< Hebrews 3 >
1 My fellow believers, [God] has set you apart and has chosen you, just like he chose me. So consider Jesus. [He is God’s] messenger to us. He is also the Supreme Priest whom we say we believe in.
2 He faithfully [served God], who appointed him, just like Moses faithfully [served] God’s people [MTY].
3 Just like every house is made by someone {as someone makes every house}, Jesus made everything, and he is God/Divine. So God has considered that Jesus is worthy [that people honor] him more than they honor Moses, just like the one who builds a house deserves that people honor him more than they should honor the house [he built].
4
5 Moses very faithfully [served God as he] ([helped/cared for]) [MET] God’s people, just like a servant [faithfully serves his master]. The result was that Moses testified about what Jesus would say later.
6 But Christ [faithfully serves God as he] ([helps/cares for]) his own people [MTY, MET], just like a [son helps/cares for his own family]. And we are God’s people [MTY] if we continue to confidently [believe in Christ] and if we continue to confidently wait for [what God will do for us].
7 The Holy Spirit [caused the Psalmist to write these words in the Scriptures to the Israelites]: Now, when you [(pl)] hear God speaking to you [MTY],
8 do not stubbornly ([disobey/refuse to] obey [him]) [IDM], [as your Jewish ancestors stubbornly disobeyed him] when they rebelled against [him] in the desert. [At that time, God said to your ancestors], “They tried to determine how many [things that displeased me they could do] in the desert [without me punishing them].
9 Your ancestors repeatedly tested [whether I would be patient with them, even though] for 40 years they saw all the amazing things I did.
10 So, I became disgusted with those people who saw those things, and I said [about them], ‘They are constantly disloyal to me, and they do not understand how I [wanted them] to conduct their lives.’
11 As a result, because I was angry with them, I solemnly declared, ‘They will not enter [the land of Canaan] where I would let them rest [MTY]!’”
12 So, my fellow believers, be careful that none of you is so evil that you stop trusting [in Christ]. That would cause you to reject God who is all-powerful.
13 Instead, each of you must encourage each other every day, while [you still have] the opportunity [IDM], in order that none of you may stubbornly [reject God] by [letting others] deceive you (OR, as you deceive yourselves), [with the result that] you [(sg)] sin [PRS].
14 [We must encourage one another], because we [(inc)] benefit from [all] Christ [has done] only if we firmly keep trusting [in him] from the time when we first confidently [trusted in him] until [the time when] we die [EUP].
15 [We can do this] by paying attention to [what the Psalmist wrote in that Scripture passage in which] God said, Now, when you hear me speaking [to you(pl)] [MTY], do not stubbornly disobey me as [your ancestors stubbornly disobeyed me] when they rebelled [against me].
16 ([You must keep trusting in God] because you must remember who it was who rebelled against God although they heard him speaking to them./Do you remember who it was who rebelled against God although they heard [him speaking to them]?) [RHQ] It was people who had certainly experienced [LIT] God’s power. It was all those people whom Moses led miraculously out of Egypt. [RHQ]
17 And ([you must remember] who it was that God was disgusted with for 40 years./do you [remember] who it was that God was disgusted with for 40years?) [RHQ] It was those same people who had sinned like that, and who as a result died in the desert! [RHQ]
18 And ([you must remember] about whom God solemnly declared, “They will not enter the land where I would let them rest.”/do you [remember] about whom [God] solemnly declared, “They will not enter the land where I [would let them] rest”?) [RHQ] It was those Israelites who disobeyed God.
19 So, from that example we [(inc)] realize that it was because they did not keep trusting [in God] that they were unable to enter [the land where they would rest].