[So] then, a Sabbath "rest day" [still] remains for God's people [i.e., for Christians, in heaven].

So, as long as God's promise of entering into a state of rest with Him [still] remains, we should fear that someone among you will appear [in the end] to have fallen short of [attaining] it. [Note: In this section "entering into rest" refers to Israel entering Canaan (verses 6, 8) and to Christians entering heaven (verses 3, 9). The "Sabbath day rest" is represented as a type of both].

But the official of the synagogue became angry because Jesus had healed [someone] on the Sabbath day. [Note: This was viewed as a violation of proper Sabbath day observance by certain Jews who interpreted the law of Moses with narrow legalism]. So, the official said to the crowd, "There are six days [in the week] for people to work. Therefore, you should come to be healed on one of them, and not on the Sabbath day."

Now it was the Day of Preparation [Note: This was the day before the Passover Festival began, and fell on a Friday that year], and the Jews did not permit bodies to remain on a cross over the Sabbath day. (Besides, that Sabbath day was a special day [i.e., since it was both the Passover and the regular weekly Sabbath, as well]). So, they asked Pilate to have Jesus' and the criminals' legs broken [i.e., to speed up their deaths] and then have their bodies taken away.

So, they returned [home] and prepared spices and [aromatic] oils [i.e., for embalming Jesus' body]. Then they rested on the Sabbath day according to the [fourth] commandment. [See Ex. 20:10].

And pray that it will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath day when you will have to flee [from the city]. [Note: Jewish Sabbath day restrictions on travel (only three-fifths of a mile) and city gate closures would make leaving the city nearly impossible].

And Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath day was made for man's [benefit], and not man for the Sabbath [day's benefit].

If a person is circumcised on a Sabbath day so that the law of Moses can be observed [properly, then why] are you upset with me for restoring a person to complete health on a Sabbath day?

So, they placed Jesus' body there, for it was the Day of Preparation and that was the closest grave site. [Note: Since this was the day before the Passover Festival, and the next day was also the regular weekly Sabbath, they had to bury the body before sundown to comply with Jewish restrictions against working on a Sabbath day].

And if a son of peace is there [i.e., a peace-loving person], your [request for] peace will rest upon him. But if he is not [a peace-loving person], your [blessing of] peace will return to [rest on] you.

Now we who have believed [will someday] enter that rest, even as God has said [Psa. 95:11], "So, I vowed in my anger, 'They will not enter a state of rest with me,'" although God's works were completed since the creation of the world.

For the person who has entered into a state of rest with God has rested from his own work also, just as God rested from His.