Devine Scripture

Hebrews 9:16

What does Hebrews 9:16 mean?

A plain-English look at Hebrews 9:16 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Hebrews 9:16 means

To clarify why Christ’s death was necessary, the writer appeals to a familiar legal principle: where a testament (a will) exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. A will’s promises are certain, but they are not operative until death triggers their distribution. The analogy is not meant to reduce covenant to mere human custom but to illumine one aspect: inheritance is tied to death. Christ’s role as mediator necessarily included His own death so that the blessings promised could rightly pass to the beneficiaries. The point helps readers understand that the new covenant’s riches—eternal inheritance—required, by God’s design, the sacrificial death of the Testator.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Because where there is a testament, there has to be the death of the man who made it.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

for where a covenant <FI>is<Fi> , the death of the covenant-victim to come in is necessary,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

For where there is a testament the death of the testator must of necessity come in.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

(For where [there is] a testament, the death of the testator must needs come in.

Context

Verse 16 introduces an analogy to support verse 15’s claim that Christ’s death was needed for the new covenant to grant inheritance. Verse 17 will complete the analogy, stating that a testament is only in force after death. Having established the conceptual link between death and covenant benefits, verses 18–22 will return to redemptive history to show that even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood, and that forgiveness according to the law is inseparable from the shedding of blood.

v.15And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

v.16This passage

v.17For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth.

Cross references

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

  • James 2:10

    For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:22

    For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

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