The Promised Rest

Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware[a] that none of you be found to have fallen short.[b] For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.[c](A) For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what[d] he has said,

So I swore in my anger,
“They will not enter my rest,”[e](B)

even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.[f](C) Again, in that passage he says, They will never enter my rest.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Lit fear
  2. 4:1 Or that any of you might seem to have missed it
  3. 4:2 Other mss read since it was not united by faith in those who heard
  4. 4:3 Or rest, just as
  5. 4:3 Ps 95:11
  6. 4:4 Gn 2:2
  7. 4:5 Ps 95:11

Promised Rest for God’s People

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. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.[a] For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,

“In my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”[b]

even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 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.”[c] But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”[d]

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Footnotes

  1. 4:2 Some manuscripts read they didn’t combine what they heard with faith.
  2. 4:3 Ps 95:11.
  3. 4:4 Gen 2:2.
  4. 4:5 Ps 95:11.