⁴ There is no use trying to bring you back to the Lord again if you have once understood the Good News and tasted for yourself the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and know how good the Word of God is, and felt the mighty powers of the world to come, ⁶ and then have turned against God. You cannot bring yourself to repent again if you have nailed the Son of God to the cross again by rejecting him, holding him up to mocking and to public shame.

⁷ When a farmer’s land has had many showers upon it and good crops come up, that land has experienced God’s blessing upon it. ⁸ But if it keeps on having crops of thistles and thorns, the land is considered no good and is ready for condemnation and burning off.