Devine Scripture

Hebrews 13:3

What does Hebrews 13:3 mean?

A plain-English look at Hebrews 13:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Hebrews 13:3 means

Believers are to remember prisoners and the mistreated as if chained with them, because we share the same frail, feeling body. This command moves beyond distant sympathy to active identification. Remembering means practical help: prayer, advocacy, visits, and material support. The community cannot shrug and say, “That is their lot,” for the Body suffers together. Seeing ourselves in their place softens judgments and fuels courage. The struggle of the persecuted becomes a proving ground for the church’s love. Their chains summon us to the costly solidarity of Christ, who drew near to the afflicted. This empathy resists self-protective detachment and bears witness that the gospel creates one suffering-and-consoling family.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Keep in mind those who are in chains, as if you were chained with them, and those who are in trouble, as being yourselves in the body.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

be mindful of those in bonds, as having been bound with them, of those maltreated, as also yourselves being in the body;

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Remember them that are in bands, as if you were bound with them: and them that labour, as being yourselves also in the body.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Remember prisoners, as bound with [them]; those that are evil-treated, as being yourselves also in [the] body.

Context

The exhortations flow from internal love (v.1) to outward hospitality (v.2) and now to compassionate solidarity with those in bonds and ill-treated (v.3). Many in the audience had faced public reproach and loss (earlier in the letter), so this is pastoral realism. The following commands (v.4–6) will address purity and contentment, showing that love must be guarded not only from persecution’s chill but also from moral compromise and worldly anxieties.

v.2Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

v.3This passage

v.4Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • 1 Corinthians 12:26

    And whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

  • Philippians 4:14

    Howbeit ye did well that ye had fellowship with my affliction.

  • Hebrews 10:34

    For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.

  • Jeremiah 38:7

    Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),

  • Matthew 25:36

    naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

  • Romans 12:15

    Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.

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