Hebrews 3:11
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So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
So--literally, "as." I sware--BENGEL remarks the oath of God preceded the forty years. not--literally, "If they shall enter . . . (God do so to me and more also)," Sa2 3:35. The Greek is the same, Mar 8:12. my rest--Canaan, primarily, their rest after wandering in the wilderness: still, even when in it, they never fully enjoyed rest; whence it followed that the threat extended farther than the exclusion of the unbelieving from the literal land of rest, and that the rest promised to the believing in its full blessedness was, and is, yet future: Psa 25:13; Psa 37:9, Psa 37:11, Psa 37:22, Psa 37:29, and Christ's own beatitude (Mat 5:5) all accord with this, Heb 3:9.
Open source ↗In this chapter the apostle applies what he had said in the chapter foregoing concerning the priesthood of Christ, I. In a serious pathetic exhortation that this great high priest, who was discovered to them, might be seriously considered by them (Heb 3:1-6). II. He then adds many weighty counsels and cautions (Heb 3:7 to the end).
Open source ↗3:11 Rebellion has consequences. • God’s anger is not merely an emotional reaction; it is his just displeasure toward sin (John 3:36; Rom 1:18; 1 Thes 2:16). • God’s oath (see Heb 6:13-20; 7:20-22, 28) was that they would never enter Canaan, the place of rest from their wanderings (Deut 1:19-46; 3:20; 12:10; Josh 1:13).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world.
I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”
And again, as He says in the passage above: “They shall never enter My rest.”
The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”
There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”