Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Parallel translations
- WEB looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;
- BSB See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
- NKJV looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
- NASB See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
- NLT Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
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
Watch carefully that no one falls short of God's grace and that no bitter root grows up to defile the community. Guard one another against falling away and against spreading corruption.
Overview
The author calls the church to mutual vigilance, lest anyone fail to lay hold of God's grace and so fall away. He warns of a "root of bitterness" (echoing Deuteronomy 29:18) whose growth can defile many. Perseverance is a corporate responsibility: believers are to look out for one another so that none drift from grace and no corruption spreads through the body.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 40
- Heb 3:12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
- Deut 29:18Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
- Gal 5:4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
- 2 Cor 6:1We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
- 2 Jn 1:8Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
- 1 Cor 15:33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
- Heb 4:1Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
- Prov 4:23Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
- 2 Pet 3:14Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
- Jer 2:21Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
- 1 Cor 5:6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
- 2 Cor 13:5Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
- Heb 4:11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
- Jude 1:20–21But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
- 2 Tim 2:16–17But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
- 1 Cor 10:12Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
- 1 Kgs 14:16And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
- Heb 10:23–35Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
- Deut 4:9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
- Heb 6:11And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
- Deut 32:32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
- 2 Pet 2:18For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
- Col 3:5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
- 1 Cor 9:24–27Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
- 2 Pet 2:1–2But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
- Eph 5:3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
- Matt 7:16–18Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
- Josh 22:17–20Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD,
- Gal 2:13And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
- Josh 7:25–26And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
- Exod 32:21And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
- 1 Cor 13:8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
- Heb 2:1–2Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
- Acts 20:30–31Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
- Isa 5:4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
- 2 Pet 1:10Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
- 2 Pet 3:11Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
- Josh 6:18And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
- Luke 22:32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
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