Hebrews 3

KJV · Chapter 3/13

1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

2Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

3For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

4For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

5And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

6But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

7Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

10Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

15While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

16For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The author compares Jesus to Moses, showing that Christ is greater for being the builder of the house (God's family), not merely a faithful servant within it. He warns readers not to harden their hearts like the wilderness generation that did not enter the rest of the promised land.

Explanation

Moses was the most respected figure in Jewish tradition, so showing that Jesus is superior to him — as the architect is superior to the building itself — was a powerful argument for Hebrew readers. The warning about 'hardening the heart' refers back to the episode in Numbers 14, when the Israelites doubted God in the wilderness and therefore did not enter the promised land, despite having witnessed miracles. The point is that seeing and hearing the truth does not guarantee perseverance; continual trust is required. Today's application is that faith needs to be renewed daily, not based merely on past spiritual experiences.

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