Hebrews 2-4

1We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

2For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,

3how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

4and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

5For it is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.

6But somewhere it is testified in these words: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?

7You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor

8and placed everything under his feet.” When God subjected all things to him, He left nothing outside of his control. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.

9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

11For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

12He says: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the assembly.”

13And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And once again: “Here am I, and the children God has given Me.”

14Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,

15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

16For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham.

17For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.

18Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.

1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

2He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

3For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

4And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

5Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later.

6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,

8do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,

9where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.

10Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’

11So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”

12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.

13But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.

15As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.”

16For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?

17And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

18And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?

19So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.

1Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be deemed to have fallen short of it.

2For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.

3Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world.

4For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this manner: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His works.”

5And again, as He says in the passage above: “They shall never enter My rest.”

6Since, then, it remains for some to enter His rest, and since those who formerly heard the good news did not enter because of their disobedience,

7God again designated a certain day as “Today,” when a long time later He spoke through David as was just stated: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

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

9There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

10For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.

11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess.

15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.

16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.