1. This Melchizedek was king of Salem and a priest of the Most High God. As Abraham was coming back from the battle in which he defeated the four kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him,
2. and Abraham gave him a tenth of all he had taken. (The first meaning of Melchizedek's name is “King of Righteousness”; and because he was king of Salem, his name also means “King of Peace”.)
3. There is no record of Melchizedek's father or mother or of any of his ancestors; no record of his birth or of his death. He is like the Son of God; he remains a priest for ever.
4. You see, then, how great he was. Abraham, our famous ancestor, gave him a tenth of all he got in the battle.
5. And those descendants of Levi who are priests are commanded by the Law to collect a tenth from the people of Israel, that is, from their own people, even though they are also descendants of Abraham.
6. Melchizedek was not descended from Levi, but he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him, the man who received God's promises.
7. There is no doubt that the one who blesses is greater than the one who is blessed.
8. In the case of the priests the tenth is collected by men who die; but as for Melchizedek the tenth was collected by one who lives, as the scripture says.
9. And, so to speak, when Abraham paid the tenth, Levi (whose descendants collect the tenth) also paid it.
10. For Levi had not yet been born, but was, so to speak, in the body of his ancestor Abraham when Melchizedek met him.
11. It was on the basis of the levitical priesthood that the Law was given to the people of Israel. Now, if the work of the levitical priests had been perfect, there would have been no need for a different kind of priest to appear, one who is in the priestly order of Melchizedek, not of Aaron.
12. For when the priesthood is changed, there also has to be a change in the law.
13. And our Lord, of whom these things are said, belonged to a different tribe, and no member of his tribe ever served as a priest.
14. It is well known that he was born a member of the tribe of Judah; and Moses did not mention this tribe when he spoke of priests.