independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)
Consider Jesus, the faithful apostle and high priest 3:1–2
1
Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus,independent — the first hortatory Ὅθεν of the letter — the double title, sent from God and representing to God, and the human name last
2
who was faithful to the one who appointed him,participial — the quality to contemplate — ποιέω as 'appoint' (Septuagintal idiom), not 'create'
as Moses also was in all his house.comparative — Num 12:7 — the shared ground of faithfulness; ἦν πιστός elided
Greater glory than Moses — Son over the house, servant in it 3:3–6
vv. 3–4 — the proportion: the builder outranks the house
3
For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses,independent — the thesis — intensive perfect: an abiding worthiness; παρά of comparison
by as much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.comparative — καθ' ὅσον — the measure of the greater glory
4
For every house is built by someone,cause — the maxim beneath the proportion — every house presupposes a builder
but the one who built all things is God.cause — the theological turn — the builder-of-all is God (cf. 1:2, 10); verbless
vv. 5–6 — the antithesis: θεράπων in the house, υἱός over it
5
And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant,independent — μέν — the first limb, verbless; θεράπων is Num 12:7's own word for Moses
for a testimony of the things that would be spoken,purpose — his service forward-pointing — witness to the word God would yet speak (1:1–2)
6
but Christ as a Son over his house —independent — the answering δέ — ἐπί against Moses' ἐν: heir and lord, not attendant; verbless
whose house we are,relative — οὗ read of Christ (some take God) — the metaphor turns personal: we are that house
if indeed we hold fast the confidence and the boast of the hope.conditional — backward conditional — belonging contingent on perseverance; the pivot to the warning
The Holy Spirit's warning — Psalm 95 and the wilderness rebellion 3:7–11
vv. 7–8 — the summons: Today, do not harden
7
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:comparative — citation formula as suspended head — Διό strictly anticipates Βλέπετε (v. 12); the Spirit the present speaker of the psalm
'Today, if you hear his voice,conditional — Ps 95:7 — protasis, leans on the command below; Σήμερον fronted, the urgent now
8
do not harden your heartscontent — Ps 95:8 — the command at the quotation's heart, the psalm's one imperative
as in the rebellion,comparative — παραπικρασμός — LXX for Meribah, the place of provocation (Exod 17:7)
on the day of testing in the wilderness,phrase modifier — πειρασμός — Massah paired with Meribah; the setting of the whole warning
vv. 9–11 — the history: tested, grieved, sworn against
9
where your fathers tested me by proving merelative — relative adverb of place — God's first person begins; ἐν δοκιμασίᾳ, the better-attested text
and saw my works for forty years.relative — the aggravation — they tested while seeing; Hebrews joins the forty years to the seeing (contrast v. 17)
10
Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said:content — Ps 95:10 — the verdict; the διό inside the quote links offense to sentence
'They always go astray in their heart;content — the diagnosis — hearts chronically adrift, speech within the speech
and they have not known my ways';content — the diagnosis doubled — αὐτοί emphatic: they, for their part, never knew
11
as I swore in my wrath:comparative — the anger issuing in oath — ὡς perhaps asseverative, 'so I swore'
'They shall never enter my rest.'content — Ps 95:11 — Hebraic oath formula: εἰ = emphatic negative; κατάπαυσις, the keyword ch. 4 expounds
Take care — exhort one another while it is called Today 3:12–15
vv. 12–13 — the double imperative: watch, and keep exhorting
12
Take care, brothers,independent — the psalm applied — the imperative Διό (v. 7) was waiting for
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbeliefcontent — μήποτε + future indicative — the feared prospect treated as real; the psalm's 'heart' turned on the readers
in falling away from the living God;phrase modifier — articular infinitive — apostasy as the evil heart's issue; ἀφίστημι, the ἀπιστία acted out
13
but exhort one another each day,independent — the antidote — mutual daily exhortation; ἑαυτούς for ἀλλήλους
as long as it is called 'Today,'relative — ἄχρις οὗ — the psalm's Σήμερον as a closing window of opportunity
lest any of you be hardened by the deceit of sin.purpose — negative purpose — the passive: sin's deceit does the hardening the psalm forbade
vv. 14–15 — partakers of Christ, if we hold fast while 'Today' is said
14
For we have become partakers of Christ,independent — the ground — μέτοχοι echoing v. 1; the perfect: a standing already entered
if indeed we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end —conditional — ἐάνπερ backward conditional — v. 6's condition restated: perseverance proves the share
15
while it is said:phrase modifier — ἐν τῷ + infinitive, read with κατάσχωμεν (some attach to v. 13 or forward to v. 16) — hold fast while the word still sounds
'Today, if you hear his voice,conditional — Ps 95:7 re-cited — protasis, leans on the command below
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.'content — Ps 95:8 — the command re-sounded, framing the questions that follow
Who fell? — unbelief barred them from the rest 3:16–19
vv. 16–18 — three questions, three answers: the psalm cross-examined
16
For who, having heard, rebelled?independent — first question — τίνες read as interrogative, not the old indefinite 'some rebelled'
Was it not all those who came out of Egypt through Moses?independent — the answer as counter-question — the whole redeemed generation, not a fringe; verbless
17
And with whom was he angry for forty years?independent — second question — the psalm's προσώχθισα taken up; the forty years now joined to the anger
Was it not with those who sinned,independent — the answer — elliptical; οὐχί expects 'yes'
whose corpses fell in the wilderness?relative — Num 14:29, 32 — κῶλα, the bodies strewn in the desert: sin's end made visible
18
And to whom did he swearindependent — third question — reaching the oath of v. 11
that they would not enter his rest,content — the oath's content — indirect discourse infinitive
if not to those who disobeyed?phrase modifier — εἰ μή exceptive — the answer folded into the question; unbelief named as disobedience (ἀπειθέω)
v. 19 — the verdict
19
And we seeindependent — βλέπομεν answering Βλέπετε (v. 12) — the inspection concluded
that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.content — the verdict — ἀπιστία the decisive cause, handing the argument to ch. 4's remaining rest
Analysis. Hebrews 3 opens with the letter's first hortatory Ὅθεν — a single flush-left imperative, κατανοήσατε … Ἰησοῦν, from which the whole Moses comparison hangs: a participial line (πιστὸν ὄντα) names the shared virtue, and the μέν/δέ antithesis of vv. 5–6 sets two verbless main lines against each other — Moses faithful ἐν the house as θεράπων, Christ ὡς υἱός ἐπί it — with the builder/house maxim of v. 4 tucked beneath the proportion of v. 3. The pivot is v. 6b: οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς, its trailing ἐάν protasis anchored backward on ἐσμεν — belonging is real but conditional, and that condition detonates the warning. Verses 7–11 are the chapter's quotation column: Διό, καθὼς λέγει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον stands as a suspended head (the layout leaves the anacoluthon honest — Διό strictly anticipates the Βλέπετε of v. 12 across the section break, but on the page the citation formula governs what follows), and the whole of Ps 95:7–11 (LXX 94) hangs as content under the one word λέγει, with its own internal grammar: the Σήμερον protasis leaning forward on μὴ σκληρύνητε, the wilderness setting stacked beneath the command, God's first-person verdict (διὸ προσώχθισα … καὶ εἶπον) carrying the diagnosis, and the oath ὡς ὤμοσα with its Hebraic Εἰ εἰσελεύσονται — an oath-formula negation, 'they shall never enter.' Verses 12–15 apply the psalm: Βλέπετε and παρακαλεῖτε flush left, the μήποτε clause naming the feared apostasy, ἐάνπερ (v. 14) again a backward conditional anchored on γεγόναμεν; v. 15's ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι is here read with κατάσχωμεν — hold fast while 'Today' is still being said — a disputed attachment (others tie it to v. 13's exhorting, or forward to v. 16). The close (vv. 16–19) is diatribe in the Romans manner: three question-and-answer pairs at depth 0, τίνες taken as interrogative ('who rebelled?' — all who left Egypt), against the old indefinite reading 'some rebelled'; the volley climaxes in βλέπομεν answering Βλέπετε — they could not enter δι' ἀπιστίαν. Other sides taken: οὗ in v. 6 is read of Christ (whose house we are), 'forty years' in v. 9 goes with 'saw my works' (Hebrews' own re-division of the psalm, reversed again in v. 17 where the forty years belong to God's anger), and ἐν δοκιμασίᾳ ('tested me by proving me') follows the better-attested text.