Hebrews 3–4

Our Apostle and High Priest

3Therefore, holy brothers and companions in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession; ^r2He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. ³For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. ⁴Now every house is built by someone, but the One who built everything is God. ^s5Moses was faithful as a servant ^tin all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. ⁶But Christ was faithful as a Son over His household. And we are that household if we hold on to the courage and the confidence of our hope. ^uv

Warning against Unbelief

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

Today, if you hear His voice,

⁸do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

on the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,

and saw My works ¹⁰for 40 years.

Therefore I was provoked with that generation

and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,

and they have not known My ways.”

¹¹So I swore in My anger,

“They will not enter My rest.” ^wx

¹²Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs ^yfrom the living God. ¹³But encourage each other daily, ^zwhile it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened ^aby sin’s deception. ^b14For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality ^cthat we had at the start. ^d15As it is said:

Today, if you hear His voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. ^ef

¹⁶For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses? ^g17And who was He provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ^h18And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed? ¹⁹So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

The Promised Rest

4Therefore, while the promise to enter His rest remains, let us fear that none of you should miss it. ⁱ²For we also have received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith ^jk3(for we who have believed enter the rest), in keeping with what ^lHe has said:

So I swore in My anger,

they will not enter My rest. ^mn

And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world, ⁴for somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way:

And on the seventh day

God rested from all His works. ^op

⁵Again, in that passage He says, They will never enter My rest. ^q6Since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, ^r7again, He specifies a certain day—today—speaking through David after such a long time, as previously stated:

Today, if you hear His voice,

do not harden your hearts. ^st

⁸For if Joshua ^uhad given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. ¹⁰For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His. ^v11Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

¹²For the word of God is living and effective ^wand sharper than any double-edged sword, ^xpenetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart. ^y13No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom ^zwe must give an account.

Our Great High Priest

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession. ^a15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, ^byet without sin. ^c16Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.