Promised Rest for God’s People

4 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.

⁹ So there is a special rest^[a] still waiting for the people of God.

¹⁵ Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

¹¹ So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

³ For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,

even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. ⁴ We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”^{[b] 5} But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”^[c]

⁷ Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.

²⁶ So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. ²⁷ I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

¹² If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.