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Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Word Of God Is Alive (Hebrews 4:1-13) New Living and Good News Translations

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
1    God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 
2    For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 
3    For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath:
They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world.
4    We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 
5    But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
6    So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 
7    So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:  “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”
8    Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 
9    So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 
10  For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 
11  So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
12  For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 
13  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION
1    Now, God has offered us the promise that we may receive that rest he spoke about. Let us take care, then, that none of you will be found to have failed to receive that promised rest. 
2    For we have heard the Good News, just as they did. They heard the message, but it did them no good, because when they heard it, they did not accept it with faith. 
3    We who believe, then, do receive that rest which God promised. It is just as he said, “I was angry and made a solemn promise:  ‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!’”  He said this even though his work had been finished from the time he created the world.
4    For somewhere in the Scriptures this is said about the seventh day: “God rested on the seventh day from all his work.” 
5    This same matter is spoken of again: “They will never enter that land where I would have given them rest.” 
6    Those who first heard the Good News did not receive that rest, because they did not believe. There are, then, others who are allowed to receive it. 
7    This is shown by the fact that God sets another day, which is called “Today.” Many years later he spoke of it through David in the scripture already quoted:  “If you hear God's voice today, do not be stubborn.”
8    If Joshua had given the people the rest that God had promised, God would not have spoken later about another day. 
9    As it is, however, there still remains for God's people a rest like God's resting on the seventh day. 
10  For those who receive that rest which God promised will rest from their own work, just as God rested from his. 
11  Let us, then, do our best to receive that rest, so that no one of us will fail as they did because of their lack of faith.
12  The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. 
13  There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.

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