Hebrews 13 - EasyEnglish Bible 2024（EASY）

Chapter 13How to live in a way that pleases God

1Continue to love each other like brothers and sisters.

2Always remember to be kind to strangers. Let them stay in your homes. In this way, some people have received angels as visitors, and they did not know that they were angels.

3Remember to help those believers who are in prison. Think about what that would be like, if you were there with them. Remember those believers who are receiving trouble from cruel people. Think about them as if you were receiving the same pain in your own body.

4When a man and a woman have married each other, they must each respect the marriage. Husbands and wives must only have sex with each other. God will punish anyone who has sex with another person's husband or wife. He will punish anyone who has sex in a wrong way.

5In the way that you live, do not want lots of money. Be happy with the things that you have. Be happy, because God has said this:

‘I will never leave you;

I will always be there with you.’

6Because of that, we can bravely say this:

‘The Lord is the one who helps me,

so I will not be afraid.

I will not be afraid of anything that people can do to me.’

7Remember your leaders, who taught God's message to you. Think about the way in which they have lived and the good things that they have done. They have trusted God, so you should have faith like they have.

8Jesus Christ is always the same, yesterday, today and for ever.

9Some people teach all kinds of strange new things. Do not let them lead you away from God's true message. It is good that God is very kind to us. That is what makes us strong inside ourselves. Rules about what foods we should eat do not make us strong like that. Those rules have never helped the people who tried to obey them.

10Jesus Christ is the sacrifice that saves us. Jewish priests do not have the authority to receive anything from his sacrifice.

11In the old covenant, the leader of the priests brings the blood from the animal sacrifices into the Most Holy Place. He does that so that God will forgive the sins of the people. But they take the bodies of those animals away from there. They burn them outside the town.

12In the same way, Jesus also died outside the city. He died as a sacrifice on our behalf. His blood has made his people clean from their sins.

13Jesus died like that in a place where people insulted him. So we must go out to that place too. We must be ready for people to insult us, as they insulted him.

14Here on earth, we who are believers do not have a city that will always be our home. But we are waiting for God's city that will come.

15So we should always praise God, because of what Jesus has done for us. We should say clearly that we trust Jesus. That is like our sacrifice which we offer to God all the time.

16Remember to be kind to other people. Share with them the things that you have. God is happy with sacrifices like that.

17Respect your leaders and obey them. They watch over your lives on God's behalf. God will check to see if they have done their work well. So respect them, and then they will be happy as they serve God. Do not say bad things against them, because that will never help you.

18Pray to God for us. We are sure in our minds that we have done nothing wrong. We always want to do only what is right.

19The most important thing is this: Pray that I may come back to you soon.

A final prayer

20I pray that God will help you. He is the one who gives us peace in our minds. He caused our Lord Jesus Christ to become alive again after death. God forgives us because of the blood of Jesus' death on the cross. That is God's new covenant with his people that will be true for ever. Jesus is our great shepherd. He takes care of us like his sheep.

21I pray that God will give you every good thing that you need to serve him. Then you can do everything that he wants. I pray that God will help us to serve him in a way that will make him happy. He will do that because we belong to Jesus Christ. Jesus is very great, and we should praise him always and for ever! Amen.

The end of the letter

22My Christian friends, please listen patiently to my message. This is only a short letter and I want to help you to be strong.

23I want to tell you about Timothy, who is like a brother to us. They have let him go out of prison, so that he is free now. If he arrives here soon, he will come with me when I travel to see you.

24Say ‘hello’ on my behalf to your leaders and to all God's people. The Christians who have come here from Italy say ‘hello’ to you too.

25I pray that God will be very kind to all of you.