Hebrews 4
What Happens in This Chapter
The writer keeps talking about God's promised rest, using words from Psalm 95 and from the seventh day in Genesis. He says the people who first heard the good news did not enter that rest, and that a rest still remains for God's people, so his readers should make every effort to enter it and not fall the same way. He describes God's word as living and able to judge the thoughts of the heart, and says nothing is hidden from God. The chapter ends by pointing to Jesus, the Son of God, as a great high priest who understands human weakness, and it calls the readers to come to God's throne with confidence.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
1God's promise of a resting place is still open. So let us be careful. No one among you should miss it.
The old King James wording says "let us fear." It does not mean be afraid. It means be careful, so no one misses the promise.
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.
2We heard the good news, just like the people long ago did. But the message did not help them. They did not trust God the way others who heard it did.
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.
3We who trust God do go into that rest. God said, "I was angry, and I promised: they will never enter my rest." Yet God's own work was finished when the world was made.
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.
4Somewhere in the Bible God speaks about the seventh day. He says, "On the seventh day God rested from all his work."
5And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
5And in that other place God says again, "They will never enter my rest."
6Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
6So some people do still get to go into that rest. The people who first heard the good news did not go in. They would not listen and obey.
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.
7So God picked out a certain day and called it "Today." Long afterward he spoke through David and said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not make your hearts hard."
8For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
8Joshua led the people into their land, but he did not give them this rest. If he had, God would not have spoken later about another day.
The King James Bible writes the name as "Jesus" here, but it means Joshua, the leader who came after Moses. The two names look the same in Greek.
9There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
9So a rest is still waiting for God's people. It is like God's own day of rest.
10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
10Whoever goes into God's rest also stops working. He stops from his own work, just as God stopped from his.
11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
11So let us try hard to go into that rest. Then no one will fall the way those people did, by refusing to obey.
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.
12God's word is alive, and it works. It is sharper than a sword with two sharp edges. It cuts deep inside, where soul and spirit meet, and even joints and marrow. It knows the thoughts and plans of the heart.
The old word "quick" here means alive, not fast.
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.
13Nothing God made can hide from him. Everything is open and uncovered before his eyes. He is the one we must answer to.
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.
14We have a great high priest, the head priest who goes to God for people. He is Jesus, the Son of God, and he has gone up through the heavens. So let us hold tight to what we say we believe.
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.
15Our high priest is not someone who cannot feel what we feel. He knows how weak we are. He was pulled toward doing wrong in every way we are, but he never sinned.
16Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
16So let us come to God's throne without fear, because he is kind. There he will forgive us. There he will help us when we need help.
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