but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Parallel Translations
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but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
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But that grounde which beareth thornes and bryars is reproved and is nye vnto cursynge: whose ende is to be burned.
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But that which beareth thornes and briars, is reproued, and is neere vnto cursing, whose end is to be burned.
Cross-references (24)
Passages linked to Hebrews 6:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 3:17-18 To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life. It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
- John 15:6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Deuteronomy 29:28 Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
- Luke 13:7-9 He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?’ He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’ ”
- Isaiah 5:1-7 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press in it. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down. I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.” For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Jeremiah 44:22 Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.
- Hebrews 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
- Hebrews 12:17 For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
- Genesis 4:11 Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Genesis 5:29 He named him Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which Yahweh has cursed.”
- Deuteronomy 29:22-23 The generation to come—your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land—will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick, that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.
- Job 31:40 let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
- Psalms 107:34 and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
- Isaiah 27:10-11 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Jeremiah 17:6 For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land.
- Ezekiel 15:2-7 “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?” Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them.
- Ezekiel 20:47 Tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree. The burning flame will not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it.
- 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 3:10 “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 7:19 Every tree that doesn’t grow good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.
- Mark 11:14 Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it.
- Mark 11:21 Peter, remembering, said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.”
- Revelation 20:15 If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
- 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;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is…
8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
Ver. 8. Is rejected, and is nigh to cursing] The sin against the Holy Ghost is therefore unpardonable, because God (not suffering himself to be derided, or his Spirit of truth to be found a liar) smiteth these sinners against their own souls, with blindness and reprobacy of mind. Whence follows, 1. An impossibility of repentance, sith it is the work of that Spirit whom they have despited, and will not suffer any saving operation of his to fasten on their souls. 2. Such a desperate fury invadeth them, that they resist and repudiate the matter of remission, the blood of Christ, whereby if they might have mercy, yet they would not; but continue raving and raging against both the physic and the physician, to their endless ruth and ruin.
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 that which beareth thorns and briers: δε but,…
But that which beareth thorns and briers: δε but, introduceth the state and end of a sinful apostate, that ill earth, showered upon as well as the good; the unregenerate soul, that had gospel dews and spiritual rain by the word and ordinances dropped down on it from heaven; yet bringeth forth, or out of it, not herbs or fruits fit for its owner or dresser, but briers, thorns, and thistles: so apostates, under all enlightenings and tasting of these supernatural dews of the Spirit, bring forth from a stony, unregenerate soul, nothing but corruptions and evils, their rooted lusts thrust out and sprung together with their common gifts, Luk 8:7,13,14; the words and deeds of whom are pernicious, dishonouring God and hurting men, as unbelief, hypocrisy, apostacy, described, 2Pe 2:1-3,12,14,18-22; Jude 1:4,8,10,12,16,19.
Is rejected; αδοκιμος it is refuse land neglected by the owner, he takes no care of it; such are these apostates, of a reprobate mind, approving evil, rejecting good, and are so rejected of God, who withdraws his spiritual dews and ordinances, and the concurrence of his Spirit with them, as unworthy of them, and useless as to any good fruit to be produced there.
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And is nigh unto cursing; such are looked upon as the mountains of Gilboa, accursed, 2Sa 1:21; and to be dealt with by the owner as the fruitless fig tree by Christ, Mat 21:19; Mar 11:21. So these apostates are under the curse, 2Pe 2:14 delivered up judicially by Christ to blindness of mind, and hardness of heart, and even to Satan himself, as the unbelieving Jews were, Joh 12:40, and those apostates, 1Ti 1:19,20.
Whose end is to be burned; the end of briers and thorns is the fire, they are to be burnt up by it; and this will be the final issue with apostates, to be destroyed by a Christ whom they have rejected, with eternal fire Heb 10:27; 12:29; Mat 3:12; 25:41; 2Th 1:7-9.
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 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you,....…
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you,.... The apostle addresses the believing Hebrews, as "beloved"; being beloved by the Lord, not as the descendants of Abraham, but as the elect of God, and so as loved with an everlasting love; and which might be known to themselves, by its being shed abroad in their hearts, and by their being called by grace, and by their love to him, and to his people: and from hence they might conclude they should not fall away, as the apostates before spoken of; since, in consequence of being beloved by God, they were chosen in Christ unto salvation; Christ was given to die for them; they had the Spirit sent down into their hearts; they were justified, pardoned, and adopted; nor could they be separated from the love of God: and the apostle also so calls them, because they were beloved by him, not merely as being his countrymen, but as saints: and this he says to testify his affection to them; to show that what he said was not from hatred of them, or prejudice to them; and that his exhortations, cautions, and reproofs, might be better taken; and particularly that they might credit what he here says, that he was "persuaded better things" of them, than what he had said of others in Heb 6:4 even such as are expressed in Heb 6:10 he was persuaded they had the true grace of God; whereas the above mentioned persons had only gifts, when in the height of their profession; and the least degree of grace is better than the greatest gifts men can be possessed of: grace makes a man a good man, not gifts; a man may have great gifts and not be a good man; grace is useful to a man's self, gifts are chiefly useful to others; grace makes men fruitful, when gifts leave them barren in the knowledge of Christ; grace is lasting, when gifts fail, and cease and vanish away; grace will abide the fire of persecution, when gifts will not; grace is saving, gifts are not:
and things that accompany salvation; which enter into salvation; are ingredients in it, and parts of it, and with which salvation is connected; such as faith, love, &c. or which mutually touch or follow one another in the chain of salvation; as to be predestinated, justified, called, adopted, sanctified, and, at last, glorified:
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though we thus speak; concerning others, as in the preceding verses: the hard things spoken by him of some, were consistent with such persuasions in general; for there might be some among them to whom the aforesaid characters belonged; and saying such things might be a means to make others watchful and careful.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain That which beareth thorns and briers - Only or…
That which beareth thorns and briers - Only or chiefly. Is rejected - No more labour is bestowed upon it. Whose end is to be burned - As Jerusalem was shortly after.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. That which beareth thorns and briers is…
Verse 8. That which beareth thorns and briers is rejected] That is: The land which, notwithstanding the most careful cultivation, receiving also in due times the early and latter rain, produces nothing but thorns and briers, or noxious weeds of different kinds, is rejected, αδοκιμος, is given up as unimprovable; its briers, thorns, and brushwood burnt down; and then left to be pastured on by the beasts of the field. This seems to be the custom in husbandry to which the apostle alludes. The nature of the case prevents us from supposing that he alludes to the custom of pushing and burning, in order to farther fertilization. This practice has been common from very early times: -
Saepe etiam steriles incendere profuit agros;
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Atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis.
VIRG. Geor. i., 5:84.
Long practice has a sure improvement found,
With kindled fires to burn the barren ground;
When the light stubble to the flames resign'd,
Is driven along, and crackles in the wind.
DRYDEN.
But this, I say the circumstances of the case prevent us from supposing to be intended.
Is nigh unto cursing] It is acknowledged, almost on all hands, that this epistle was written before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. This verse is in my opinion a proof of it, and here I suppose the apostle refers to that approaching destruction; and perhaps he has this all along in view, but speaks of it covertly, that he might not give offence.
There is a good sense in which all these things may be applied to the Jews at large, who were favoured by our Lord's ministry and miracles. They were enlightened by his preaching; tasted of the benefits of the heavenly gift-the Christian religion established among them; saw many of their children and relatives made partakers of the Holy Ghost; tasted the good word of God, by the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham; and saw the almighty power of God exerted, in working a great variety of miracles. Yet, after being convinced that never man spake as this man, and that none could do those miracles which he did, except God were with him; after having followed him in thousands, for three years, while he preached to them the Gospel of the kingdom of God; they fell away from all this, crucified him who, even in his sufferings as well as his resurrection, was demonstrated by miracles to be the Son of God; and then to vindicate their unparalleled wickedness, endeavoured to make him a public example, by reproaches and blasphemies. Therefore their state, which had received much moral cultivation from Moses, the prophets, Christ, and his apostles; and now bore nothing but the most vicious fruits, pride, unbelief, hardness of heart, contempt of God's word and ordinances, blasphemy, and rebellion; was rejected-reprobated, of God; was nigh unto cursing-about to be cast off from the Divine protection; and their city and temple were shortly to be burnt up by the Roman armies. Thus the apostle, under the case of individuals, points out the destruction that was to come upon this people in general, and which actually took place about seven years after the writing of this epistle! And this appears to be the very subject which the apostle has in view in the parallel solemn passages, Heb 10:26-31; and, viewed in this light, much of their obscurity and difficulty vanishes away.
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 that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected…
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected - That is, by the farmer or owner. It is abandoned as worthless. The force of the comparison here is, that God would thus deal with those who professed to be renewed if they should be like such a worthless field.
And is nigh unto cursing - Is given over to execration, or is abandoned as useless. The word “cursing” means devoting to destruction. The sense is not that the owner would curse it “in words,” or imprecate a curse on it, as a man does who uses profane language, but the language is taken here from the more common use of the word “curse” - as meaning to devote to destruction. So the land would be regarded by the farmer. It would be valueless, and would be given up to be overrun with fire.
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Whose end is to be burned - Referring to the land. The allusion here is to the common practice among the Oriental and Roman agriculturists of burning bad and barren lands. An illustration of this is afforded by Pliny. “There are some who burn the stubble on the field, chiefly upon the authority of Virgil; the principal reason for which is, that they may burn the seeds of weeds;” Nat. Hist. xviii. 30. The authority of Virgil, to which Pliny refers, may be found in Georg. i. 84:
“Saepe etiam steriles incendere profuit agros,
Atque levem stipulam ciepitantibus urere flammis.”
“It is often useful to set fire to barren lands, and burn the light stubble in crackling flames.” The purpose of burning land in this way was to render it available for useful purposes; or to destroy noxious weeds, and thorns, and underbrush. But the object of the apostle requires him to refer merely to the “fact” of the burning, and to make use of it as an illustration of an act of punishment. So, Paul says, it would be in the dealings of God with his people. If after all attempts to secure holy living, and to keep them in the paths of salvation, they should evince none of the spirit of piety, all that could be done would be to abandon them to destruction as such a field is overrun with fire. It is not supposed that a true Christian will fall away and be lost, but we may remark.
(1) That there are many professed Christians who seem to be in danger of such ruin. They resist all attempts to produce in them the fruits of good living as really as some pieces of ground do to secure a harvest. Corrupt desires, pride, envy, uncharitableness, covetousness, and vanity are as certainly seen in their lives as thorns and briars are on a bad soil. Such briars and thorns you may cut down again and again; you may strike the plow deep and seem to tear away all their roots; you may sow the ground with the choicest grain, but soon the briars and the thorns will again appear, and be as troublesome as ever. No pains will subdue them, or secure a harvest. So with many a professed Christian. He may be taught, admonished, rebuked, and afflicted, but all will not do. There is essential and unsubdued perverseness in his soul, and despite all the attempts to make him a holy man, the same bad passions are continually breaking out anew.
(2) Such professing Christians are “nigh unto cursing.” They are about to be abandoned forever. Unsanctified and wicked in their hearts, there is nothing else which can be done for them, and they must be lost. What a thought! A professing Christian “nigh unto cursing!” A man, the efforts for, whose salvation are about to cease forever, and who is to he given over as incorrigible and hopeless! For such a man - in the church or out of it - we should have compassion. We have some compassion for an ox which is so stubborn that he will not work - and which is to be put to death; for a horse which is so fractious that he cannot be broken, and which is to be killed; for cattle which are so unruly that they cannot be restrained, and which are only to be fattened for the slaughter; and even for a field which is desolate and barren, and which is given up to be overrun with briars and thorns; but how much more should we pity a man all the efforts for whose salvation fail, and who is soon to be abandoned to everlasting destruction!
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain that which--rather as Greek (no article), "But if it…
that which--rather as Greek (no article), "But if it (the 'land,' Heb 6:7) bear"; not so favorable a word as "bringeth forth," Heb 6:7, said of the good soil.
briers--Greek, "thistles."
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rejected--after having been tested; so the Greek implies. Reprobate . . . rejected by the Lord.
nigh unto cursing--on the verge of being given up to its own barrenness by the just curse of God. This "nigh" softens the severity of the previous "It is impossible," &c. (Heb 6:4, Heb 6:6). The ground is not yet actually cursed.
whose--"of which (land) the end is unto burning," namely, with the consuming fire of the last judgment; as the land of Sodom was given to "brimstone, salt, and burning" (Deu 29:23); so as to the ungodly (Mat 3:10, Mat 3:12; Mat 7:19; Mat 13:30; Joh 15:6; Pe2 3:10). Jerusalem, which had so resisted the grace of Christ, was then nigh unto cursing, and in a few years was burned. Compare Mat 22:7, "burned up their city" an earnest of a like fate to all wilful abusers of God's grace (Heb 10:26-27).
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 8. Beareth thorns—Now, whatever it once bore.
8. Beareth thorns—Now, whatever it once bore.
Rejected—Reprobate; the word again doubly applicable to soil and soul; reprobate, not by an eternal previous decree, but in consequence of its perverse products.
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Nigh unto cursing—Not sure of being restored again because it was once fertile. In both the blessing and cursing there seems allusion to the opposite terms in Genesis, Gen_1:12, contrasting our primeval earth before and after the fall; “God saw that it was good;” and in Heb_3:17, “Cursed is the ground… thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth.”
Nigh unto cursing shows the downward course of the apostatizing soul, and its nearness to the fatal result.
End—The finality of his earthly career.
To be burned—Literally, unto burning; that is, after the career is closed. The terms are again skilfully double-sided, applying alike to soil and soul. Note that it is not the thorns and briers that are burned, for that would improve the soil, but the soil itself. There seems to be an allusion to Deu_29:23 : “The whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning… like the overthrow of Sodom.” And here is a closing period to the strain of most severe rebuke and solemn warning commencing at Heb_5:11.
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 8. that which beareth thorns] Rather, “if it bear…
8. that which beareth thorns] Rather, “if it bear thorns” (Isa_5:6; Pro_24:31). This neglected land resembles converts who have fallen away.
rejected] The same word, in another metaphor, occurs in Jer_6:30.
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nigh unto cursing] Lit, “near a curse.” Doubtless there is a reference to Gen_3:18. St Chrysostom sees in this expression a sign of mercy, because he only says “near a curse.” “He who has not yet fallen into a curse, but has got near it, will also be able to get afar from it;” so that we ought, he says, to cut up and burn the thorns, and then we shall be approved. And he might have added that the older “curse” of the land to which he refers, was by God’s mercy over-ruled into a blessing.
whose end is to be burned] Lit., “whose end is for burning.” Comp. Isa_44:15, “that it may be for burning.” It is probably a mistake to imagine that there is any reference to the supposed advantage of burning the surface of the soil (Virg. Georg. 1. 84 sqq.; Pliny, H. N. xviii. 39, 72), for we find no traces of such a procedure among the Jews. More probably the reference is to land like the Vale of Siddim, or “Burnt Phrygia,” or “the Solfatara,”—like that described in Gen_19:24; Deu_29:23. Comp. Heb_10:27. And such a land Judea itself became within a very few years of this time, because the Jews would not “break up their fallow ground,” but still continued “to sow among thorns.” Obviously the “whose” refers to the “land,” not to the “curse.”
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 (8) But that which beareth.—Rather, But if it bear…
(8) But that which beareth.—Rather, But if it bear thorns and briars it is rejected. We are told that the presence of briars (i.e., caltrops) is a sure evidence of a poor soil, on which labour will be wasted. The words are partially a quotation from Gen_3:18. The change of translation here is important; if that very land, which has drunk in the abundant rain and has received careful culture still prove unfruitful, it is rejected. Man can do no more; and the curse of God is “near”; its end is “for burning.” The explanation of the last words is probably found in Deu_29:23, which speaks of the land of Sodom which God overthrew, which “is brimstone and salt and burning.” The connection between these two verses and the preceding passages is obvious. In the case of the apostates there described, man is helpless; God’s curse is near. But, as Chrysostom says, in this very word there is mercy; “the end” is not yet come.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.