What Does Hebrews 13:20 Mean?
Now the God of wholeness, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the covenant of the ages,
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
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,THE KEY
The Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep is alive again, and the covenant’s wholeness rests in his living care.
THE MEANING
The God whose peace is wholeness has raised Jesus from among the dead; the great Shepherd is alive now for the sheep. His blood belongs to a covenant that reaches across the ages.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Death does not have the final claim over the Shepherd or the sheep he leads.
THE ROOT
ποιμένα
poiména
GROWS FROM
ποιμ-
poim-
The Greek word family for a shepherd and a flock.
The word family keeps the shepherd and the flock together: the shepherd tends, and the flock is what is tended. Here, the one brought up from the dead is not distant from the sheep; he remains their living shepherd.
ALSO GROWS
poimainō: to shepherd, tend, or feed
ποιμαίνω
The related verb makes shepherding an ongoing act of care, not just a title.
poimnē: flock
ποίμνη
The same word family names the sheep as a flock held within the shepherd’s care.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yēshūaʿ
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-š-ʿ
Deliver, bring out of constriction into spaciousness.
“Jesus” in this verse is Yēshūaʿ. The name carries the nature of deliverance: being brought out. In this verse, the name belongs to the one brought up from the dead, so deliverance and resurrection meet in the Shepherd himself.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
The noun names the movement out of danger and into safety that the living Shepherd embodies.
moshiaʿ: deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This word names the one who brings others out, illuminating the Shepherd’s care for the sheep.
εἰρήνη
eirēnē
GROWS FROM
εἰρην-
eirēn-
Peace, wholeness, concord.
“God of wholeness” in this verse is eirēnē. This word’s family reaches beyond a quiet feeling into the making of peace. Here, wholeness stands alongside the raised Shepherd and the covenant that endures across the ages.
ALSO GROWS
eirēnopoios: peacemaker
εἰρηνοποιός
The related word names one who makes peace, showing wholeness as something enacted.
eirēnopoieō: to make peace
εἰρηνοποιέω
This verb connects peace with the work of bringing things into wholeness.
THE PATTERN
God’s care gathers the sheep into the keeping of a shepherd who gives his life for them.
I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd.I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his living soul for the sheep.And when the chief shepherd is made visible, you will carry away the crown of weight that does not wither.THE THREAD
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his living soul for the sheep.The Greek word for shepherd, ποιμήν (poimēn), is the same in both verses. John shows the Shepherd giving his life for the sheep; Hebrews shows that Shepherd raised from the dead and alive for them.
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