So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
- KJV Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
- BSB Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
- NKJV Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
- NASB Therefore let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.
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
Believers should make every effort to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through the same kind of unbelieving disobedience as Israel. Diligent perseverance is urged so none repeats the wilderness failure.
Overview
Strikingly, the author calls for diligence 'to enter into that rest,' showing that resting in God's grace and earnest striving are not opposites. The warning recalls Israel's disobedience as a pattern to avoid. The verse holds together the call to active perseverance and the gracious rest that is its goal.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Matt 11:28–30“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Luke 13:24“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.
- Heb 3:18To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
- Eph 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
- Heb 6:11We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end,
- 2 Pet 1:10–11Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.
- Titus 1:16They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
- Heb 3:12Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
- Phil 2:12So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
- Titus 3:3For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
- Matt 11:12From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
- Acts 26:19“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
- Matt 7:13“Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.
- Luke 16:16The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
- Col 3:6for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
- Rom 11:30–32For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,
- Eph 2:2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;
- John 6:27Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”
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Original language
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