Text -- Hebrews 4:1-5 (NET)

God’s Promised Rest

4:1 Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 4:2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith. 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” And yet God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4:4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 4:5 but to repeat the text cited earlier: “They will never enter my rest!”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Heb 4:1

¹ tn Grk “let us fear.”

NET Notes: Heb 4:2

¹ tn Or “they were not united.”

² tc A few mss (א and a few versional witnesses) have the nominative singular participle συγκεκερασμένος (sunkekerasmeno", “since it [the message] was not combined with faith by those who heard it”), a reading that refers back to the ὁ λόγος (Jo logo", “the message”). There are a few other variants here (e.g., συγκεκεραμμένοι [sunkekerammenoi] in 104, συγκεκεραμένους [sunkekeramenou"] in 1881 Ï), but the accusative plural participle συγκεκερασμένους (sunkekerasmenou"), found in Ì^13vid,46 A B C D* Ψ 0243 0278 33 81 1739 2464 pc, has by far the best external credentials. This participle agrees with the previous ἐκείνους (ekeinou", “those”), a more difficult construction grammatically than the nominative singular. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, συγκεκερασμένους is preferred.

NET Notes: Heb 4:3

¹ sn A quotation from Ps 95:11.

² tn Grk “although the works,” continuing the previous reference to God. The referent (God) is specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Heb 4:4

¹ sn A quotation from Gen 2:2.

NET Notes: Heb 4:5

¹ tn Grk “and in this again.”