Hebrews 4:12 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

¹² Indeed, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

¹² For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹² For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

American Standard Version (1901)

¹² For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Common English Bible

¹² because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹² For the Word of God is living and effective: more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching to the division even between the soul and the spirit, even between the joints and the marrow, and so it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

¹² For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 Cross References

Psalm 110:2

The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes.

Psalm 119:130

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

Psalm 139:2

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

Psalm 149:6

Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,

Psalm 45:3

Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your glory and majesty.

Proverbs 5:4

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Ecclesiastes 12:11

The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd.

Isaiah 11:4

but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Isaiah 49:2

He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.

Isaiah 55:11

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Jeremiah 17:10

I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.

Jeremiah 23:29

Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Luke 8:11

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

John 12:48

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge,

John 6:51

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Acts 2:37

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

Acts 4:31

When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 5:33

When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

Acts 7:38

He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to us.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

1 Corinthians 1:24

but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

2 Corinthians 2:17

For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many, but as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God, we are speaking in Christ before God.

2 Corinthians 4:2

We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

Ephesians 5:13

but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,

Ephesians 5:26

in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word,

Ephesians 6:17

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:7

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

Hebrews 6:5

and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come

James 1:18

In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave birth to us by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

1 Peter 1:23

You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

Revelation 1:16

In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

Revelation 19:15

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a scepter of iron; he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

Revelation 19:21

And the rest were killed by the sword of the rider on the horse, the sword that came from his mouth, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

Revelation 2:16

Repent, then. If not, I will come to you soon and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Revelation 2:23

and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.

Revelation 20:4

Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its brand on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Judges 3:16

Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes.