Hebrews 3–4

Jesus Is Greater than Moses

3My Christian brothers and sisters, who also have been called by God! Think of Jesus, whom God sent to be the High Priest of the faith we profess. ^2*He was faithful to God, who chose him to do this work, just as Moses was faithful in his work in God’s house. ³A man who builds a house receives more honour than the house itself. In the same way Jesus is worthy of much greater honour than Moses. ⁴Every house, of course, is built by someone—and God is the one who has built all things. ⁵Moses was faithful in God’s house as a servant, and he spoke of the things that God would say in the future. ⁶But Christ is faithful as the Son in charge of God’s house. We are his house if we keep up our courage and our confidence in what we hope for.

A Rest for God’s People

^7*So then, as the Holy Spirit says:

“If you hear God’s voice today,

^8*do not be stubborn, as your ancestors were when they rebelled against God,

as they were that day in the desert when they put him to the test.

^9*There they put me to the test and tried me, says God,

although they had seen what I did for forty years.

^10*And so I was angry with those people and said,

‘They are always disloyal and refuse to obey my commands.’

^11*I was angry and made a solemn promise:

‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!’ ”

¹²My fellow-believers, be careful that no one among you has a heart so evil and unbelieving as to turn away from the living God. ¹³Instead, in order that none of you be deceived by sin and become stubborn, you must help one another every day, as long as the word “Today” in the scripture applies to us. ¹⁴For we are all partners with Christ if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at the beginning.

^15*This is what the scripture says:

“If you hear God’s voice today,

do not be stubborn, as your ancestors were

when they rebelled against God.”

^16*Who were the people who heard God’s voice and rebelled against him? All those who were led out of Egypt by Moses. ^17*With whom was God angry for forty years? With the people who sinned, who fell down dead in the desert. ^18*When God made his solemn promise, “They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest”—of whom was he speaking? Of those who rebelled. ¹⁹We see, then, that they were not able to enter the land, because they did not believe.

4Now, God has offered us the promise that we may receive that rest he spoke about. Let us take care, then, that none of you will be found to have failed to receive that promised rest. ²For we have heard the Good News, just as they did. They heard the message, but it did them no good, because when they heard it, they did not accept it with faith. ^3*We who believe, then, do receive that rest which God promised. It is just as he said:

“I was angry and made a solemn promise:

‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!’ ”

He said this even though his work had been finished from the time he created the world. ^4*For somewhere in the Scriptures this is said about the seventh day: “God rested on the seventh day from all his work.” ^5*This same matter is spoken of again: “They will never enter that land where I would have given them rest.” ⁶Those who first heard the Good News did not receive that rest, because they did not believe. There are, then, others who are allowed to receive it. ^7*This is shown by the fact that God sets another day, which is called “Today”. Many years later he spoke of it through David in the scripture already quoted:

“If you hear God’s voice today,

do not be stubborn.”

^8*If Joshua had given the people the rest that God had promised, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹As it is, however, there still remains for God’s people a rest like God’s resting on the seventh day. ^10*For those who receive that rest which God promised will rest from their own work, just as God rested from his. ¹¹Let us, then, do our best to receive that rest, so that no one of us will fail as they did because of their lack of faith.

¹²The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. ¹³There is nothing that can be hidden from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.

Jesus the Great High Priest

¹⁴Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God—Jesus, the Son of God. ¹⁵Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. ¹⁶Let us have confidence, then, and approach God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.