Hebrews 4
The full text of Hebrews 4 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard did them no good, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
3 Now we who have believed do enter that rest, just as God has said,
"So I swore in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest,'"
and yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his works."
5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest."
6 Since then it remains for some to enter it, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not enter because of their disobedience,
7 God again sets a certain day, calling it "Today," when long afterward he spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts."
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.
9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
10 For whoever enters God's rest also rests from their own works, just as God did from his.
11 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Translation notes (7)
- Hebrews 4:2a Some manuscripts read "because it was not united by faith with those who listened." This reading, which uses the nominative case in Greek, suggests that the message itself was not mixed with faith, rather than referring to the hearers.
- Hebrews 4:3a The quotation is Psalm 95:11, where the Hebrew oath formula im-yevo'un, literally 'if they shall enter', is an idiom of emphatic denial. The rare Greek particle kaitoi, 'and yet', introduces the paradox: God's works have stood finished apo kataboles kosmou, 'from the foundation of the world', yet the rest they anticipate remains open.
- Hebrews 4:4a The quotation is Genesis 2:2, cited according to the Septuagint. The indefinite pou, 'somewhere', is a rhetorical convention of the author, not ignorance of the source. The verb katepausen, 'rested', shares its root with katapausis, 'rest', the keyword of this whole argument, binding God's sabbath rest at creation to the rest still offered to believers.
- Hebrews 4:7a The Greek phrase en Dauid, literally 'in David', treats the Psalter as the voice of David and is rendered here as 'through David'. The quotation is Psalm 95:7-8, and the argument turns on chronology: since David wrote long after the wilderness generation, the divine 'Today' remained open, and the promised rest had not been exhausted by the conquest under Joshua.
- Hebrews 4:8a The Greek word "Iēsous" is the same form as "Jesus," but here it refers to Joshua son of Nun.
- Hebrews 4:9a The Greek sabbatismos (σαββατισμός), 'Sabbath rest' or 'Sabbath-keeping', occurs nowhere else in the New Testament and is scarcely attested in earlier Greek literature; the author may have coined it. It differs from katapausis, 'rest', used throughout the surrounding passage, deliberately evoking the Sabbath of Genesis 2:2 cited in verse 4.
- Hebrews 4:12a Logos (λόγος), 'word', is here God's spoken message rather than a title of Christ; the context is the voice of God in Psalm 95, quoted throughout the chapter. Some patristic interpreters read the verse of the divine Son, but the transition to God himself in the next verse fits the broader sense. Kritikos, 'judging', gives English its word 'critic' and occurs only here in the New Testament.
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