Do Not Harden Your Hearts

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

on the day of testing in the wilderness,

9 where your fathers tried [fn]me, tested me,

and saw my works for forty years.

10 Therefore I was angry with that generation

and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts;

they have not known my ways.’

11 As I swore in my wrath,

‘They will not enter my rest!’ ”

12 Brothers, make sure that none of you has an evil heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become sharers in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

16 For [fn]some did rebel when they heard God's voice, but not all whom Moses led out of Egypt. 17 Now with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were not able to enter.

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, let us proceed with fear so that none of you may be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have received good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since [fn]they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, God has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They will not enter my rest!’ ”

Now God's works have been finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 But again, God says in the passage above: “They will not enter my rest!” 6 Therefore, since God's rest remains open for some to enter, and those who formerly received good news did not enter because of their disobedience, 7 he again designates a certain day, calling it “Today,” as he says through David much later, in the passage already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For anyone who has entered God's rest has rested from his own works, just as God rested from his.

11 Therefore let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.