Hebrews 13

Brotherly Love

¹Continue in brotherly love. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. ³Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.

• HEB 13:1[NOTABLE]Church life in three commands: love each other, open your home, do not forget those in chains.
• HEB 13:2[MIRACLE]Some have entertained angels unawares
• HEB 13:2[NOTE]ANGELS UNAWARES. Abraham, Genesis 18, and Lot, Genesis 19, welcomed strangers who were angels. The KJV says entertained angels unawares. This is no promise that every stranger is an angel; it is a reason to be kind.

⁴Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Christ’s Unchanging Nature

⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said:

“Never will I leave you,

never will I forsake you.”

• HEB 13:5[NOTABLE]Be content with what you have, because God Himself has promised to stay.
• HEB 13:5[QUOTES]Direct ← DT 31:6, 8; JOSH 1:5

⁶So we say with confidence:

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?”

• HEB 13:6[QUOTES]Direct ← PS 118:6

⁷Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

• HEB 13:8[NOTABLE]Leaders come and go, 13:7. Jesus does not change.

⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them. ¹⁰We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

• HEB 13:9[HEART]It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.

¹¹Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹²And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. ¹³Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. ¹⁴For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

• HEB 13:11[FULFILLS]The sin-offering burned outside the camp foreshadows Christ's death outside Jerusalem ← LEV 16:27
• HEB 13:12[FULFILLS]A spotless red heifer was killed outside the camp for cleansing ← NUM 19:2-3MEDIUM
• HEB 13:12[FULFILLS]The owner's son would be seized, thrown out, and killed by the tenants ← MT 21:37-39; MK 12:6-8; LK 20:13-15MEDIUM

Sacrifice, Obedience, and Prayer

¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name. ¹⁶And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

• HEB 13:15[FULFILLS]God's name would be great among the nations with pure offerings in every place ← MAL 1:11MEDIUM
• HEB 13:15[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← HOS 14:2

¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.

¹⁸Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. ¹⁹And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you soon.

Benediction and Farewell

²⁰Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

• HEB 13:20[FULFILLS]Because of the blood of the covenant God would set the prisoners free ← ZECH 9:11MEDIUM

²²I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.

²³Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.

• HEB 13:23[NOTE]TIMOTHY RELEASED. The only hint that Timothy was ever in prison. The writer was part of Paul's circle of friends.

²⁴Greet all your leaders and all the saints.

Those from Italy send you greetings.

• HEB 13:24[NOTE]THOSE FROM ITALY. This can mean the writer was in Italy, or that Italians living elsewhere sent greetings home. Many think the letter went to Rome, where Clement quoted it by about AD 96.

²⁵Grace be with all of you.