World English Bible · Under Rome
Hebrews 4
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Let's fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. For indeed we have had preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn't profit them, because it wasn't mixed with by those who heard. For we who have do enter into that rest, even as he has said, "As I in my , they will not enter into ;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, " rested on the seventh day from all his works;" and in this place again, "They will not enter into ." Seeing therefore it that some should enter into it, and they to whom the was preached before failed to enter in because of , he again defines a certain day, "today", saying through so long a time afterward ( as has been said), "Today if you will hear his voice, don't harden your ." For if had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. There therefore a rest for the people of . For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as did from his. Let's therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of . For the word of is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged , piercing even to the dividing of and , of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the and intentions of . There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Having then a great who has passed through , , the Son of , let's hold tightly to our . For we don't have a who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points like we are, yet without . Let's therefore draw near with boldness to of , that we may receive mercy and may find for help in time of need.
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The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.