Hebrews 3–4

Jesus Is Greater than Moses

3So all of you holy brothers and sisters, who were called by God, think about Jesus, who was sent to us and is the high priest of our faith. ²Jesus was faithful to God as Moses was in God’s family. ³Jesus has more honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. ⁴Every house is built by someone, but the builder of everything is God himself. ⁵Moses was faithful in God’s family as a servant, and he told what God would say in the future. ⁶But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. And we are God’s house if we confidently maintain our hope.

We Must Continue to Follow God

⁷So it is as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today listen to what he says.

⁸Do not be stubborn as in the past

when you turned against God,

when you tested God in the desert.

⁹There your ancestors tried me and tested me

and saw the things I did for forty years.

¹⁰I was angry with them.

I said, ‘They are not loyal to me

and have not understood my ways.’

¹¹I was angry and made a promise,

‘They will never enter my rest.’ ” ⁿ

¹²So brothers and sisters, be careful that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that will turn you away from the living God. ¹³But encourage each other every day while it is “today.” ⁿ Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you. ¹⁴We all share in Christ if we keep till the end the sure faith we had in the beginning. ¹⁵This is what the Scripture says:

“Today listen to what he says.

Do not be stubborn as in the past

when you turned against God.”

¹⁶Who heard God’s voice and was against him? It was all those people Moses led out of Egypt. ¹⁷And with whom was God angry for forty years? He was angry with those who sinned, who died in the desert. ¹⁸And to whom was God talking when he promised that they would never enter his rest? He was talking to those who did not obey him. ¹⁹So we see they were not allowed to enter and have God’s rest, because they did not believe.

4Now, since God has left us the promise that we may enter his rest, let us be very careful so none of you will fail to enter. ²The Good News was preached to us just as it was to them. But the teaching they heard did not help them, because they heard it but did not accept it with faith. ^{n 3}We who have believed are able to enter and have God’s rest. As God has said,

“I was angry and made a promise,

‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”

But God’s work was finished from the time he made the world. ⁴In the Scriptures he talked about the seventh day of the week: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.” ^{n 5}And again in the Scripture God said, “They will never enter my rest.”

⁶It is still true that some people will enter God’s rest, but those who first heard the way to be saved did not enter, because they did not obey. ⁷So God planned another day, called “today.” He spoke about that day through David a long time later in the same Scripture used before:

“Today listen to what he says.

Do not be stubborn.”

⁸We know that Joshua ⁿ did not lead the people into that rest, because God spoke later about another day. ⁹This shows that the rest ⁿ for God’s people is still coming. ¹⁰Anyone who enters God’s rest will rest from his work as God did. ¹¹Let us try as hard as we can to enter God’s rest so that no one will fail by following the example of those who refused to obey.

¹²God’s word is alive and working and is sharper than a double-edged sword. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts. ¹³Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. Everything is clear and lies open before him, and to him we must explain the way we have lived.

Jesus Is Our High Priest

¹⁴Since we have a great high priest, Jesus the Son of God, who has gone into heaven, let us hold on to the faith we have. ¹⁵For our high priest is able to understand our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. ¹⁶Let us, then, feel very sure that we can come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it.