Hebrews 3:7-4:11

Amplified Bible

⁷ Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

The Peril of Unbelief

¹² Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving ^[b]heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication]. ¹⁴ For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end, ¹⁵ while it is said,

¹⁶ For who were they who heard and yet provoked Him [with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies were scattered in the desert? ¹⁸ And to whom did He swear [an oath] that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [those who would not listen to His word]? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest—the promised land] because of unbelief and an unwillingness to trust in God.^(C)

The Believer’s Rest

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still remains and is freely offered today, let us fear, in case any one of you may seem to come short of reaching it or think he has come too late. ² For indeed we have had the good news [of salvation] preached to us, just as the Israelites also [when the good news of the promised land came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not united with faith [in God] by those who heard. ³ For we who believe [that is, we who personally trust and confidently rely on God] enter that rest [so we have His inner peace now because we are confident in our salvation, and assured of His power], just as He has said,

[this He said] although His works were ^[c]completed from the foundation of the world [waiting for all who would believe].^(D)

⁴ For somewhere [in Scripture] He has said this about the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;^{(E) 5} and again in this, “They shall not enter My rest.”^{(F) 6} Therefore, since the promise remains for some to enter His rest, and those who formerly had the good news preached to them failed to [grasp it and did not] enter because of [their unbelief evidenced by] disobedience, ⁷ He again sets a definite day, [a new] “Today,” [providing another opportunity to enter that rest by] saying through David after so long a time, just as has been said before [in the words already quoted],

⁸ [This mention of a rest was not a reference to their entering into Canaan.] For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak about another day [of opportunity] after that. ⁹ So there remains a [full and complete] Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has once entered His rest has also rested from [the weariness and pain of] his [human] labors, just as God rested from [those labors uniquely] His own.^{(H) 11} Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience [as those who died in the wilderness].