Hebrews 7:11-18

11The Levite priests were a necessary part of God's Law for Israel's people. But those priests could not make the people completely right with God. If that had been possible, the Levite priests could have continued their work. But we see that God has chosen a different kind of priest to serve him. That priest is not someone from Aaron's family, as the Levites were. Instead, he is a priest in the same way that Melchizedek was God's priest.

12When there is a change in the kind of priest like that, there must also be a change in the law.

13It is the Lord Jesus Christ that the Bible speaks about in this way, as God's special priest. But he belongs to a different tribe. He is not a Levite. Nobody else from his tribe ever served God as a priest.

14We know that our Lord came from Judah's tribe. Moses never said that priests could come from Judah's tribe. So we see that the old law has changed.

15What we have said becomes even clearer now. Another kind of priest has come, who is a priest like Melchizedek.

16Jesus did not become a priest because of a law about which family he came from. He became God's priest because of his powerful life that nothing could ever destroy.

17The Bible speaks about him as a priest like this: ‘You will be a priest for ever, in the same way that Melchizedek was God's priest.’

18So the old law about priests no longer has authority. It was weak and it could not help people.