A thoughtful guide for your walk of faith Read with context, practice with grace.
General Letters · WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE

Hebrews 3

Jesus' superior priesthood and covenant ground endurance, worship, and confident approach to God.

New Testament

Hebrews 3

1Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,

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

3For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house.

4For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God.

5Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,

6but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.

7Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,

8don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness,

9where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years.

10Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’

11As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’”

12Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;

13but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

14For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end,

15while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”

16For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

17With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

18To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

19We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Jesus' superior priesthood and covenant ground endurance, worship, and confident approach to God. Read Hebrews 3 within the complete Hebrews overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in Hebrews 3

Hebrews 3 contains 19 verses and about 354 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: “Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 19 closes: “We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include house, moses, therefore, faithful, built, today. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About Hebrews 3

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, Hebrews 3:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.

A SMALL NEXT STEP

You do not have to have everything figured out.

Begin with one honest question, one passage read carefully, and one faithful next step.

Start with prayer