The Liberation & Inclusion Translation
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Hebrews 3 in the Liberation and Inclusion Translation (LIT). scripture hebrews 3 sacred-members sharers highest-heavens jesus emissary high-priest open-acknowledgement faithful appointed moses gods-house builder renown messiah courage-to-speak hope sacred-life-breath today harden-hearts bitter-hostility testing wilderness forty-years rest faithlessness deviations-tricks

Hebrews 3

1 Because of that, sacred members of the Family, sharersa in the calling of the highest heavens, direct your minds toward Jesus, the emissary and high priest whom we openly acknowledge,b 2 who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses also was appointed in God's House.c 3 He has been deemed deserving of more renown than Moses, in proportion with how much more honor the builder of the house has than the house has. 4 Every house is built by someone, but God is the one who builds everything. 5 While, certainly, Moses was faithful “throughout God's whole House”d as an attendant reporting the things that would be spoken, 6 Messiah’se faithfulness is as a son over God's House. We are of God's House if we hold onto the courage to speak and vocal confidence of hope.

7 Because of that, just like the Sacred Life-Breath says,

“If you hear God's voice today

8⁠Do not harden your hearts as in the time of bitter hostility,f

in the day of testingg in the wilderness

9⁠Where your ancestors tested and scrutinized me,

and they saw my actions for forty years

10⁠That’s why I was outragedh by that generation,

and I said, ‘They are always being led off course by their hearts,

and they did not understand my paths.’

11⁠As I swore in my anger,

‘They will absolutely not come into my rest!’”i

12 Family, watch out so that a destructive,j faithlessk heart that withdraws itself from God-Who-Is-Alive willl not be within any of you. 13 Instead, encourage each other each day as long as it’s still called ‘today,’ so that none of you would be hardened by Deviation’s tricks.m 14 We have become sharers with Messiah if we hold onto the beginning from its founding until the end is stable. 15 As it says, “If you hear God's voice today, do not harden your hearts as in the time of bitter hostility.”n 16 You see, who acted with bitter hostility after hearing? Wasn’t it everyone who came out of Egypt by Moses’ actions?o 17 And with which people was God outraged for forty years? Wasn’t it those who deviated, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And about which people did God swear they would not come into God's rest if not those who refused to be persuaded?p 19 And we see that they were not able to come in because of faithlessness.q

Footnotes

  1. a Greek, metochos. It is the noun form of the verb in Hebrews 2:14 that is translated there as ‘partook.’ This noun refers to ‘those who partake’ or ‘those who participate’ or ‘those who share in something.’

  2. b Literally, ‘of our open acknowledgement’

  3. c ‘House’ is often used to refer to the Temple or Tabernacle.

  4. d Reference to Numbers 12:7

  5. e Christos is the Greek translation of the Hebrew meshiah which has traditionally been transliterated as Messiah (and Christ) but translated would literally be “anointed.” The definition of ‘anointed’ is to be ‘smeared with ointment or oil’ and the biblical significance of anointing is to be selected by God (or a prophet of God) for a special appointment, usually king and sometimes other roles like priest or prophet, and experience a ceremony in which the prophet places oil on the head to signify that appointment.

  6. f Traditionally, ‘rebellion’ or ‘provocation.’ The word has to do with cruelty, bitterness, hostility, resentment and its source, this form specifically has to do with the source of those qualities being enacted.

  7. g Or ‘trial’ – in the sense of ‘putting to the test through hardship.’ The context here seems to suggest God is the one who was tested by the adversity.

  8. h Traditionally, ‘provoked.’ The word has to do with being made to feel highly agitated toward an offender or offense. ‘Appalled’ or ‘disgusted’ or ‘sickened’ or ‘livid’ would be appropriate.

  9. i Quotation of Psalm 95:7-11

  10. j Traditionally, ‘evil’

  11. k Carrying a sense of mistrustfulness that manifests in unfaithfulness. A breach in relationship involving betrayal of trust as a reaction to perceived untrustworthiness.

  12. l Future tense

  13. m Traditionally, ‘deception.’ It carries a meaning of something deceptive that distracts, that pulls attention away from what’s important or true to motivate to go the wrong way or make the wrong decision.

  14. n Quotation of Psalm 95:7-8

  15. o Or ‘through Moses’

  16. p Traditionally, ‘are disobedient.’ This is a more literal translation.

  17. q Or ‘unfaithfulness’ or ‘untrustworthiness’ or ‘mistrust’ or ‘lack of commitment’

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The Liberation & Inclusion Translation (LIT) is an original English translation prepared from The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (ed. Michael W. Holmes; © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature & Logos Bible Software).

The SBLGNT is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, International Licence (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This translation constitutes an adaptation of that Greek text. Used with permission.

Greek quotations are presented in transliterated form; accentuation and punctuation follow LIT house style, mostly removed for accessibility to readers without prior knowledge of Greek.

Portions of the SBL Greek text quoted here remain available under CC BY 4.0; the NC-ND restrictions apply only to the original English translation and other LIT-specific content.

The Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software do not endorse the LIT Bible.