Hebrews 10:38 teaches that God’s people live by trusting Him, and that a person who pulls back from that trust displeases Him. The verse is a quotation from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk, here used by the writer of Hebrews to encourage Christians who were tempted to abandon their faith under pressure. The words are addressed to a community that had already endured hardship and now faced the risk of giving up.
But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Hebrews 10:38 (WEB)
What Hebrews 10:38 Means
The phrase “the righteous” refers to those whom God has declared right with Himself. The verse says such a person “will live by faith,” which means their whole life rests on trusting God’s word and character rather than on what they can see or secure for themselves. Faith here is not a vague feeling but steady reliance on God’s promises, the kind that shapes daily decisions.
The second sentence describes what happens when that trust collapses. To “shrink back” is to draw away from God out of fear, weariness, or disappointment. The verse says God takes no pleasure in such a retreat. It does not say that a single stumble ends a person’s standing with God, since the wider letter repeatedly offers mercy and encouragement. What it does make clear is that God delights in faith that keeps going.
The Context of Hebrews 10:38
Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians facing pressure to return to the security of their former religious life, and possibly facing social and even physical danger for their confession of Jesus. The author, traditionally identified with Paul though the letter itself is anonymous, pauses in chapter 10 to press them toward perseverance. Just before the verse, he urges them not to throw away their confidence, since endurance is what brings them to the promised reward.
Read in that setting, the verse is not a threat meant to frighten believers into obedience. It is a call to hold on, set between a reminder of God’s nearness and a declaration of confidence that the author and his readers are not among those who fall away. The sentence that follows the verse opens with “But we,” which shows the writer hoping his readers will find themselves on the side of faith.
Key Phrases in Hebrews 10:38
Habakkuk 2:4
Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
(WEB)
This is the original prophetic statement that Hebrews 10:38 quotes. Reading it in its Old Testament setting shows that the call to live by faith was never new, and it helps you hear how the New Testament writer draws on a long tradition of trust in God’s promises.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.
(WEB)
The chapter that follows gives a definition of faith and then a gallery of people who trusted God through difficulty. Reading this verse alongside Hebrews 10:38 helps you see faith as confident assurance about what God has promised, which is exactly what sustains a person who refuses to shrink back.
A Short Prayer From Hebrews 10:38
Lord, you know how tired I become when the road feels long and the answers seem slow in coming. Help me keep trusting you on the ordinary days as well as the hard ones. Where I am tempted to pull back, quietly and without anyone noticing, draw me forward into a living faith. Teach me to bring each worry and each hope to you again, believing that you delight in those who keep coming. Amen.
