What Does Hebrews 1:1 Mean?
God, who in many portions and in many ways spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,THE KEY
Beneath “sundry times” is the image of speech arriving in many portions: one address reaches you in distinct shares and forms.
THE MEANING
God’s speech reaches you in distinct portions and through distinct forms; no single mode exhausts the way the address arrives. Those differences belong to one source: God remains the speaker.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that God can speak only through one familiar mode dissolves here; the verse names many portions and many manners.
THE ROOT
πολυμερῶς
polymerōs
GROWS FROM
μέρος
meros
Part, share, portion.
“in many portions” in this verse is polymerōs. The word behind “sundry times” is built on the idea of a part or share, so the phrase carries an image of apportioned speech, not only a sequence on the calendar. Its branches connect dividing and sharing into portions, making the many disclosures feel like shares of one larger address.
ALSO GROWS
merizō: To divide, distribute, or apportion.
μερίζω
The idea of speech arriving in portions becomes a matter of sharing out what is received.
meris: A portion or share.
μερίς
Each disclosure is a share within the larger address, rather than the whole being confined to one form.
THE PATTERN
One source of speech reaches you through distinct portions and forms.
And he said, Now hear and respond to my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will make myself known to him in sight, and will speak to him in a dream.And after the quaking, a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, a sound of thin stillness.I have spoken these things to you in sayings. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in sayings, but in full voice I will bring you word of the Father.THE THREAD
In these last days he has spoken to us in a Son, whom he set as heir of all things, through whom he also made the ages.Both verses use λαλέω (laleō, “to speak”): the first presents speech in many portions and forms, and the next names the Son as its means. The shared verb carries the speaking forward as its presentation shifts.
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