Hebrews 3:11

11 So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

Hebrews 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 3:11

So I sware in my wrath
Swearing is ascribed to God, to show the certainty of the thing spoken of; as of mercies, when he swears in love, and by his holiness; so here, of punishment, when he swears in wrath, in indignation, in sore displeasure, and the threatened evil is irrevocable and inevitable:

they shall not enter into my rest;
into the land of Canaan, called God's rest, because he promised it, and gave it to the Israelites as their rest; and where he himself had a place of rest; and where he gave the Messiah, the author of peace and rest; and which was a type of heaven, that rest from toil and labour, which remains for the people of God; and into which it is said this generation did not enter; for the Jews say F6,

``the generation of the wilderness have no part in the world to come:''

but this seems too harsh, for doubtless there were many who died in the wilderness, that went safe to heaven, notwithstanding all their sins and provocations.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 Tzeror Hammor, fol. 118. 1.

Hebrews 3:11 In-Context

9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
10 So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”
12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.
13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

Footnotes 1

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.