Bible Strands
Hebrews 10:28
Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author addresses Jewish Christians tempted to abandon Christ and return to the Mosaic covenant, placing this warning within a discourse on the escalating severity of rejecting divine revelation.
The words — ἀθετὴσας (athetēsas) means "having set aside" or "rejected," denoting the active dismissal of authority, while χωρὶς (chōris) translates literally as "without," specifying the complete absence of compassion in the stated outcome.
The thread — The multiple-witness requirement for establishing guilt originates in Deuteronomy 19:15 and Deuteronomy 17:2, and the principle of measured punishment for violating a binding covenant message appears in Hebrews 2:2.
Why it lands — The text establishes that deliberate rejection of an established divine standard results in an unmitigated penalty, forcing the reader to confront the logical escalation of judgment in the subsequent verse.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Cross-references
- Hebrews 2:2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,
- Deuteronomy 19:15 A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Deuteronomy 17:2 If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the LORD your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by transgressing His covenant
- Numbers 15:30 But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people.
- Numbers 15:36 So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- Deuteronomy 19:13 You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
- Matthew 18:16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
- John 8:17 Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.
- 2 Corinthians 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
- 2 Samuel 12:9 Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.