The Son Was Faithful

3 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as aMoses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as bHe who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but cHe who built all things is God. 5 dAnd Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as ea servant, ffor a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as ga Son over His own house, hwhose house we are iif we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope 1firm to the end.

Be Faithful

7 Therefore, as jthe Holy Spirit says:

k“Today, if you will hear His voice,

8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

In the day of trial in the wilderness,

9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,

And saw My works forty years.

10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And they have not known My ways.’

11 So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but 2exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:

l“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Failure of the Wilderness Wanderers

16 mFor who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, nwhose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And oto whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of punbelief.

The Promise of Rest

4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, alet us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, 1not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

b“So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: c“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: d“They shall not enter My rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

e“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if 2Joshua had fgiven them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

The Word Discovers Our Condition

11 gLet us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is hliving and powerful, and isharper than any jtwo-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is ka discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 lAnd there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are mnaked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Our Compassionate High Priest

14 Seeing then that we have a great nHigh Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, olet us hold fast our confession. 15 For pwe do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but qwas in all points tempted as we are, ryet without sin. 16 sLet us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Qualifications for High Priesthood

5 For every high priest taken from among men ais appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can 1have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to bweakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for chimself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as dAaron was.