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but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Hebrews 10:27 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
  • KJV But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
  • BSB but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.
  • NASB but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
  • NLT There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

For such rejecters there remains only a terrifying expectation of judgment and consuming fire. To spurn Christ is to face God's wrath.

Overview

Continuing the warning, the author describes what awaits the unrepentant apostate: dreadful judgment and 'fierceness of fire' that consumes God's adversaries (echoing Isaiah 26:11). The gravity underscores how serious it is to turn from Christ. The passage urges readers to persevere rather than presume.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 39

  • Isa 26:11Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.
  • Heb 2:3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation — which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard;
  • Zeph 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
  • Heb 12:25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
  • Heb 9:27Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
  • Matt 13:50and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
  • Nah 1:2Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.
  • Zeph 3:8“Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
  • Jer 4:4Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
  • Mal 4:1“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
  • Nah 1:8–10But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
  • Rev 20:15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
  • Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
  • Matt 8:29Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
  • Luke 19:27But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”
  • Jas 5:3Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.
  • Ps 21:9You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
  • Ezek 38:19For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
  • Matt 3:10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
  • Isa 33:14The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
  • Ps 68:1–2For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song. Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him.
  • Matt 25:41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
  • Ezek 36:5therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.
  • Joel 2:30I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
  • Nah 1:5–6The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.
  • Dan 5:6Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.
  • Num 16:35Fire came out from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
  • Mark 9:43–49If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire,
  • Matt 13:42and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
  • Deut 32:43Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
  • 1 Sam 28:19–20Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”
  • Heb 12:29for our God is a consuming fire.
  • Hos 10:8The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!”
  • Luke 21:26men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
  • Luke 16:24He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
  • Rev 6:15–17The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
  • 2 Th 1:7–8and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
  • Luke 23:30Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’
  • 1 Th 2:15–16who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and didn’t please God, and are contrary to all men;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Hebrews videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Hebrews 10:27YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on HebrewsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.

How Hebrews 10:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.