HEBREWS · AT A GLANCE · HEBREWS 11 · GREEK WORDS · OLD TESTAMENT

Inside Hebrews

The letter at a glance, its hall of faith, the words it leans on and the Old Testament behind it.

AT A GLANCE

Hebrews at a glance

Who wrote it, to whom, from where, when and why; who and where it names; its key verses and its themes.

VERSES

303

PARTS

22

KEY VERSES

THEMES

THE LETTER

The letter never names its writer. He tells us only that he heard the gospel from people who had heard the Lord (2:3), that he knows Timothy (13:23), and that he hopes to see his readers again soon (13:19). He writes as one man (11:32). Who he was has been debated since the second century; Origen said that only God knows. Hebrews 2:3 Hebrews 13:23 Hebrews 13:19 Hebrews 11:32 [19][1][9]

KEY VERSES

1God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Hebrews 1:1–2 · KJV

The opening: the God who spoke through the prophets has now spoken by his Son.

THEMES

  • God's final word. God once spoke in many ways through the prophets; now he has spoken by a Son, who is higher than the angels. Hebrews 1:1–4 Hebrews 1:5–14
  • A better high priest. Jesus is a priest for ever "after the order of Melchisedec" (Ps 110:4). He was tested as we are, yet without sin, and he lives for ever to plead for his people. Hebrews 4:14–16 Hebrews 5:6 Hebrews 7:23–25 [4]
  • A new and better covenant. Hebrews quotes the whole of Jeremiah's promise of a new covenant, then quotes it again, framing its central argument. Hebrews 8:6–13 Hebrews 10:16–17 [6]
  • Once for all. The high priest went into the holiest place once every year, with the blood of animals. Christ entered once, with his own blood, and his one sacrifice does not need repeating. Hebrews 9:7 Hebrews 9:12 Hebrews 9:24–28 Hebrews 10:10–14
  • Faith that endures. Faith is trust in what is hoped for and not yet seen. Chapter 11 tells the story of the faithful from Abel onward, and chapter 12 bids the reader run the race looking to Jesus. Hebrews 11:1 Hebrews 11:6 Hebrews 12:1–2
  • Hold fast. Teaching alternates with warning and appeal; "let us" is repeated 13 times in 12 verses. Modern readers often count five warning passages. That is a reading aid, not the writer's own plan, though Westcott noted that solemn warnings fill the middle of each of the first three main parts. Hebrews 2:1–4 Hebrews 4:14 Hebrews 10:22–24 Hebrews 12:1 [3]

HEBREWS 11

The hall of faith

Each example of faith, in the order of the Old Testament story.

  • 1 Abel offers a more excellent sacrifice
  • 2 Cain, named as the contrast
  • 3 Enoch is taken up
  • 4 Noah builds the ark
  • 5 Abraham leaves home, not knowing where
  • 6 Sarah receives strength to conceive
  • 7 Abraham offers Isaac
  • 8 Isaac and Jacob live in tents
  • 9 Isaac blesses Jacob and Esau
  • 10 Jacob blesses Joseph's sons
  • 11 Joseph speaks of the Exodus and his bones
  • 12 Moses' parents hide the baby
  • 13 Pharaoh's daughter and the king
  • 14 Moses chooses God's people and keeps the Passover
  • 15 Israel crosses the Red Sea
  • 16 Rahab receives the spies
  • 17 The walls of Jericho fall
  • 18 Barak
  • 19 Gideon
  • 20 Jephthah
  • 21 Samson
  • 22 Samuel
  • 23 David
  • 24 The prophets

Hebrews 11 walks through the Old Testament from Abel to the prophets. Here each example is placed in the order of the Old Testament story, not by date. Hebrews names the judges in its own order (Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, then David before Samuel). Westcott thought they were listed by popular fame, and that David and Samuel are paired as the great king and the great prophet. Hebrews 11:4–32 [5]

GREEK WORDS

The words it leans on

Its key Greek words, counted in the Greek text. Click one to list every verse it appears in.

OLD TESTAMENT

The Old Testament behind Hebrews

Where the quotations in Hebrews come from, book by book. Click a book or a chapter to keep it. Below, each quotation in Hebrews, linked to the passage it comes from.

Each line joins an Old Testament book to the chapter of Hebrews that quotes it, counting formal quotations, verbal uses and repeats (close echoes are left out). Westcott counted 29 distinct passages, 23 of them from the Law and the Psalms, and found that the writer follows the Greek Old Testament throughout, except at 10:30. Psalm 95 and Psalm 110 are quoted most often. Hebrews 3:7–11 Hebrews 5:6 Hebrews 10:30 [6][2]

  • Hebrews 1:5 quotes Psalms 2:7 Formal quotation. The wording matches the KJV.
  • Hebrews 1:5 quotes 2 Samuel 7:14 Formal quotation. The same promise is in 1 Chr 17:13.
  • Hebrews 1:6 quotes Deuteronomy 32:43 Formal quotation. Follows the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). The line "let all the angels of God worship him" is not in the KJV of Deut 32:43, which follows the Hebrew. Compare Ps 97:7, "worship him, all ye gods."
  • Hebrews 1:7 quotes Psalms 104:4 Formal quotation. KJV "a flaming fire"; Hebrews "a flame of fire".
  • Hebrews 1:8–9 quotes Psalms 45:6–7 Formal quotation.
  • Hebrews 1:10–12 quotes Psalms 102:25–27 Formal quotation.
  • Hebrews 1:13 quotes Psalms 110:1 Formal quotation. Echoed again at 1:3, 8:1, 10:12–13 and 12:2.
  • Hebrews 2:6–8 quotes Psalms 8:4–6 Formal quotation. The KJV of Ps 8:5 also reads "lower than the angels".
  • Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalms 22:22 Formal quotation. KJV "congregation"; Hebrews "church".
  • Hebrews 2:13 quotes Isaiah 8:17 Formal quotation. Follows the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). KJV "I will look for him"; Hebrews "I will put my trust in him". Compare 2 Sam 22:3 and Isa 12:2.
  • Hebrews 2:13 quotes Isaiah 8:18 Formal quotation. "Behold I and the children which God hath given me."
  • Hebrews 3:2 quotes Numbers 12:7 Verbal use. Used without a formula of quotation: "faithful in all mine house". Used again at 3:5.
  • Hebrews 3:7–11 quotes Psalms 95:7–11 Formal quotation. Hebrews moves "forty years" to the line before (3:9–10); the KJV reads "forty years long was I grieved".
  • Hebrews 3:15 quotes Psalms 95:7–8 Repeat of an earlier quotation. Repeated from 3:7–8.
  • Hebrews 4:3 quotes Psalms 95:11 Repeat of an earlier quotation. Repeated: "if they shall enter into my rest".
  • Hebrews 4:4 quotes Genesis 2:2 Formal quotation. God rested on the seventh day.
  • Hebrews 4:5 quotes Psalms 95:11 Repeat of an earlier quotation. Repeated again.
  • Hebrews 4:7 quotes Psalms 95:7–8 Repeat of an earlier quotation. Hebrews says God spoke this "in David".
  • Hebrews 5:5 quotes Psalms 2:7 Repeat of an earlier quotation. Repeated from 1:5.
  • Hebrews 5:6 quotes Psalms 110:4 Formal quotation. Echoed at 5:10, 6:20, 7:11 and 7:15.
  • Hebrews 6:13–14 quotes Genesis 22:16–17 Formal quotation. God's oath to Abraham.
  • Hebrews 7:1–2 quotes Genesis 14:17–20 Verbal use. The meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek retold.
  • Hebrews 7:17 quotes Psalms 110:4 Repeat of an earlier quotation.
  • Hebrews 7:21 quotes Psalms 110:4 Repeat of an earlier quotation. Quoted for the oath it contains: "The Lord sware and will not repent".
  • Hebrews 8:5 quotes Exodus 25:40 Formal quotation. "See … that thou make all things according to the pattern".
  • Hebrews 8:8–12 quotes Jeremiah 31:31–34 Formal quotation. Follows the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). The whole of Jer 31:31–34. KJV "although I was an husband unto them" (31:32); Hebrews "and I regarded them not" (8:9).
  • Hebrews 9:20 quotes Exodus 24:8 Verbal use. "This is the blood of the testament".
  • Hebrews 10:5–7 quotes Psalms 40:6–8 Formal quotation. Follows the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). KJV "mine ears hast thou opened"; Hebrews "a body hast thou prepared me". Westcott notes that the argument rests on the Greek wording here.
  • Hebrews 10:8–9 quotes Psalms 40:6–8 Repeat of an earlier quotation.
  • Hebrews 10:16–17 quotes Jeremiah 31:33–34 Repeat of an earlier quotation. Jeremiah's new covenant, quoted a second time.
  • Hebrews 10:30 quotes Deuteronomy 32:35 Formal quotation. "Vengeance belongeth unto me". According to Westcott, the one quotation that does not follow the Greek Old Testament. Compare Rom 12:19.
  • Hebrews 10:30 quotes Deuteronomy 32:36 Formal quotation. "The Lord shall judge his people"; also Ps 135:14.
  • Hebrews 10:37–38 quotes Habakkuk 2:3–4 Verbal use. Introduced with words from Isa 26:20 ("a little while"). KJV of Hab 2:4: "the just shall live by his faith".
  • Hebrews 11:5 quotes Genesis 5:24 Close echo. A close echo, listed by Westcott as an allusion. KJV "he was not; for God took him"; Hebrews "was not found, because God had translated him".
  • Hebrews 11:18 quotes Genesis 21:12 Formal quotation. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called".
  • Hebrews 11:21 quotes Genesis 47:31 Close echo. Follows the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). A close echo. Hebrews has Jacob "leaning upon the top of his staff"; the KJV reads "bowed himself upon the bed's head".
  • Hebrews 12:5–6 quotes Proverbs 3:11–12 Formal quotation. Follows the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). KJV "even as a father the son" (3:12); Hebrews "scourgeth every son whom he receiveth".
  • Hebrews 12:12 quotes Isaiah 35:3 Close echo. A close echo: the hands that hang down and the feeble knees.
  • Hebrews 12:13 quotes Proverbs 4:26 Close echo. A close echo. KJV "Ponder the path of thy feet"; Hebrews "make straight paths for your feet".
  • Hebrews 12:15 quotes Deuteronomy 29:18 Close echo. A close echo. KJV "a root that beareth gall and wormwood"; Hebrews "root of bitterness".
  • Hebrews 12:20 quotes Exodus 19:12–13 Formal quotation. No beast may touch the mountain.
  • Hebrews 12:21 quotes Deuteronomy 9:19 Close echo. A close echo: Moses' fear at Sinai.
  • Hebrews 12:26 quotes Haggai 2:6 Formal quotation. KJV "Yet once, it is a little while".
  • Hebrews 12:29 quotes Deuteronomy 4:24 Close echo. A close echo: "a consuming fire".
  • Hebrews 13:5 quotes Deuteronomy 31:6 Formal quotation. Also Deut 31:8; compare Josh 1:5 and Gen 28:15.
  • Hebrews 13:6 quotes Psalms 118:6 Verbal use. "The Lord is my helper".

WHERE THIS PAGE COMES FROM

  • Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews: The Greek Text with Notes and Essays (2nd ed.) (1892), Introduction, "History and Authorship", pp. lxxiv–lxxix.
  • Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews: The Greek Text with Notes and Essays (2nd ed.) (1892), Introduction §§IV–VII (language, destination, date, place of writing), pp. xxxiv–xliv.
  • Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews: The Greek Text with Notes and Essays (2nd ed.) (1892), Introduction §IX "The Plan", pp. xlviii–li.
  • Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews: The Greek Text with Notes and Essays (2nd ed.) (1892), Additional note on 7:1, "The significance of Melchizedek", pp. 199–202.
  • Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews: The Greek Text with Notes and Essays (2nd ed.) (1892), Notes on 11:32–40, pp. 376–382.
  • Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews: The Greek Text with Notes and Essays (2nd ed.) (1892), "On the use of the Old Testament in the Epistle", pp. 469–473.
  • A. B. Davidson, The Epistle to the Hebrews, with Introduction and Notes (1882), Introduction, chs. I–III and introductory note, pp. 9–37.
  • Marcus Dods, "The Epistle to the Hebrews", in The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. IV (1897 (1910 printing)), Introduction: history, pp. 221–224.
  • Marcus Dods, "The Epistle to the Hebrews", in The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. IV (1897 (1910 printing)), Introduction: authorship, pp. 224–229.
  • Marcus Dods, "The Epistle to the Hebrews", in The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. IV (1897 (1910 printing)), Introduction: destination, pp. 230–234.
  • Marcus Dods, "The Epistle to the Hebrews", in The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. IV (1897 (1910 printing)), Introduction: aim, argument and date, pp. 235–243.
  • John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews (1549 (tr. 1853)), "The Argument".
  • Thomas Rees, "Hebrews, Epistle to the", in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (1915), Sections I–VI.
  • James Vernon Bartlet, "Hebrews, Epistle to the", in Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. 13 (1911).
  • M. G. Easton, "Hebrews, Epistle to", in Illustrated Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.) (1897).
  • William Smith (ed.), "Hebrews, Epistle to the", in Smith's Bible Dictionary (abridged) (1863 (abridged edition)).
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, Book III (1890), 3.3.5; 3.38.1–3.
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, Book V (1890), 5.26.
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, Book VI (1890), 6.14.2–4; 6.20.3; 6.25.11–14.
  • Tertullian, tr. S. Thelwall, On Modesty (De Pudicitia) (1885), ch. 20.
  • Clement of Rome, tr. John Keith, First Epistle to the Corinthians (1896), ch. 36.
  • Athanasius, tr. R. Payne-Smith, Festal Letter 39 (1892), §5.
  • Jerome, tr. E. C. Richardson, Lives of Illustrious Men (De Viris Illustribus) (1892), chs. 5–6.

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