Hebrews Chapter 3:14-19 | |
14. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; | 14. Participes enim facti sumus Christi, siquidem initium fiduciae (vel, subsistentiae) ad finem usque firmum tenuerimus; |
15. While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. | 15. In hoc quod dicitur, Hodie si vocem ejus audieritis, ne obduretis corda vestra sicut in exacerbatione. |
16. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. | 16. Quidam enim quum audissent, exacerbarunt; at non omnes qui egressi fuerant ex AEgypto per Mosen. |
17. But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? | 17. Quibus autem infensus fuit quadraginta annis? an non iis qui peccaverant, quorum membra ceciderunt in deserto? |
18. And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? | 18. Quibus autem juravit, non ingressuros in requiem suam nisi incredulis (aut, inobedientibus)? |
19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. | 19. Et videmus non potuisse ingredi propter infidelitatem. |
14.
Hence he says
15.
16.
But by saying that some
17.
The unbelief, then, which they showed from the beginning, prevented them from enjoying the kindness of God; for the contempt of his word ever led them to sin. And as at first they deserved through their unbelief that God should deprive them of the promised rest, so whatever sin they committed afterwards flowed from the same fountain.
It may be further asked, whether Moses, and Aaron, and those like them, were included in this number? To this I answer, that the Apostle speaks of the whole community rather than of individuals. It is certain that there were many godly men who were either not entangled in the general impiety or soon repented. Moses' faith was once shaken and only once, and that for a moment. The Apostle's words, therefore, contain a statement of the whole instead of a part, a mode of speaking frequently employed when a multitude or body of people are spoken of.
1 What is implied here is that we may professedly be partakers of Christ: that is of his blessings as a Savior, and yet be not really so: the proof of the reality is perseverance. -- Ed.
2 Here is another instance of the genitive being the main subject, "the beginning of our confidence," i.e., our first confidence, which the Apostle calls "first faith" in 1 Timothy 5:12. Macknight renders it "the begun confidence." -- Ed.
3 Most connect this verse with the preceding, as in our version, and as Doddridge thus "forasmuch as it is said;" and Macknight thus "as ye may know by the saying." So does Beza; and Calvin seems to do the same; but some connect it with the 13th and others with the 14th verse. Modern authors, such as Stuart and Blooomfield, regard it as the commencement of a paragraph, and connect it with what follows. Stuart's version is --
15. With regard to the saying, "today while ye hear his voice, harden
16. Not your hearts as in the provocation;" who now were they that when they heard did provoke? Nay, did not all who came out of Egypt under Moses? Etc.
Bloomfield approves of this version, only he considers the quotation is confined to the words, "Today, while ye hear his voice," and regards what follows, "harden not," etc., as said by the writer: See Appendix N. -- Ed.
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