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For we who believe [that is, we who personally trust and confidently rely on God] enter that rest [so we have His inner peace now because we are confident in our salvation, and assured of His power], just as He has said,

As I swore [an oath] in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,”

[this He said] although His works were [a]completed from the foundation of the world [waiting for all who would believe].(A)

For somewhere [in Scripture] He has said this about the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;(B) and again in this, “They shall not enter My rest.”(C) Therefore, since the promise remains for some to enter His rest, and those who formerly had the good news preached to them failed to [grasp it and did not] enter because of [their unbelief evidenced by] disobedience, He again sets a definite day, [a new] “Today,” [providing another opportunity to enter that rest by] saying through David after so long a time, just as has been said before [in the words already quoted],

Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”(D)

[This mention of a rest was not a reference to their entering into Canaan.] For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak about another day [of opportunity] after that. So there remains a [full and complete] Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has once entered His rest has also rested from [the weariness and pain of] his [human] labors, just as God rested from [those labors uniquely] His own.(E) 11 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience [as those who died in the wilderness].

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 4:3 God “rested” because everything that needed to be done was done—everything was complete, fully accomplished. In human terms this expression is used when a lawyer completes his presentation in a court of law; he “rests” his case—everything is in evidence, there is nothing left to present.

Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”[a](A)

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”[b](B) And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”(C)

Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience,(D) God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”[c](E)

For if Joshua had given them rest,(F) God would not have spoken(G) later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[d](H) just as God did from his.(I) 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 4:3 Psalm 95:11; also in verse 5
  2. Hebrews 4:4 Gen. 2:2
  3. Hebrews 4:7 Psalm 95:7,8
  4. Hebrews 4:10 Or labor