Hebrews 4 - Easy To Read Version

¹ And we still have that promise God gave those people. That promise is that we can enter and have God’s rest. {\cf2\super [22]} So we should be very careful, so that none of you fail to get that promise.

² The way to be saved {\cf2\super [23]} was told to us the same as to those people. But the teaching those people heard did not help them. They heard that teaching but did not accept it with faith.

³ Only we people who believe are able to enter and have God’s rest. Like God said,

⁴ Some place \{in the Scriptures {\cf2\super [25]} \} God talked about the seventh day of the week: “So on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” {\cf2\super [26]}

⁵ And in that other Scripture God also said, “Those people will never enter and have my rest. {\cf2\super [27]} ”

⁶ It is still true that some people will enter and have God’s rest. {\cf2\super [28]} But those people who first heard the way to be saved {\cf2\super [29]} did not enter. They did not enter because they did not obey.

⁷ So God planned another special day. It is called “today.” God spoke about that day through David a long time later. It is the same Scripture {\cf2\super [30]} we used before:

⁸ We know that Joshua {\cf2\super [31]} did not lead the people into the rest {\cf2\super [32]} \{God promised\}. We know this because God spoke later about another day \{for rest\} (“today”).

⁹ This shows that the seventh-day rest {\cf2\super [33]} for God’s people is still coming.

¹⁰ God rested after he finished his work. So the person who enters and has God’s rest is the person who has finished his work like God did.

¹¹ So let us try as hard as we can to enter God’s rest. We must try hard so that none of us will be lost by following the example of those people who refused to obey God.

¹² God’s word {\cf2\super [34]} (message) is alive and working. His word is sharper than the sharpest sword. God’s word cuts all the way into us \{like a sword\}. It cuts deep to the place where the soul and the spirit are joined. God’s word cuts to the center of our joints and our bones. It judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts.

^13-15 Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. He can clearly see all things. Everything is open before him. And to him we must explain the way we have lived.

¹⁶ Who were those people who heard God’s voice and were against him? It was all those people that Moses led out of Egypt.