A Rest for the People of God

Hebrews 3

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
b "Today, if you hear his voice,
 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
 9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for c forty years.
 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, 'They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.'
 11 d As I swore in my wrath,
'They shall not enter my rest.'"

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from e the living God. 13 But f exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by g the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, h if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

15 As it is said,
b "Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

16 For i who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not j all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, k whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that l they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that m they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Hebrews 4

1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem n to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because o they were not united by faith with those who listened. 1

3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
p "As I swore in my wrath,
'They shall not enter my rest,'"
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: q "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."

5 And again in this passage he said,
r "They shall not enter my rest."

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news s failed to enter because of disobedience,

7 again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,
t "Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts."

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God 2 would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also u rested from his works as God did from his.

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so v that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For w the word of God is living and x active, y sharper than any z two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and a discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And b no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are c naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

  1. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:15
    As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
    Hebrews 4:7
    Again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
    Psalms 95:7 - 11
    For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 95:7 - 11
    For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice.
  3. Cross References
    Acts 7:36
    This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
  4. Cross References
    Hebrews 4:3
    For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
    Hebrews 4:5
    And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest.
  5. Cross References
    Matthew 16:16
    Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
  6. Cross References
    Hebrews 10:24 - 25
    And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
  7. Cross References
    Isaiah 44:20
    He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?
    Romans 7:11
    For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
    Ephesians 4:22
    To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.
  8. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:6
    But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
    Hebrews 10:23
    Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
    1 Corinthians 15:2
    And by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.
  9. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:7
    Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice.
  10. Cross References
    Psalms 95:7 - 8
    For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice.
  11. Cross References
    Numbers 14:2
    And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
    Deuteronomy 1:34 - 35
    And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore.
  12. Cross References
    Numbers 14:24
    But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
    Numbers 14:30
    Not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
    Deuteronomy 1:36
    Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!
    Deuteronomy 1:38
    Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
  13. Cross References
    Numbers 14:29
    Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me.
    Jude 1:5
    Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
  14. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 1:34 - 35
    And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore.
    Hebrews 4:2
    For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
  15. Cross References
    Hebrews 4:6
    Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.
    Psalms 78:22
    Because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.
    Psalms 106:24
    Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise.
  16. Cross References
    Hebrews 12:15
    See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.
  17. Cross References
    Romans 3:3
    What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
  18. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:11
    As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'
    Psalms 95:11
    Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest.
  19. Cross References
    Psalms 95:11
    Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest.
  20. Cross References
    Genesis 2:2
    And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
    Exodus 20:11
    For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
    Exodus 31:17
    It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'
  21. Cross References
    Genesis 2:2
    And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
  22. Cross References
    Hebrews 4:3
    For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
  23. Cross References
    Psalms 95:11
    Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest.
  24. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:19
    So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
  25. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:7 - 8
    Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice.
  26. Cross References
    Psalms 95:7 - 8
    For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice.
  27. Cross References
    Revelation 14:13
    And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!
  28. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:12
    Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
  29. Cross References
    1 Peter 1:23
    Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
  30. Cross References
    Jeremiah 23:29
    Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
    1 Thessalonians 2:13
    And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
  31. Cross References
    Isaiah 49:2
    He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.
    Ephesians 6:17
    And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
  32. Cross References
    Proverbs 5:4
    But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
    Revelation 1:16
    In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
    Revelation 2:12
    And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: 'The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
  33. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 14:24 - 25
    But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all.
  34. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 16:9
    For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.
    Job 34:21
    For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.
    Psalms 33:13 - 15
    The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man.
  35. Cross References
    Job 26:6
    Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
Next Book Next Book