Bible Strands
Hebrews 2:3
how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — An anonymous author writes to Jewish Christians tempted to drift back to the Mosaic system, building a a fortiori argument from the angelic law to the superior salvation.
The words — Amelēsantes (ἀμελήσαντες), aorist participle of ameleō, "having neglected" — a concrete act of carelessness, not a passive state. The hinge of the argument rests on this single word.
The thread — Hebrews 12:25 repeats the "escape" language: "if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them." Hebrews 10:28 sets the penalty for rejecting Moses' law as the lower benchmark against which this salvation is measured.
Why it lands — The danger named is not active apostasy but neglect — the slow, unremarkable failure to attend to what has already been announced, confirmed, and witnessed. The verse removes the excuse of ignorance: the evidence is stacked, and the only remaining variable is the reader's attention.
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
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;
Cross-references
- Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Hebrews 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
- Hebrews 5:9 And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
- Acts 4:12 Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
- Ezekiel 17:15 But this king rebelled against Babylon by sending his envoys to Egypt to ask for horses and a large army. Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and yet escape?’
- Romans 2:3 So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
- 1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
- Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”
- Matthew 23:33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?
- Luke 1:2 just as they were handed down to us by the initial eyewitnesses and servants of the word.