This same matter is literally “in this.” It may also mean “in the text we are considering” (so Jerusalem Bible; compare Phillips, New American Bible, New English Bible). If this translation is chosen, it will be necessary to find in verse 7 a different expression which means the same thing. New English Bible, for example, has “the passage above” in verse 5 and “the words already quoted” in verse 7. Revised Standard Version‘s “again” is a common way of introducing a second or later quotation, as Revised Standard Version does in 1.5; 2.13.

Alternatively, This same matter may refer to something which the two Old Testament quotations in verses 4 and 5 have in common. This can only be God’s “rest” or “resting place,” by which the author means the state into which God entered on the seventh day of creation, which he says is the same state or “place” which God intends his people to occupy. It may be possible, therefore, to translate This same matter is spoken of again as “This matter about rest is spoken of in another place in the holy writings” or “God speaks in another place in the holy writings about experiencing rest.”

They will never enter that land where I would have given them rest must be translated as in 3.11.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .