Jesus Our High Priest
1 Therefore,holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider the Apostle and High Priest whom we confessed [as ours when we accepted Him as Savior], namely,Jesus;
2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him [Apostle and High Priest], as Moses also wasfaithfulin all God’s house.
3 Yet Jesus has been considered worthy of much greater gloryandhonor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house.
4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
5 Now Moses was faithful in [the administration of] all God’s house, [but only] as aministeringservant, [his ministry serving] as a testimony of the things which were to be spoken afterward [the revelation to come in Christ];
6 but Christ is faithful as a Son over His [Father’s] house. And we are His house if we hold fast our confidence and sense of triumph in our hope [in Christ].
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today if you hearHis voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as[your fathers did]in the rebellion[of Israel atMeribah],
On the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers triedMe by testing[My forbearance and tolerance],
And sawMy works forforty years
[And found I stood their test].
10 “ThereforeIwas angered with this generation,
AndIsaid, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not knowMy ways[nor become progressively better and more intimately acquainted with them]’;
11 SoIswore[an oath]inMy wrath,
‘They shall not enterMy rest[the promised land].’”
The Peril of Unbelief
12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelievingheart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God.
13 But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication].
14 For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end,
15 while it is said,
“Today[while there is still opportunity]if you hearHis voice,
Do not harden your heart,as when they provokedMe[in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].”
16 For who were they who heard and yet provokedHim[with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies were scattered in the desert?
18 And to whom did He swear [an oath] that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [those who would not listen to His word]?
19 So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest–the promised land] because of unbeliefandan unwillingness to trust in God.