Hebrews 3:1–4:13

The Superiority of Jesus to Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers, sharers in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses also was in his household.a 3 For this one is considered worthy of greater glory than Moses, inasmuch as the one who builds it has greater honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the one who built all things is God. 5 And Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony to the things that would be spoken, 6 but Christ was faithful* as a son over his house, whose house we are, ifb we hold fast to our confidence and the hope we can be proud of.

A Serious Warning Against Unbelief

7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

in the day of testing in the wilderness,

9 where your fathers tested me by trial

and saw my works 10 for forty years.

Therefore I was angry with this generation,

and I said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

and they do not know my ways.’

11 As I swore in my anger,

‘⌊They will never enter⌋c into my rest.’ ”d

12 Watch out, brothers, lest there be in some of you an evil, unbelieving heart, with the result that you fall away* from the living God. 13 But encourage one another ⌊day by day⌋e, as long as it is called “today,” so that ⌊none of you become hardened⌋f by the deception of sin. 14 For we have become partners of Christ, if indeed we hold fast the beginning of our commitment steadfast until the end, 15 ⌊while it is said⌋g,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”h

16 For who, when they* heard it, were disobedient? Surely it was not all who went out from Egypt through Moses? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear they would not enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

The Rest that Remains for the People of God

4 Therefore let us fear, while there* remains a promise of entering into his rest, that none of you appear to fall short of it. 2 ⌊For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us⌋a, just as those also did, but the message ⌊they heard⌋b did not benefit them, because they* were not united with those who heard it in faith. 3 For we who have believed enter into rest,c just as he has said,

“As I swore in my anger,

‘⌊They will never enter⌋d into my rest.’ ”e

And yet these works have been accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,”f 5 and in this passage again, ‘⌊They will never enter⌋g into my rest.’ ”h 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter into it, and the ones to whom the good news was proclaimed previously did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again he ordains a certain day, today, speaking by David after so long a time, just as had been said before,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”i

8 For if Joshua had caused them to rest, he would not have spoken about another day after these things. 9 Consequently a sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered into his rest has also himself rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.

11 Therefore, let us make every effort to enter into that rest, in order that no one may fall in the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, and able to judge the reflections and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden in the sight of him, but all things are naked and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom ⌊we must give our account⌋j.