Hebrews 3

Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, ‘ISA1; 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Musa in all his house. 3For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Musa, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honour than the house. 4For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God2. 5Musa indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken, 6but AL-MASIH3 is faithful as a SON4 over his House; whose House we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end. 7Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit5 says,

“Today, if you will hear his voice, 8do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 9where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my works for forty years. 10I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’ 11Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.'” 6

12Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there 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 AL-MASIH, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end: 15while it is said,

“Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” 7

16For who, when they heard, rebelled? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt by Musa? 17With whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18To whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.

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  1. 3:1 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
  2. 3:4 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
  3. 3:6 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH.  Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
  4. 3:6 SON, a title of the Messiah, ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed through Prophet Dawud in the Zabur 2:7-9, which says: I will tell of the decree. YAHWEH said to me, “You are my SON. Today I have become your FATHER. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, The ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” ↩︎
  5. 3:7 Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God; not an angel, created being, nor an impersonal force, but the uncreated, eternal Spirit of God himself. The Spirit was present and active at the creation of heaven and earth (see Genesis 1:2), and today lives inside of every follower of ‘ISA AL-MASIH, empowering them to live in a way pleasing to God. ↩︎
  6. 3:7-11 Quoting the Zabur 95:7-11 which says: “For he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘These people err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’ Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.'” ↩︎
  7. 3:15 Quoting the Zabur 95:7-8 which says: “For he is our God. we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness.” ↩︎