What Does Hebrews 4:7 Mean?
Again, he marks out a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after so long a time, as it was said before, "Today, if you will hear and respond to his voice, do not harden your hearts."
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.THE KEY
“Today” names the moment when the voice is heard and the heart’s openness is still at stake.
THE MEANING
“Today” brings the voice into the reader’s present: hearing is open now, while the heart can also become hard against what it hears. The warning describes resistance taking shape within the person, not the absence of a voice. The day set by God becomes a live point of encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the voice is distant or unavailable until some later day. The verse places the opening in “To day,” where hearing and resistance are both possible.
THE ROOT
σκληρύνητε
sklērynēte
GROWS FROM
σκληρ-
The Greek stem σκληρ- (sklēr-, hard or stiff) carries the sense of hardness and resistance.
The verb σκληρύνητε (sklērynēte, harden) grows from the σκληρ- (sklēr-, hard or stiff) stem: the warning names resistance taking shape in the heart. The compound σκληροκαρδία (sklērokardia, hard-heartedness) joins this stem to καρδία (kardia, heart), making the inner hardening explicit.
ALSO GROWS
sklēros: Hard, stiff, harsh
σκληρός
The adjective names the quality that the verse’s verb describes taking hold in the heart.
sklērokardia: Hardness of heart, hard-heartedness
σκληροκαρδία
It fuses the same hard stem with καρδία (kardia, heart), naming the inner condition pictured in the verse.
ἀκούσητε
akousēte
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
The Greek stem ἀκου- (akou-, hear or listen) concerns receiving sound by hearing.
“hear and respond” in this verse is akousēte. The verse’s ἀκούσητε (akousēte, hear or listen) is directed toward a voice, so this is hearing as encounter rather than detached information. Its compound branch ὑπακούω (hypakouō, heed or obey) shows how hearing can carry toward response, while the verse sets that openness beside the possibility of a hardened heart.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; a report or message heard
ἀκοή
This noun carries the same hearing stem into what is received or heard.
hypakouō: Heed, obey
ὑπακούω
This compound retains the hearing stem and shows how listening can extend into response.
THE PATTERN
The present moment is where hearing a voice becomes openness or resistance.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you will hear and respond to his voice.For he says, "In a welcome time I have heard and answered you, and on the day of deliverance I have run to your cry. Behold, now is the welcome time. Behold, now is the day of deliverance."But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Do not stiffen your heart, as at Meribah, the striving, as on the day of Massah, the testing place, in the wilderness.The Greek wording Hebrews uses repeats σκληρύνητε (sklērynēte, harden), matching the warning in the Greek form of this Psalm. Beside Psalm 95:7, where the voice is heard “To day,” this verse keeps hearing and hardening within the same present moment.
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