⁶ And Abraham said, Take care that you do not let my son go back to that land.

¹ Christ has truly made us free: then keep your free condition and let no man put a yoke on you again.

³⁹ But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.

⁹ By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage:

¹³ All these came to their end in faith, not having had the heritage; but having seen it with delight far away, they gave witness that they were wanderers and not of the earth.

¹⁴ For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves.

¹⁵ And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back.

¹⁶ But now their desire is for a better country, that is to say, for one in heaven; and so it is no shame to God to be named their God; for he has made ready a town for them.

²⁰ For if, after they have got free from the unclean things of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again taken in the net and overcome, their last condition is worse than their first.

²¹ For it would have been better for them to have had no knowledge of the way of righteousness, than to go back again from the holy law which was given to them, after having knowledge of it.

²² They are an example of that true saying, The dog has gone back to the food it had put out, and the pig which had been washed to its rolling in the dirty earth.