Text -- Hebrews 10:27-39 (NET)

10:27 but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies. 10:28 Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 10:29 How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace? 10:30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 10:32 But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened. 10:33 At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and afflictions, and at other times you came to share with others who were treated in that way. 10:34 For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. 10:35 So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. 10:36 For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. 10:37 For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay. 10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him. 10:39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Heb 10:27

¹ tn Grk “zeal,” recalling God’s jealous protection of his holiness and honor (cf. Exod 20:5).

sn An allusion to Zeph 1:18.

² tn Grk “the enemies.”

sn An allusion to Isa 26:11.

NET Notes: Heb 10:28

¹ tn Grk “dies.”

² sn An allusion to Deut 17:6.

NET Notes: Heb 10:29

¹ tn Grk “tramples under foot.”

² tn Grk “regarded as common.”

³ tn Grk “by which he was made holy.”

NET Notes: Heb 10:30

¹ sn A quotation from Deut 32:35.

² sn A quotation from Deut 32:36.

NET Notes: Heb 10:34

¹ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א D² 1881 Ï), read δεσμοῖς μου (desmoi" mou, “my imprisonment”) here, a reading that is probably due to the widespread belief in the early Christian centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews (cf. Phil 1:7; Col 4:18). It may have been generated by the reading δεσμοῖς without the μου (so Ì⁴⁶ Ψ 104 pc), the force of which is so ambiguous (lit., “you shared the sufferings with the bonds”) as to be virtually nonsensical. Most likely, δεσμοῖς resulted when a scribe made an error in copying δεσμίοις (desmioi"), a reading which makes excellent sense (“[of] those in prison”) and is strongly supported by early and significant witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texttypes (A D* H 6 33 81 1739 lat sy co). Thus, δεσμίοις best explains the rise of the other readings on both internal and external grounds and is strongly preferred.

² tn Grk “you yourselves.”

NET Notes: Heb 10:35

¹ tn Grk “which,” but showing the reason.

NET Notes: Heb 10:36

¹ tn Grk “the promise,” referring to the thing God promised, not to the pledge itself.

NET Notes: Heb 10:37

¹ sn A quotation from Isa 26:20.

² sn A quotation from Hab 2:3.

NET Notes: Heb 10:38

¹ tn Grk “my soul.”

² sn A quotation from Hab 2:4.

NET Notes: Heb 10:39

¹ tn Grk “not…of shrinking back to perdition but of faith to the preservation of the soul.”