but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
Parallel Translations
-
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
-
but a fearfull lokynge for iudgement and violent fyre which shall devoure the adversaries
-
But a fearefull looking for of iudgement, and violent fire, which shall deuoure the aduersaries.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (38)
Passages linked to Hebrews 10:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 26:11 Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.
- Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
- Hebrews 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,
- Hebrews 9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
- Hebrews 12:25 See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
- Nahum 1:2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.
- Matthew 13:50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
- Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
- Nahum 1:8-10 But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time. For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.
- Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
- Malachi 4:1 “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- Matthew 8:29 Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
- Luke 19:27 But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’ ”
- Revelation 20:15 If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
- Numbers 16:35 Fire came out from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
- 1 Samuel 28:19-20 Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.” Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long.
- Psalms 21:9 You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
- Psalms 68:1-2 Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
- Ezekiel 36:5 therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.” ’
- Ezekiel 38:19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken. Surely in that day there will be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
- Daniel 5:6 Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.
- Joel 2:30 I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
- Nahum 1:5-6 The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.
- Matthew 3:10 “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- Matthew 13:42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 25:41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
- Mark 9:43-49 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched— ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.
- James 5:3 Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.
- Hosea 10:8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!”
- Luke 16:24 He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
- Luke 21:26 men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
- Luke 23:30 Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
- Hebrews 12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.
- Revelation 6:15-17 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 27. But a certain fearful looking for, etc. He…
27. But a certain fearful looking for, etc. He means the torment of an evil conscience which the ungodly feel, who not only have no grace, but who also know that having tasted grace they have lost it forever through their own fault; such must not only be pricked and bitten, but also tormented and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Hence it is that they war rebelliously against God, for they cannot endure so strict a Judge. They indeed try in every way to remove the sense of God’s wrath, but all in vain; for when God allows them a short respite, he soon draws them before his tribunal, and harasses them with the torments which they especially shun.
He adds, fiery indignation, or the heat of fire; by which he means, as I think, a vehement impulse or a violent ardor. The word fire is a common metaphor; for as the ungodly are now in a heat through dread of divine wrath, so they shall then burn through the same feeling. Nor is it unknown to me, that the sophists have refinedly speculated as to this fire; but I have no regard of their glosses, since it is evident that it is the same mode of speaking as when Scripture connects fire with worm. (Isaiah 66:24.) But no man doubts but that worm is used metaphorically to designate that dreadful torment of conscience by which the ungodly are gnawed.
Read full note →
Which shall devour the adversaries. It shall so devour them as to destroy, but not to consume them; for it will be inextinguishable. And thus he reminds us, that they are all to be counted the enemies of Christ who have refused to hold the place granted them among the faithful; for there is no intermediate state, as they who depart from the Church give themselves up to Satan.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For it is another matter to sin through the…
For it is another matter to sin through the frailty of man’s nature, and another thing to proclaim war as it were to God as to an enemy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment…
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Ver. 27. Fearful looking for] Though judgment be not speedily executed, yet it is certainly to be expected. Winter never rots in the air, or dies in the dam’s belly, as they say. Could but men foresee what an evil and a bitter thing sin is, they durst not but be innocent.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain But a certain fearful looking for of judgment: But,…
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment: But, is introducing the terrible evil asserted to be expected when sacrifice cannot hetp such sinners, especial and certain, terrible and dreadful (such as fills the soul with fears and horrors) expectation of judgment by their awakened consciences, not knowing how soon it may come; as a malefactor under sentence, in daily expectation of execution, how doth he suffer it over and over! So will this worm gnaw them: to which is synonymous, Mar 9:44. How must the execution of the sentence of the just Judge terrify them!
And fiery indignation; when it must be by burning, or heat of fire; wrath of fire proceeding from an injured and wronged God, Eze 36:5; 38:19; Zep 1:18; 3:8. As in execution of just vengeance, which like fire devours and eateth them up, not putting an end to their being by consumption, but perpetual piercing, searching, torturing, and this for eternity.
Read full note →
Which shall devour the adversaries; these underhand adversaries, υτεναντιους, who are the most bitter enemies of Christ and his church, because secret ones, and seem to be by profession otherwise, Mat 25:41; Mar 9:43,44; 2Th 1:8,9.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Of how much sorer punishment,.... Than a mere corporeal…
Of how much sorer punishment,.... Than a mere corporeal death, which was the punishment inflicted on the transgressors of the law of Moses.
Suppose ye; the apostle appeals to the Hebrews themselves, and makes them judges of what punishment
Read full note →
shall he be thought worthy; who is described as follows:
who hath trodden under foot the Son of God: this seems to be a stronger expression than crucifying him again, Heb 6:6 and is to be understood, not of what was in fact committed, but in will by persons; who, could they have had their will of him, would have pulled him from his throne, and trampled upon him: it is a phrase expressive of the utmost scorn, contempt, and ill usage; and which such are guilty of, who deny his deity, and eternal sonship; who render him useless in his offices, undervalue his sacrifice, despise his righteousness, and strip him of the glory of his person, office, and grace. And this is aggravated by his being the Son of God who is thus used, who became the son of man for the sake of men, is superior to men, and equal with God:
and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing; or "common thing"; putting it upon a level with the blood of a bullock, or at most counting it , "as that of another man"; as the Syriac version renders it; yea, reckoning it as unclean and abominable, as the blood of a very wicked man: this is aggravated by its being "the blood of the covenant"; of the covenant of grace, because that is ratified and confirmed by it, and the blessings of it come through it; and from sanctification by it: either of the person, the apostate himself, who was sanctified or separated from others by a visible profession of religion; having given himself up to a church, to walk with it in the ordinances of the Gospel; and having submitted to baptism, and partook of the Lord's supper, and drank of the cup, "the blood of the New Testament", or "covenant": though he did not spiritually discern the body and blood of Christ in the ordinance, but counted the bread and wine, the symbols of them, as common things; or who professed himself, and was looked upon by others, to be truly sanctified by the Spirit, and to be justified by the blood of Christ, though he was not really so: or rather the Son of God himself is meant, who was sanctified, set apart, hallowed, and consecrated, as Aaron and his sons were sanctified by the sacrifices of slain beasts, to minister in the priest's office: so Christ, when he had offered himself, and shed his precious blood, by which the covenant of grace was ratified, by the same blood he was brought again from the dead, and declared to be the Son of God with power; and being set down at God's right hand, he ever lives to make intercession, which is the other part of his priestly office he is sanctified by his own blood to accomplish. This clause, "wherewith he was sanctified", is left out in the Alexandrian copy:
and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace; by denying his being, deity, and personality; despising his powerful operations as enthusiasm; treating his extraordinary gifts as illusions; and ascribing his miracles to Satan, and representing the Gospel dictated by him as a fable, or a lie: and this is aggravated by his being "the spirit of grace"; the author, giver, and applier of all grace to the saints; and who therefore ought not to be in the least slighted, but highly esteemed and honoured; nor will such affronts go unpunished.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 27. A certain fearful looking for of judgment]…
Verse 27. A certain fearful looking for of judgment] From this it is evident that God will pardon no man without a sacrifice for sin; for otherwise, as Dr. Macknight argues, it would not follow, from there remaining to apostates no more sacrifice for sin, that there must remain to them a dreadful expectation of judgment.
And fiery indignation] και πυρος ζηλος. A zeal, or fervour of fire; something similar to the fire that came down from heaven and destroyed Korah and his company; Nu 16:35.
Read full note →
Probably the apostle here refers to the case of the unbelieving Jews in general, as in chap. 6: to the dreadful judgment that was coming upon them, and the burning up their temple and city with fire. These people had, by the preaching of Christ and his apostles, received the knowledge of the truth. It was impossible that they could have witnessed his miracles and heard his doctrine without being convinced that he was the Messiah, and that their own system was at an end; but they rejected this only sacrifice at a time when God abolished their own: to that nation, therefore, there remained no other sacrifice for sin; therefore the dreadful judgment came, the fiery indignation was poured out, and they, as adversaries, were devoured by it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But a certain fearful looking for of judgment -…
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment - The word “certain” here does not mean “fixed, sure, inevitable,” as our translation would seem to imply. The Greek is the same as “a (τις tis) fearful expectation,” etc. So it is rendered by Tyndale. The idea is, that if there was voluntary apostasy after having embraced the Christian religion, there could be nothing but an expectation of the judgment to come. There could be no other hope but that through the gospel, and as this would have been renounced, it would follow that the soul must perish. The “fearful apprehension” or expectation here does not refer so much to what would be in the mind itself, or what would be experienced, as to what must follow. It might be that the person referred to would have no realizing sense of all this, and still his situation be that of one who had nothing to expect but the terrors of the judgment to come.
And fiery indignation - Fire is often used in the Scriptures as an emblem of fierce punishment. The idea is, that the person referred to could expect nothing but the wrath of God.
Read full note →
Which shall devour the adversaries - All who become the adversaries or enemies of the Lord. Fire is often said to devour, or consume, and the meaning here is, that those who should thus become the enemies of the Lord must perish.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Ignis æmulatio, Greek: puros zelos, thus attibuting zeal and…
===============================
[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Read full note →
Ignis æmulatio, Greek: puros zelos, thus attibuting zeal and rage to an inanimate thing.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain a certain--an extraordinary and indescribable. The indefiniteness, as of…
a certain--an extraordinary and indescribable. The indefiniteness, as of something peculiar of its kind, makes the description the more terrible (compare Greek, Jam 1:18).
looking for--"expectation": a later sense of the Greek. ALFORD strangely translates, as the Greek usually means elsewhere, "reception." The transition is easy from "giving a reception to" something or someone, to "looking for." Contrast the "expecting" (the very same Greek as here), Heb 10:13, which refutes ALFORD.
Read full note →
fiery indignation--literally, "zeal of fire." Fire is personified: glow or ardor of fire, that is, of Him who is "a consuming fire."
devour--continually.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 27. But there remains, persistently and forever, a certain…
27. But there remains, persistently and forever, a certain fearful looking for. The word certain implies a peculiar but indescribable awfulness in the looking for.
Fearful—Not only terrible to us contemplating it, but including fear in the apostate’s heart. So fully has divine truth once pervaded his conscience that he can never be truly at ease. He may become the greatest, but he will seldom be the tranquillest, infidel in town.
Read full note →
Looking for—A term suggested, perhaps, by the expectation of Jerusalem’s doom as predicted by Jesus; an expectation very typical of the presentiment of doom in the conscience of the apostate.
Fiery indignation—Literally, a fervor of fire which will devour; where commentators think that fire is personified as having an earnestness and as devouring. It is the living fire of divine retribution that will devour or consume the adversaries, as Jerusalem was consumed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 27. but a certain fearful looking for of judgment…
27. but a certain fearful looking for of judgment …] All that is left for willing apostates when they have turned their backs on the sole means of grace is “some fearful expectance of a judgment.” They are “heaping up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath” (Rom_2:5).
and fiery indignation] Lit., “and a jealousy of fire.” He is thinking of God “as a consuming fire” (Heb_12:29) and of the question “Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?” Psa_79:5 (comp. Eze_35:5).
Read full note →
which shall devour the adversaries] “Yea let fire devour thine enemies” (Isa_26:11). It has so long been the custom to interpret such passages of “eternal torments” that we lose sight of the fact that such a meaning, if we may interpret Scripture historically, was in most cases not consciously present to the mind of the writers. The constant repetition of the same metaphor by the Prophets with no reference except to temporal calamities and the overthrow of cities and nations made it familiar in this sense to the N.T. writers. By “the adversaries” here are not meant “sinners,” but impenitent Jews and wilful apostates who would perish in the Day of the Lord (2Th_1:8). It is at least doubtful whether the writer meant to imply anything beyond that prophecy of doom to the heirs of the Old Covenant which was fulfilled a few years later when the fire of God’s wrath consumed the whole system of a Judaism which had rejected its own Messiah. The word for “adversaries” only occurs in the N.T. in Col_2:14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (27) But a certain fearful looking for.—Better, But a…
(27) But a certain fearful looking for.—Better, But a fearful awaiting of judgment, and a jealousy of fire that shall devour the adversaries. For Christ’s “waiting” servants the thought of “judgment” is lost in that of “salvation” (Heb_9:27-28); to these sinners nothing is left but the awaiting of judgment. The next words are a partial quotation, or an adaptation, of Isa_26:11 : “Let them see (and be ashamed) the zeal for the people; yea, fire shall devour Thine adversaries.” (The Greek translation gives the second clause correctly, but not the former part of the sentence.) In the prophetic imagery of the Old Testament the destruction of the enemies of Jehovah is but the other aspect of His zeal or jealousy for His people. This imagery was familiar to every Hebrew; and no words could show more powerfully than these that to forsake Christ for Judaism was (not to join, but) to abandon “the people of God.” For such apostates there remaineth the zeal, the jealous wrath, of a devouring fire. (Comp. Heb_12:29; Malachi 4)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 27. There remains instead a looking for of judgment.…
27. There remains instead a looking for of judgment. Cut off from hope of salvation by rejecting Christ, one has only judgment and punishment to look forward to.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.