Hebrews 4:1-11

A Rest for the People of God

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.

  1. 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.
  2. Cross References
    Romans 3:3
    What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
  3. 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.
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 95:11
    Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest.
  5. 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.'
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Cross References
    Psalms 95:11
    Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest.
  9. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:19
    So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
  10. Cross References
    Hebrews 3:7 - 8
    Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice.
  11. 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.
  12. 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!
  13. 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.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.