16 g“You shall not hput the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall ido what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.
20 j“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, kfor our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And lit will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’
Warning Against Neglecting Salvation
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since wthe message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 xhow shall we yescape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and zit was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while aGod also bore witness by bsigns and wonders and various miracles and cby gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
The Founder of Salvation
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world dto come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,
e“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,1
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now in putting feverything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with gglory and honor hbecause of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for ieveryone.
10 For it was fitting that he, jfor whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the kfounder of their salvation lperfect through suffering.
The Testimony of John the Baptist
19 kAnd this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, l“I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? mAre you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you nthe Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am othe voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight1 the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
