1 T he same promise of going into God’s rest is still for us. But we should be afraid that some of us may not be able to go in.

Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered, let us be afraid '> to distrust it], lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of it.

2 W e have heard the Good News even as they did, but it did them no good because it was not mixed with faith.

For indeed we have had the glad tidings proclaimed to us just as truly as they; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones who heard (did believe).

3 W e who have put our trust in God go into His rest. God said this of our early fathers, “I was angry and said, ‘They will not go into My rest.’” And yet God’s work was finished after He made the world. God’s Rest

For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although works had been completed and prepared from the foundation of the world.

4 I n the Holy Writings He said this about the seventh day when He made the whole world, “God rested on the seventh day from all He had made.”

For in a certain place He has said this about the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.

5 B ut God said this about those who turned against Him, “They will not go into My rest.”

And in this He said, They shall not enter My rest.

6 T hose who heard the Good News first did not go into His rest. It was because they had not obeyed Him. But the promise is still good and some are going into His rest.

Seeing then that the promise remains over for some to enter that rest, and that those who formerly were given the good news about it and the opportunity, failed to appropriate it and did not enter because of disobedience,

7 G od has again set a certain day for people to go into His rest. He says through David many years later as He had said before, “If you hear His voice today, do not let your hearts become hard.”

Again He sets a definite day, Today, saying through David after so long a time in the words already quoted, Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts.

8 I f Joshua had led those people into God’s rest, He would not have told of another day after that.

For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not speak afterward about another day.

9 A nd so God’s people have a complete rest waiting for them.

So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the people of God;

10 T he man who goes into God’s rest, rests from his own work the same as God rested from His work.

For he who has once entered rest also has ceased from of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own.

11 L et us do our best to go into that rest or we will be like the people who did not go in.

Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest, that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience.

12 G od’s Word is living and powerful. It is sharper than a sword that cuts both ways. It cuts straight into where the soul and spirit meet and it divides them. It cuts into the joints and bones. It tells what the heart is thinking about and what it wants to do.

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and spirit, and of joints and marrow, exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

13 N o one can hide from God. His eyes see everything we do. We must give an answer to God for what we have done. Jesus—Our Great Religious Leader

And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.

14 W e have a great Religious Leader Who has made the way for man to go to God. He is Jesus, the Son of God, Who has gone to heaven to be with God. Let us keep our trust in Jesus Christ.

Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest Who has ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15 O ur Religious Leader understands how weak we are. Christ was tempted in every way we are tempted, but He did not sin.

For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.

16 L et us go with complete trust to the throne of God. We will receive His loving-kindness and have His loving-favor to help us whenever we need it.

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in good time for every need.