Hebrews 13:4
What does Hebrews 13:4 mean?
A plain-English look at Hebrews 13:4 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Hebrews 13:4 means
Marriage is to be honored by everyone, not despised, trivialized, or distorted. The marital bed is to remain undefiled, for God himself will judge sexual sin—whether before marriage (fornication) or breaking it (adultery). This is not prudishness but reverence for a covenant God uses for companionship, fruitfulness, and holy joy. Honoring marriage means fidelity, protection of its vows, and resisting any teaching that treats the body as inconsequential. In a community under pressure, secret compromises may seem small; this verse insists they are not. Sexual integrity is an act of worship and trust, guarding hearts and households from ruin and preserving the church’s witness in a watching world.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Let married life be honoured among all of you and not made unclean; for men untrue in married life will be judged by God.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862honourable <FI>is<Fi> the marriage in all, and the bed undefiled, and whoremongers and adulterers God shall judge.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890[Let] marriage [be held] every way in honour, and the bed [be] undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers willGod judge.
Context
Having called for love and compassion (vv.1–3), the writer turns to holiness in intimate life (v.4) and then to contentment in material life (vv.5–6). These paired exhortations address two common snares—sexual immorality and greed—that can unravel a community from within. By bracketing them with God’s judgment and God’s promises, the author shows that Christian ethics flow from reverence for God and reliance on his unfailing care.
v.3Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body.
v.4This passage
v.5Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 1 Timothy 4:3
forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth.
- 1 Timothy 3:2
The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
- Leviticus 21:13
And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
- Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
- Genesis 1:27
And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
- 1 Timothy 3:12
Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
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