth of everything. First, by the translation of his name, he is “King of Righteousness”[d]; and then also King of Salem, which is “King of Shalom.” Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like Ben-Elohim, he remains a kohen for all time.

Now see how great this man is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth out of the plunder. Indeed, those sons of Levi who receive the priesthood have, according to Torah, a command to collect a tithe from the people[e]—that is, from their kin, although they have come out of the loins of Abraham. But this one—who did not have their genealogy—has collected tithes from Abraham and has blessed him, the one holding the promises. Now it is beyond dispute that the lesser is blessed by the greater. In one case, dying men receive tithes; but in the other, one about whom it is testified that he lives on. Through Abraham even Levi, the one receiving tithes, has paid the tithe, so to speak— 10 for he was still in his father’s loins when Melchizedek met him.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 6:20 Heb. parokhet; cf. Exod. 26:33; Lev. 16:15; Heb. 9:3.
  2. Hebrews 6:20 Ps. 110:4(109:4 LXX); Heb. 5:6, 10.
  3. Hebrews 7:2 See Gen. 14:17-20.
  4. Hebrews 7:2 Heb. Malki-Tzedek.
  5. Hebrews 7:5 cf. Num. 18:21-32.