3:13a
But: The word But introduces what believers should do in contrast to what the author warned believers not to do in 3:12. Instead of turning away from God and not believing him, they must encourage each other every day to keep away from sin and unbelief. Some other ways to translate this connection are:
Instead (Good News Translation)
-or-
Rather (Revised English Bible)
In some languages no conjunction is needed. For example:
You must warn each other (New Living Translation (2004))
exhort one another daily: This clause tells what believers should do (in contrast to refusing to trust the Lord in 3:12). Believers should encourage each other to continue to trust in God. The Greek verb which the Berean Standard Bible translates as exhort occurs frequently in the NT.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
Encourage each other every day (God’s Word)
-or-
Every day strengthen/advise each other
In some languages it may not be natural to use a word like “encourage” or exhort when telling people what they should not do. If that is true in your language, use a word that is natural for this context. For example:
You must warn each other every day (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
What you should do daily until our days are used up is to admonish one another
3:13b
as long as it is called today: The clause as long as it is called today is a figure of speech. It refers to this present time period while people still have the opportunity to hear God’s voice and obey him, as the quotation of the psalm in 3:7b said (“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”). When the time ends and they have not obeyed him, God will punish them, as he punished the Israelites who disobeyed him.
This special meaning of the word today is discussed more fully in chapter 4.
Some other ways to translate 3:13b are:
While you are still living in the time that is called “today”
-or-
while you have the opportunity (God’s Word)
3:13c
so that: The conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as so that introduces the purpose for encouraging one another (3:13a). The purpose of encouraging one another is so that sin will not harden any of the readers.
none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness: This clause refers back to the quotation in 3:7–11. It is similar to the phrase “Do not harden your hearts” in 3:8a. Here the warning is even more explicit. It indicates that if the people continue to sin, the sin will deceive them and they will not be able to know the truth. The phrase may be hardened indicates that they may become stubborn and refuse to listen to God (as the Israelites did in the wilderness).
Some other ways to translate this purpose clause are:
If you do this, none of you will be deceived by sin and become stubborn. (God’s Word)
-or-
so that none of you will be deceived by sin to the point that your hearts cannot understand/obey what God says
you: The pronoun you is plural and refers to all the readers and hearers of Hebrews.
be hardened: The phrase be hardened is a figure of speech. It refers to becoming stubborn and refusing to listen to God. In some languages there may be a figure of speech to describe this. For example:
make your minds numb/insensitive
-or-
so that our breaths might not become hard
sin’s deceitfulness: The phrase sin’s deceitfulness is figurative. It means “sin that deceives.” It indicates that when a person sins (especially when he continues to sin for some time), the sins cause him to be unable to understand the truth. He believes what is not true. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
your sinning causes you to believe lies
-or-
you sin and become deceived/confused
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