9. But even if we speak like this, dear friends, we feel sure about you. We know that you have the better blessings that belong to your salvation.
10. God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to your fellow-Christians.
11. Our great desire is that each of you keep up your eagerness to the end, so that the things you hope for will come true.
12. We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised.
13. When God made his promise to Abraham, he made a vow to do what he had promised. Since there was no one greater than himself, he used his own name when he made his vow.
14. He said, “I promise you that I will bless you and give you many descendants.”
15. Abraham was patient, and so he received what God had promised.
16. When people make vows, they use the name of someone greater than themselves, and the vow settles all arguments.
17. To those who were to receive what he promised, God wanted to make it very clear that he would never change his purpose; so he added his vow to the promise.
18. There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us.
19. We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary.