Hebrews 2

EasyEnglish Bible

Do not turn away from God's message

2 So we must be very careful. We must continue to remember the message that we have heard about God's Son. Then we will not go in the wrong direction, and turn away from God. ² The message that God spoke by angels was certainly powerful.^[a] God punished people when they did not obey the Law that he gave to Moses. In a completely right way he punished people who did anything wrong.

³ As for us, God has shown us the way that he will save us from our sins. So we must not forget God's message about his great way to save us. If we do, he will certainly punish us. The Lord Jesus himself first spoke that message about how God would save people. Then the people who heard Jesus told the message to us.^[b] That is how we know that it is true. ⁴ God himself also showed clearly that what these people said is true. He did many miracles and powerful things which showed that he was with them. He also helped them with gifts from the Holy Spirit, in the way that he wanted.

Jesus became human like us, to save us

⁵ We are speaking about the new world that will come. God did not choose angels to rule over that world. ⁶ No! Instead, someone wrote this somewhere in the Bible:

It says that God has caused people to rule over everything. That means that there is nothing that people do not have authority over. But at this time, we do not yet see that people rule over everything. ⁹ But we do see Jesus!^[d] God made him less important than the angels for a short time. And now God has made him the great and powerful king. God did this because Jesus died as a sacrifice on behalf of all people. His death showed that God is very kind.

¹⁰ It was right that God should bring Jesus back to heaven as king. All things belong to God, and he causes all things to continue. God wanted many people to become his children. He wanted them to live with him in heaven. Jesus made this possible because he died with much pain as a sacrifice. ¹¹ Jesus is the one who makes people clean in front of God. Jesus himself and all the people that he makes clean have the same Father. So Jesus is not ashamed to call all those people his brothers and sisters. ¹² He says this to God:

¹³ He also says this:

¹⁴ So, those people who become God's children are human. They have human bodies. Because of that, Jesus himself became human like us. In that way, when he died he was able to destroy the Devil. It is the Devil who has power over death. ¹⁵ Before, we were like slaves all our lives because we were afraid of death. But now, Jesus' death makes us free. ¹⁶ It is clear that Jesus did not come to help the angels. He came to help people who are from Abraham's family.^[g]

¹⁷ Because of that, it was necessary for Jesus to become completely like us, his brothers and sisters. He had to become God's servant on our behalf, like God's most important priest. In that way, he could serve God well and be kind to us. He died as a sacrifice so that God could forgive us for our sins. ¹⁸ While Jesus lived on earth, the Devil tried to make him do wrong things. This caused Jesus to have much pain and trouble. But because of that, he can now help us not to do wrong things.