What Does Hebrews 13:10 Mean?
We have an altar, from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
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
We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.THE KEY
The altar is both the place of sacrifice and the source of a shared meal, so sacred service alone does not grant a share in it.
THE MEANING
“We have” names an existing belonging: an altar stands at the center of this community’s life. Those who serve the tabernacle do not thereby have a right to eat from it; ritual service and participation at this altar are different relations. The verse draws a boundary around who shares its offering.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that religious service automatically grants a share in every sacred offering falls away: serving at the tabernacle is not the same as eating from this altar.
THE ROOT
θυσιαστήριον
thysiastērion
GROWS FROM
θυ- (from θύω, thyō)
θύω (thyō) means to sacrifice or slaughter; θυσιαστήριον names the place associated with that offering.
The Greek name for “altar” grows from the act of offering sacrifice. Hebrews places eating at that altar in the same sentence: the offering is not only given there; it defines who shares its food.
ALSO GROWS
thysia: sacrifice, offering
θυσία
This branch names what is offered at the altar and makes the meal’s connection to the offering visible.
thysiázō: to sacrifice, offer in sacrifice
θυσιάζω
This verb shows the action beneath the altar’s name: it is a place bound to an offering.
λατρεύουσιν
latreuousin
GROWS FROM
λατρ- (from λατρεύω, latreuō)
The Greek stem names service rendered in a sacred or cultic setting.
“Serve” can sound like any kind of work, but this verb points to ritual service at the tabernacle. The verse contrasts that sacred service with the distinct act of sharing food from this altar.
ALSO GROWS
latreuō: to perform sacred service
λατρεύω
This is the verb used for serving the tabernacle, locating the service within its ritual setting.
latreia: sacred service, worship
λατρεία
This related noun confirms that the service is cultic; it does not itself establish a right to eat from the other altar.
THE PATTERN
Eating an offering marks a person’s share in the altar associated with it.
They eat those things wherewith the covering was made, to fill their hands and to set them apart. But a stranger does not eat of it, because they are set apart.Every male among the priests shall eat of it. It shall be eaten in the set-apart place. It is most set apart.Look at Israel according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the slain offerings sharers in common of the altar?THE THREAD
Look at Israel according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the slain offerings sharers in common of the altar?Hebrews uses φαγεῖν (phagein, “to eat”), an aorist form of ἐσθίω (esthiō, “to eat”); Corinthians uses another form of the same Greek verb. The linked verse names those eaters as partakers of the altar, making clear that eating marks participation in its offering.
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