Hebrews 3:3-19

3:3 For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s¹ house² as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. 3:6 But Christ³ is faithful as a son over God’s⁴ house. We are of his house,⁵ if in fact we hold firmly⁶ to our confidence and the hope we take pride in.⁷

Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith

3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,⁸

“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!⁹

3:8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.

3:9 “There your fathers tested me and tried me,¹⁰ and they saw my works for forty years.

3:10 “Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering¹¹ and they have not known my ways.’

3:11 “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”¹²

3:12 See to it,¹³ brothers and sisters,¹⁴ that none of you has¹⁵ an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes¹⁶ the living God.¹⁷ 3:13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 3:14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence¹⁸ firm until the end. 3:15 As it says,¹⁹ “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!²⁰ Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”²¹ 3:16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership?²² 3:17 And against whom was God²³ provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?²⁴ 3:18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 3:19 So²⁵ we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

¹tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

²sn A quotation from Num 12:7.

³sn The Greek makes the contrast between v. 5 and v. 6a more emphatic and explicit than is easily done in English.

⁴tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

⁵tn Grk “whose house we are,” continuing the previous sentence.

⁶tc The reading adopted by the translation is found in Ì^13,46 B sa, while the vast majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï latt) add μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν (mecri telou" bebaian, “secure until the end”). The external evidence for the omission, though minimal, has excellent credentials. Considering the internal factors, B. M. Metzger (TCGNT 595) finds it surprising that the feminine adjective βεβαίαν should modify the neuter noun καύχημα (kauchma, here translated “we take pride”), a fact that suggests that even the form of the word was borrowed from another place. Since the same phrase occurs at Heb 3:14, it is likely that later scribes added it here at Heb 3:6 in anticipation of Heb 3:14. While these words belong at 3:14, they seem foreign to 3:6.

⁷tn Grk “the pride of our hope.”

⁸sn The following quotation is from Ps 95:7b-11.

⁹tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”

¹⁰tn Grk “tested me by trial.”

¹¹tn Grk “they are wandering in the heart.”

¹²tn Grk “if they shall enter my rest,” a Hebrew idiom expressing an oath that something will certainly not happen.

¹³tn Or “take care.”

¹⁴tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

¹⁵tn Grk “that there not be in any of you.”

¹⁶tn Or “deserts,” “rebels against.”

¹⁷tn Grk “in forsaking the living God.”

¹⁸tn Grk “the beginning of the confidence.”

¹⁹tn Grk “while it is said.”

²⁰tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”

²¹sn A quotation from Ps 95:7b-8.

²²tn Grk “through Moses.”

²³tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

²⁴sn An allusion to God’s judgment pronounced in Num 14:29, 32.

²⁵tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate a summary or conclusion to the argument of the preceding paragraph.