Hebrews 3:1-5:10
New Catholic Bible
A High Priest for Humanity[a]
Chapter 3
Christ’s Fidelity Is Superior to That of Moses.[b] 1 Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly calling, concentrate your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our profession of faith. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in God’s household.
3 However, he is deserving of a greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house is more honored than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all is God.
5 Now Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s household, testifying to the things that would later be revealed, 6 whereas Christ was faithful as a son watching over his house. And we are that house if we hold firm to our confidence and take pride in our hope.
The “Today” of God.[c] 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 harden not your hearts as at the rebellion,
in the day of testing in the desert,
9 where your ancestors tried me and tested me
though they had seen what I could do 10 for forty years.
As a result I became angered with that generation,
and I said, ‘Their hearts have always gone astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, I swore in my anger,
‘They will never enter into my rest.’ ”
12 Take care, brethren, that none of you will ever have an evil and unbelieving heart that will cause you to forsake the living God. 13 Rather, encourage each other every day, as long as it is today, so that none of you will become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we will become partners with Christ only if we maintain firmly until the end the confidence we originally had, 15 as it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.”
16 Who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Were they not all those whom Moses had led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angered for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned and whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would never enter into his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see clearly that they were unable to enter because of their refusal to believe.
Chapter 4
The Sabbath Rest of God’s People.[d] 1 Therefore, since the promise of entering into his rest endures, we must take care that none of you be judged to have fallen short. 2 For we too have received the good news just as they did, but the message they heard was of no benefit to them because those who listened did not combine it with faith. 3 For we who have faith enter into that rest, just as God has said:
“Therefore, I swore in my anger,
‘They will never enter into my rest.’ ”
Yet God’s work had been finished at the beginning of the world. 4 For somewhere he says in reference to the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And in this passage it says, “They will never enter into my rest.”
6 Seeing, therefore, that some will enter into that rest, and since those who first had received the good news failed to enter because of their refusal to believe, 7 God once more set a day—“today”—when long afterward he spoke through David, as already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.”
8 Now if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward of another day. 9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God, 10 since those who enter into God’s rest also cease from their own labors as God did from his. 11 Let us then make every effort to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall by following that example of refusing to believe.
12 The Word of God Is Living.[e] Indeed, the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it pierces to the point where it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. 13 Nothing in creation is hidden from his sight. Everything is uncovered and exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we must all render an account.
14 A Compassionate High Priest.[f] Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession of faith. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every respect as we are, but without sinning. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace when we are in need of help.
Chapter 5
1 Every high priest is taken from among men to represent them in their dealings with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.[g] 2 He is able to deal patiently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 And as a result of this, he must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. 4 Moreover, one does not assume this position of honor on his own initiative, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 Even Christ did not confer upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. Rather, he was appointed by the one who said to him:
“You are my Son;
this day I have begotten you.”
6 And he says in another place:
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
7 During the course of his earthly life, Jesus offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who had the power to save him from death, and he was heard because of his godly fear. 8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through his sufferings, 9 and when he had been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 and he was designated a high priest by God according to the order of Melchizedek.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 3:1 The Covenant with Israel was entered into in the wilderness. Two great figures stood out: Moses and Aaron—the two mediators of the Law and sacrifice, of authority and worship. But when the work of Christ becomes known, all of that proves to have been provisional. And to speak of Christ the author develops two ideas: fidelity to God and solidarity or sympathy with humans. In between these two developments he inserts a long exhortation to serious Christians.
- Hebrews 3:1 The fidelity of Jesus is greater than that of Moses. Both were “apostles,” sent by God to the people, and “priests,” i.e., representatives of the people before God. But Moses acted in the world as a servant who carries out a limited mandate. Christ accomplishes his work personally, in his own name, like a Son. This work belongs to him; and it is the community of believers that he establishes in the world of God.
- Hebrews 3:7 Like Israel of the Exodus, the Church is on the march, on earth, certain of the promise of God but exposed to temptation. Since the Jewish people love to cling to the great epoch in the wilderness, the author invites them to profit from the lesson of that time—which is one of fidelity—offering them a commentary on Ps 95. His argument, which follows the exegetical methods of the time, may seem somewhat complicated. The generation of Hebrews delivered from Egypt did not enter the promised land because it rebelled against God (see Ex 17:1-7; Num 14:28-35). The memory of that rebellion remained alive in the Jewish tradition (see 1 Cor 10:1-11). Ps 95, which at that period was attributed to David, was written long after the Exile, when the perspective was no longer the conquest of Canaan, which had been accomplished by Joshua. The promise to enter into the rest of God has not become something distant: it is deeply involved with the fulfillment of creation, with sharing today in the divine life by following Christ along the way he has opened up (Heb 4:14).
- Hebrews 4:1 The first “rest” in Scripture was the one that God took on the seventh day of creation (see Gen 2:3). The second “rest” was the one God promised to the Israelites in Canaan, but which they were not allowed to enter because of their lack of faith (see v. 2 and Ps 95:11). The third “rest” was the one Jesus took upon entering the eternal sphere after completing the work of Redemption (see Eph 1:20; 2:6; 4:8). These “rests” foreshadow the ultimate “rest” that awaits all Christians (v. 11), provided they have a living faith in the person and work of Jesus.
- Hebrews 4:12 The word of God is living and effective. It pierces into the most inner part of believers who open themselves completely to it. This dynamic word of God appears in both the Old and the New Testament (see Pss 107:20; 147:18; Isa 40:8; 55:11; Gal 3:8; Eph 5:26; Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23).
- Hebrews 4:14 Trait by trait, the portrait of the high priest is developed. It is fully verified only in Christ; moreover, we are now beyond the priesthood of Aaron and the earthly liturgy. Christ has set free his own; the Risen One who now lives forever expresses that compassion for humans to which he bore witness in his Passion. This priest is more one with human beings than Aaron was. He is established by God to perform more than a passing service for them. As Son and according to the order of Melchizedek (who will be spoken about later), he is engaged with all his person in his supplication and his sacrifice. The Passion is the most solemn prayer of intercession, the greatest act of obedience at the heart of humanity.
- Hebrews 5:1 To offer gifts and sacrifices for sins: on the Day of Atonement (which the author is here envisioning), atonement was made for the sins of the Israelites (see Lev 16:34).
