Hebrews 4

So then, God's promise that we may enter his rest still stands. Let us be careful, so that none of you is found to have fallen short of it.

1Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Note"His rest" points back to Psalm 95, quoted in the previous chapter. After Israel left Egypt, the generation that traveled through the desert refused to trust God, and he swore that they would never reach the settled life in the promised land that lay at the end of the journey. That settlement was called their "rest," and this whole chapter argues from that story. In the King James, "let us therefore fear" means let us be on our guard, not let us be frightened; and "seem to come short" translates a verb meaning to be found or shown to be, so the sense is being found to have missed it, not merely appearing to.

2For the good news came to us just as it came to them. But the message they heard did them no good, because they did not join it with faith when they heard it.

2For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Note"Unto us was the gospel preached" is one Greek verb meaning to have good news announced to you; it does not imply a sermon or a church service. "Them" is the desert generation of verse 1. The last clause is genuinely uncertain in the manuscripts: some read "the message was not combined with faith in those who heard it," others "they were not united by faith with those who did hear it," that is, with the few like Joshua and Caleb who trusted God.

3We who have believed do enter that rest. It is just as God said: "So I swore in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" Yet his own works have been finished since the world was made.

3For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

NoteThe quotation is Psalm 95:11. "If they shall enter into my rest" looks unfinished in English because it copies a Hebrew way of swearing: the speaker says "if such and such happens..." and leaves the curse on himself unspoken. The force of it is an absolute denial, "they shall certainly never enter." The Greek translation the writer is using kept the Hebrew idiom word for word.

4For somewhere he spoke about the seventh day in this way: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his works."

4For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

NoteThe quotation is Genesis 2:2. "In a certain place" means simply "somewhere"; ancient writers often cited scripture without naming book or chapter, since the divisions we use did not yet exist and the audience was expected to know the text. "On this wise" means "in this way."

5And in the passage quoted above he says again: "They shall never enter my rest."

5And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

6So it is still the case that some will enter that rest. And those who first heard the good news did not enter, because they would not obey.

6Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

NoteThe King James "unbelief" here renders a Greek word whose root sense is refusing to be persuaded, and so disobeying. It covers both failing to believe a message and refusing to act on it, which is why modern translations often say "disobedience." The same word lies behind "unbelief" in verse 11.

7So God again marks out a certain day and calls it "Today." A long time later he spoke through David the words already quoted: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

7Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Note"He limiteth a certain day" does not mean he restricts it; in 1611 "limit" could mean to fix or mark out a boundary, so the sense is that God appoints a particular day. "Saying in David" means in the book of Psalms, traditionally credited to David; the quotation is Psalm 95:7 to 8, written centuries after the desert generation died, which is the point the writer is pressing. To "harden your heart" is a standard Hebrew idiom for stubbornly refusing to listen, used of Pharaoh in Exodus.

8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

8For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

NoteThe King James says "Jesus" because Greek uses one name, Iesous, for both Jesus and Joshua; the two are the same Hebrew name, Yeshua. Here it means Joshua son of Nun, who led Israel into Canaan after Moses died. The argument is that if settling the land under Joshua had been the rest God meant, God would not still be offering one in David's psalm long afterward.

9So there is still a Sabbath rest waiting for the people of God.

9There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

NoteThe Greek word here is not the one used for "rest" everywhere else in the chapter. It is a rare word, found nowhere else in the New Testament, built from the word Sabbath: a sabbath-keeping, a sabbath-style rest. That is why translations render it "a Sabbath rest" and tie it back to God resting on the seventh day in verse 4.

10For anyone who has entered God's rest has also stopped doing his own work, just as God stopped doing his.

10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

11So let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one falls by following the same pattern of refusing to obey.

11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Note"Let us labour" translates a verb meaning to be diligent or make every effort, not to do physical work. The King James wording produces an apparent paradox in English, working hard in order to rest, that is not in the Greek.

12For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than any sword with two edges. It cuts deep enough to divide soul from spirit, and joints from marrow. It judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart.

12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Note"Quick" is the older English word for living or alive, as in "the quick and the dead"; it has nothing to do with speed. A "twoedged sword" is a short sword sharpened on both edges, so that it cuts whichever way it is swung. The Greek of the middle clause is compressed and can be read two ways: that the word pierces as far as the point where soul and spirit divide, and where joints and marrow divide, or that it divides soul from spirit and joints from marrow. Either way the image is of a blade reaching the innermost part of a person. "Discerner" renders a word meaning able to sift and pass judgment, the root of our word "critic."

13No created thing is hidden from God's sight. Everything is bare and laid open before the eyes of the one we must answer to.

13Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Note"Creature" in 1611 English meant anything created, not an animal. "Naked and opened" is one vivid Greek verb whose literal sense is to seize by the neck and bend the head back, used of a wrestler's hold and of pulling back a sacrificial animal's throat to expose it; the picture is of being held fully exposed with nothing hidden. "Him with whom we have to do" translates a phrase that can mean either "to whom we must give account" or, more loosely, "with whom our business lies"; the Greek uses the same noun, logos, that was translated "word" in verse 12.

14So then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold firmly to what we say we believe.

14Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

NoteThe high priest was the single senior priest of Israel, the only person permitted to pass through the curtain into the innermost room of the temple, and only once a year. "Passed into the heavens" borrows that image: Jesus goes through into God's presence as the high priest went through the curtain. "Profession" here means what we profess or state publicly, a declaration of what we believe, not an occupation.

15For our high priest is not someone who cannot feel what our weaknesses are like. He was tested in every way that we are, yet he never sinned.

15For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Note"Touched with the feeling of our infirmities" translates a verb meaning to feel along with someone, the root of "sympathy"; "infirmities" means weaknesses, not illnesses in particular. The King James keeps the Greek's double negative, "not... which cannot," a deliberate understatement. "Tempted" renders a word that covers both enticement to do wrong and testing by hardship of any kind, so the sense is wider than temptation in the modern sense.

16So let us come to the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the time we need it.

16Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Note"Boldly" translates a noun meaning freedom to speak openly, the standing a citizen had to address a public assembly or a subject had to address a king; it is about frankness and confidence of access, not brashness. "Throne of grace" keeps a royal image in which approaching a monarch uninvited was dangerous. "Grace" is favor freely given to someone with no claim on it. "Grace to help in time of need" renders a phrase meaning help that arrives at just the right moment.