Papyrus 13

Date: 225-250 A.D.

Discovered: Oxyrhynchus, Egypt

Location: London, England: British Library

Contents: Hebrews 2:14-5:5; 10:8-22; 10:29-11:13; 11:28-12:17

Notes: This papyrus roll has the Hebrews text written on one side and another work, The Epitome of Livy, on the other. It was common in this era to use papyrus rolls in this way.

 

Hebrews 2

¹⁴ Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. ¹⁶ For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

 

Hebrews 3

Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus, ² who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all[1] his house. ³ For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house. ⁴ For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God. ⁵ Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken, ⁶ but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end[2]. ⁷ Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you will hear his voice,
⁸     don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
    in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
⁹     where your fathers tested me and tried me,
    and saw my deeds for forty years.
¹⁰ Therefore I was displeased with that generation,
    and said, ‘They always err in their heart,
    but they didn’t know my ways.’
¹¹ As I swore in my wrath,
    ‘They will not enter into my rest.’”

¹² Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; ¹³ but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, ¹⁵ while it is said,

“Today if you will hear his voice,
    don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”

¹⁶ For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷ With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

 

Hebrews 4

Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. ² For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard. ³ For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, they will not[3] enter into my rest;” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has said this somewhere about the seventh day, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works;” ⁵ and in this place again, “They will not enter into my rest.”

⁶ Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter into it, and they to whom the good news was preached before failed to enter in because of disobedience, ⁷ he again defines a certain day, today, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said),

“Today if you will hear his voice,
    don’t harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. ⁹ There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. ¹¹ Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience unbelief[4]. ¹² For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

¹⁴ Having then a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let’s hold tightly to our confession. ¹⁵ For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.

 

Hebrews 5

For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² The high priest can deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray, because he himself is also surrounded with weakness. ³ Because of this, he must offer sacrifices for sins for the people, as well as for himself. ⁴ Nobody takes this honor on himself, but he is called by God, just like Aaron was[5]. ⁵ So also Christ didn’t glorify himself to be made a high priest, but it was he who said to him,

“You are my Son.
    Today I have become your father.”

[..]

 

Hebrews 10

⁸ Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, ¹⁰ by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹ Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and offering often the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, ¹² but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. ¹⁴ For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

¹⁶ “And this is the covenant that I will make with them:
    ‘After those days,’ says the Lord,
‘I will put my laws on their heart,
    I will also write them on their mind;’”

then he says,

¹⁷ “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”

¹⁸ Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁹ Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, ²¹ and having a great priest over God’s house, ²² let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

[..]

²⁹ How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³² But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings; ³³ partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. ³⁴ For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens. ³⁵ Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. ³⁶ For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

³⁷ “In a very little while,
    he who comes will come, and will not wait.
³⁸ But the righteous will live by faith.
    If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

 

Hebrews 11

Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. ² For by this, the elders obtained testimony. ³ By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

⁴ By faith, Abel offered to God[6] a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

⁵ By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his the translation he had been well pleasing to God. ⁶ Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

⁷ By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

⁸ By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. ⁹ By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

¹¹ By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

[..]

²⁸ By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them. ²⁹ By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up. ³⁰ By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.

³¹ By faith, Rahab the prostitute didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.

³² What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, ³³ who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee. ³⁵ Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

³⁹ These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

 

Hebrews 12

Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. ⁴ You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. ⁵ You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children,

“My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord,
    nor faint when you are reproved by him;
⁶     for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

⁷ It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children. ⁹ Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰ For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. ¹¹ All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,  ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

¹⁴ Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, ¹⁵ looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it, ¹⁶ lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. ¹⁷ For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.

[..]