^3:1Therefore, holy brothers and sisters,¹ partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess,²^3:2who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s³ house.⁴^3:3For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! ^3:4For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. ^3:5Now Moses was faithful in all God’s⁵ house⁶ as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. ^3:6But Christ⁷ is faithful as a son over God’s⁸ house. We are of his house,⁹ if in fact we hold firmly¹⁰ to our confidence and the hope we take pride in.¹¹

Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith

^3:7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,¹²

“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!¹³

^3:8“Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.

^3:9“There your fathers tested me and tried me,¹⁴ and they saw my works for forty years.

^3:10“Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering¹⁵ and they have not known my ways.’

^3:11“As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’ ”¹⁶

^3:12See to it,¹⁷ brothers and sisters,¹⁸ that none of you has¹⁹ an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes²⁰ the living God.²¹^3:13But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. ^3:14For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence²² firm until the end. ^3:15As it says,²³ “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!²⁴ Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”²⁵^3:16For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership?²⁶^3:17And against whom was God²⁷ provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?²⁸^3:18And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? ^3:19So²⁹ we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

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Footnotes

1 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
2 Grk “of our confession.”
3 Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
4 The reading adopted by the translation follows a few early and some versions (𝔓13, 46vid B vgms co Ambr). The majority of (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 𝔐 lat sy) insert “all” (“in all his house”), apparently in anticipation of Heb 3:5 which quotes directly from Num 12:7. On balance, the omission better explains the rise of ὅλῳ (holō, “all”) than vice versa. puts ὅλῳ in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
5 Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
6 A quotation from Num 12:7.
7 The Greek makes the contrast between v. 5 and v. 6a more emphatic and explicit than is easily done in English.
8 Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
9 Grk “whose house we are,” continuing the previous sentence.
10 The reading adopted by the translation is found in 𝔓13, 46 B sa, while the vast majority of (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 𝔐 latt) add μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν (mechri telous bebaian, “secure until the end”). The external evidence for the omission, though minimal, has excellent credentials. Considering the internal factors, B. M. Metzger ( ) finds it surprising that the feminine adjective βεβαίαν should modify the neuter noun καύχημα (kauchēma, here translated “we take pride”), a fact that suggests that even the form of the word was borrowed from another place. Since the same phrase occurs at Heb 3:14, it is likely that later scribes added it here at Heb 3:6 in anticipation of Heb 3:14. While these words belong at 3:14, they seem foreign to 3:6.
11 Grk “the pride of our hope.”
12 The following quotation is from Ps 95:7b–11.
13 Grk “today if you hear his voice.”
14 Grk “tested me by trial.”
15 Grk “they are wandering in the heart.”
16 Grk “if they shall enter my rest,” a Hebrew idiom expressing an oath that something will certainly not happen.
17 Or “take care.”
18 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
19 Grk “that there not be in any of you.”
20 Or “deserts,” “rebels against.”
21 Grk “in forsaking the living God.”
22 Grk “the beginning of the confidence.”
23 Grk “while it is said.”
24 Grk “today if you hear his voice.”
25 A quotation from Ps 95:7b–8.
26 Grk “through Moses.”
27 Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
28 An allusion to God’s judgment pronounced in Num 14:29, 32.
29 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate a summary or conclusion to the argument of the preceding paragraph.