Hebrews 3

So then, holy brothers, you share in God's call from heaven. Think carefully about Jesus Christ, the one God sent and the high priest of the faith we confess.

1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

NoteThree King James words carry more than they look. "Apostle" is a Greek term meaning one who is sent as an authorized representative, and here it is used as a title for Jesus rather than for the twelve. "Profession" in 1611 English meant something publicly declared, the faith a person states out loud, not a line of work. "High Priest" was the one Israelite who could enter the innermost room of the sanctuary, once a year, to make offerings on behalf of the whole nation.

2He was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all of God's house.

2Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

Note"House" throughout this chapter means a household, the people and servants belonging to a master, not a building. The phrase comes from Numbers 12:7, where God says of Moses that he "is faithful in all mine house." The Greek of this verse does not actually say whose house it is; the rendering supplies "God's" from the Numbers quotation standing behind it.

3Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, in the same way that the one who builds a house gets more honor than the house itself.

3For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

Note"This man" in the King James simply means "this one," pointing back to Jesus. It is not making a point about his humanity as against Moses.

4Every house is built by someone, and God is the one who built everything.

4For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

5Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant. His service pointed ahead to the things God would say later.

5And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

NoteThe word translated "servant" here is not the ordinary Greek word for a slave but a term for an honored attendant, and it is the exact word the Greek Old Testament uses of Moses in Numbers 12:7. "For a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after" means that Moses' service functioned as evidence pointing forward to what God would say at a later time.

6But Christ is faithful as a son in charge of God's house. And we are that house, if we hold on tightly, right to the end, to our confidence and to the hope we are proud of.

6But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Note"The rejoicing of the hope" translates a Greek word meaning a boast, the thing a person holds his head up about, not a private feeling of gladness.

7So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice,

7Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

NoteVerses 7 to 11 quote Psalm 95:7 to 11, in the Greek version of the Old Testament that the writer and his readers used. "Holy Ghost" is the King James term for the Holy Spirit; in 1611 "ghost" meant spirit, with no suggestion of an apparition.

8do not make your hearts stubborn, as in the rebellion, on the day you put God to the test in the desert.

8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

NoteIn the Greek Old Testament, "the provocation" and "the day of temptation" translate two Hebrew place names, Meribah and Massah, which mean "quarreling" and "testing." The episode is in Exodus 17:1 to 7, where Israel demanded water and asked whether God was among them or not. "Temptation" in 1611 English meant putting to the test, not enticement to do wrong. The "wilderness" is the dry, unsettled country between Egypt and Canaan.

9There your ancestors tested me and tried me, and for forty years they saw the things I did.

9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

Note"Tempted me, proved me" is one idea said twice: they tested me, they tried me out to see what I would do. The forty years are Israel's years of wandering between the escape from Egypt and the entry into Canaan, recorded in Exodus and Numbers.

10That is why I was angry with that generation. I said, 'Their hearts are always going the wrong way, and they have not learned my ways.'

10Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

Note"Grieved" here is stronger than sadness; the Greek word means to be disgusted or angered with someone. "Err in their heart" uses "heart" in its Hebrew sense, the mind and will, the place where a person decides things, rather than the emotions.

11So I swore an oath in my anger: 'They will never enter my rest.'"

11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

NoteThe oath is recorded in Numbers 14:21 to 23, where God swears that the generation which left Egypt will not reach the promised land. "My rest" in the psalm means that settled land itself, the end of the wandering. The Greek reproduces a clipped Hebrew oath formula that literally reads "if they shall enter," a self-curse with the consequence left unsaid; translators fill it out as "shall not" or "never."

12Be careful, brothers, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Note"The living God" is a standing Old Testament phrase for the God of Israel, set against gods made of wood and stone that do not act.

13Instead, encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called "today," so that sin does not fool any of you and make you stubborn.

13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Note"Exhort" means to urge and encourage, not to scold. "While it is called To day" presses the word "today" from the psalm just quoted: for as long as that "today" is still being spoken, the warning is still live.

14For we have come to share in Christ, if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at the start.

14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

Note"Partakers" means sharers or partners, from the same Greek root as "partakers" in verse 1. "The beginning of our confidence" is ambiguous in the Greek and can mean either the confidence we had at the start or the original commitment we began with. "Stedfast" is simply the older spelling of steadfast.

15This is what the words say: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not make your hearts stubborn, as you did when you rebelled."

15While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

16Some of the people who heard God's voice did rebel, but not all of those who came out of Egypt with Moses.

16For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

NoteThis verse is genuinely disputed, because the difference in Greek is a single accent that the earliest manuscripts do not write: the same letters read either as "some" or as "who?" The King James takes it as a statement, that some rebelled but not all. Most modern translations take it as a rhetorical question, "who heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt with Moses?" On the King James reading, the exceptions in view are Caleb and Joshua, the only two of that generation who entered the land.

17And who was God angry with for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the desert?

17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

Note"Carcases" is the King James word for dead bodies, and it echoes Numbers 14:29, "Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness." The point is that the generation died during the wandering instead of arriving.

18And who did he swear would never enter his rest? Wasn't it the people who refused to obey him?

18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

NoteThe Greek word behind "believed not" here means refused to be persuaded, that is, disobeyed. Verse 19 then uses a closely related but distinct word meaning unbelief. The writer moves between the two on purpose, treating the refusal to trust and the refusal to obey as one failure seen from two sides.

19So we see that they were not able to enter because they did not believe.

19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.