also deon deh-on' · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
give
προσέχεινprosechein
G4337
(figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards · verb — present active infinitive
earnest
περισσοτέρωςperissoterōs
G4056
more superabundantly · adverb — comparative
heed
προσέχωproséchō
G4337
(figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards
heard
ἀκουσθεῖσιν,akoustheisin
G191
to hear (in various senses) · verb — aorist passive participle, dative plural neuter
time
μήποτεmḗpote
G3379
not ever
let
παραρυῶμεν.¶pararuōmen
G3901
to flow by · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 1st person plural
slip
παραῤῥυέωpararrhyéō
G3901
to flow by
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience…
2 Peter 1:12-13 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present t…
Proverbs 7:1-2 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Proverbs 2:1-6 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from t…
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Peter 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
Joshua 23:11-12 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hebrews 2:1-4
The apostle proceeds in the plain profitable method of doctrine, reason, and use, through this epistle. Here we have the application of the truths before asserted and proved; this is brought in by the illative particle therefore, with which this chapter begins, and which shows its connection with the former, where the apostle having proved Christ to be superior to the angels by whose ministry the law was given, and therefore that the gospel dispensation must be more excellent than the legal, he now comes to apply this doctrine both by way of exhortation and argument.
I. By way of exhortation: Therefore we ought to give the more diligent heed to the things which we have heard, Heb 2:1. This i…
Therefore - Because God has spoken to us by his Son; and because that Son is so great and glorious a personage; and because the subject which is addressed to us is of such infinite importance to our welfare.
We ought to give the more earnest heed - We should hear the doctrine of Christ with care, candour, and deep concern.
Lest at any time we should let them slip - Μη ποτε παραρῥυωμεν· "Lest at any time we should leak out." This is a metaphor taken from unstanch vessels; the staves not being close together, the fluid put into them leaks through the chinks and crevices. Superficial hearers lose the benefit of the word preached, as the unseasoned vessel does its fluid; nor can any one hear to…
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed,.... This is an inference from the apostle's discourse in the preceding chapter; since he, by whom God has spoke in these last days, is his Son, who is infinitely above the angels, they being his creatures, and worshippers of him, and ministers to him, and his; therefore the greater regard should be had to the Gospel spoken by him: even to the things which we have heard; which are no other than the truths of the Gospel, which had been preached unto them, and which were heard by the apostles, who had preached them to them; and they had heard them from them, or from Christ himself, and were what their forefathers had desired to hear, and which t…
The Church Fathers
"Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard" from the Son, "lest we drift away" just like the former people. "If," because of that message declared through the angel in Sodom, those who did not want to listen to it "received the penalty of punishment, then how can we be saved, if we neglect so great a new life?"
Because, he says, the one who has spoken to us, the Son, is so much greater than the prophets and the angels who served in the Old Testament, we must pay closer attention to what has been spoken by him, rather than as we were inclined to the law. "Lest at any time we drift away." This is, let us not fall away from what is honorable and from the way that leads to salvation.
And having spoken concerning the Son, both what related to the Economy, and what related to the Creation, and to His sovereignty, and having shown His co-equal dignity, and that as absolute Master He ruleth not men only but also the powers above, he next exhorts them, having made out his argument, that we ought to give heed to the things which have been heard. "Wherefore we ought to give more earnest heed" (saith he) "to the things which we have heard." Why "more earnest"? Here he meant "more earnest" than to the Law: but he suppressed the actual expression of it, and yet makes it plain in the course of reasoning, not in the way of counsel, nor of exhortation. For so it was better.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Call Of God, The · Condemnation — Condemnation
Perseverance · 1:10,22,23;2:7; — 1:10,22,23;2:7;
Watchfulness · 4:2,17; — 4:2,17;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hebrews 2:1-4
1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
1. Quamobrem opertet nos magis attendere iis quae audimus, ne quando diffluamus.
2. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
2. Si enim quo per angelos enunciatus erat, sermo, firmus fuit, et omnis transgressio et inobedientia justam acceptit repensionem mercedis;
3. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
3. Quomodo nos effugiemus tanta neglecta…
The author makes an argument from lesser to greater: If, in the lesser situation of the Old Testament era, people who rejected God’s word as delivered by angels were severely punished, how much greater the punishment will be for those who now reject the word of salvation that has been delivered by the Son himself and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.
2:1 The truth we have heard is the message of salvation delivered through Christ (2:3). • Drift away pictures a ship getting off course. Here it speaks of getting off track spiritually due to not listening very carefully to the Good News.
