And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?
Parallel translations
- WEB To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
- KJV And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
- NKJV And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
- NASB And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
- NLT And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him?
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
God swore that the disobedient would not enter His rest. Disobedience, rooted in unbelief, excluded them from the promise.
Overview
The exclusion from rest fell upon those who were 'disobedient,' a disobedience the next verse identifies as unbelief. The oath of Psalm 95 is shown to have a moral cause: rebellion against God's voice. This prepares the conclusion that unbelief is the root that bars entry into God's rest.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Heb 4:6Since, then, it remains for some to enter His rest, and since those who formerly heard the good news did not enter because of their disobedience,
- Deut 1:34–35When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying,
- Num 14:30Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
- Ps 106:24–26They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.
- Deut 1:26–32But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
- Num 20:12But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
- Deut 9:23And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh-barnea, He said, “Go up and possess the land that I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You neither believed Him nor obeyed Him.
- Heb 4:2For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.
- Heb 3:11So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”
- Num 14:11And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
- Num 14:23not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.
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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 3:18 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
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