Hebrews 10:35 in the King James Version reads, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.” The verse is a pastoral exhortation spoken to believers who have already begun well, have already endured much, and are now being urged not to throw away what they possess in Christ: a settled boldness of faith toward God. The word “therefore” ties the sentence tightly to what has just been said. Immediately before this, the writer has reminded them of the bold privilege Christ has opened—“boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” and access to God by “a new and living way” (Hebrews 10:19–20). He has urged them to “draw near” with full assurance (10:22), to “hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering” (10:23), and to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking assembly (10:24–25). He has also warned of the fearful seriousness of turning back into wilful sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth (10:26–31). Then he recalls their earlier days, when they endured “a great fight of afflictions,” were made “a gazingstock,” suffered reproaches and tribulations, showed compassion to imprisoned believers, and “took joyfully the spoiling of your goods,” because they knew they had “in heaven a better and an enduring substance” (10:32–34). Against that backdrop, Hebrews 10:35 is not an abstract motivational line; it is a call to perseverance aimed at people under pressure who are tempted to let go of their public and inward stance of faith.

In KJV language, “confidence” in this setting is more than self-esteem. It corresponds to the believer’s holy boldness and frankness before God, rooted in Christ’s finished sacrifice. Earlier the chapter has declared, “By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (10:14), and it has presented the new covenant promise, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (10:17). From that forgiveness flows spiritual freedom to approach God without terror and without pretending. That is the “confidence” they must not “cast away.” The verb “cast not away” suggests a deliberate discarding, as one might throw something away as no longer useful or as too costly to keep. The pressure these believers face—reproach, loss of goods, social shame, perhaps legal persecution—can make confidence feel expensive. Yet the writer insists that throwing it away would be a tragic exchange: surrendering a treasure because present suffering makes it seem heavy to carry.

The verse also speaks of “great recompence of reward.” “Recompence” carries the sense of repayment, not in the spirit of wages earned by human merit, but in the biblical sense that God, who is faithful and just, will openly vindicate and crown the faith that clings to him. Hebrews as a whole repeatedly points forward to what God has promised: a “rest” (Hebrews 4:9), “a better country, that is, an heavenly” (11:16), “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (11:10), and “an unmoveable kingdom” (12:28). In that light, “reward” is the promised outcome of persevering faith—God’s gracious approval, final salvation openly revealed, and the enjoyment of what is “better and an enduring substance” (10:34). The adjective “great” is important. The writer is not minimizing their pain; he is magnifying the worth of what is coming. Present losses may be real and sharp, but the recompence is greater, lasting, and certain because it rests on God’s promise and Christ’s priestly work.

Several themes converge here. There is the theme of endurance: Hebrews 10:35 is immediately followed by, “For ye have need of patience” (10:36). Confidence is not merely held in a moment; it is kept through time. There is also the theme of public fidelity: earlier they were “a gazingstock” (10:33), meaning their faith had made them visible and vulnerable. Confidence includes not being ashamed of Christ when the world scorns him. There is the theme of covenant access: the entire chapter argues that the Levitical sacrifices could not “make the comers thereunto perfect” (10:1), but Christ’s one offering truly cleanses and brings believers near. To cast away confidence, then, is symbolically to step back from the opened sanctuary door, to retreat from the “holiest” that Christ’s blood has made accessible, and to behave as though the veil were still closed. The verse is therefore charged with sanctuary symbolism: confidence is the posture of someone who has been invited inside by the High Priest, and reward is the final, full enjoyment of what that access promises.

There is also an implied contrast with shrinking back. A few verses later the writer says, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:38), and then, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (10:39). Hebrews 10:35 stands at the hinge between warning and encouragement. It does not deny the danger of apostasy, but it appeals to the believer’s hope: do not throw away your bold faith, because it is joined to a promised end. The “reward” is not presented as a bribe to make suffering tolerable; it is presented as the true valuation of reality. In the logic of Hebrews, faith sees what is unseen, counts God faithful, and therefore refuses to discard confidence even when the seen world punishes it.

The significance of the verse, then, lies in its insistence that Christian confidence is a gift grounded in Christ’s blood and a duty to be guarded under trial. It calls believers to treat their approach to God and their confession of Christ as something precious, not disposable. It interprets hardship through the lens of eternity, reminding them that what they lose now cannot compare with what God will give, and that steadfast faith will not end in emptiness. Hebrews 10:35 is a sentence of spiritual realism: confidence will be tested; discarding it is possible; but keeping it is wise, because God has attached to persevering faith a “great recompence of reward.”