What Does Hebrews 13:7 Mean?
Remember those who go before you, who spoke the word of God to you, and imitate the way they lean their full weight, considering where their walk comes out.
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
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.THE KEY
The trust held up for imitation becomes visible in the direction and outcome of a whole life.
THE MEANING
The people who guide you speak God’s word, and their way of life gives that word a visible shape now. Their trust is something you can see embodied over time and take as a pattern.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that spiritual authority alone makes a life worth copying; the verse points you to the outcome of a person’s conduct and the trust embodied there.
THE ROOT
μιμεῖσθε
mimeisthe
GROWS FROM
μιμ-
mim-
To imitate or take another’s pattern as one’s own.
“imitate” in this verse is mimeisthe. The verb translated “follow” carries the sense of imitation: making a pattern your own. The verse focuses that imitation on a person’s trust, considered alongside the course of their life.
ALSO GROWS
mimētēs: imitator, follower
μιμητής
It names someone who takes another person’s pattern as a model.
mimēsis: imitation
μίμησις
It makes clear that this following involves embodying a pattern, not merely moving behind someone.
πίστιν
pistin
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
To persuade or be persuaded; to trust.
“the way they lean their full weight” in this verse is pistin. The faith here is trust: leaning your full weight on what is trusted. The verse places that trust in view through the life that carries it, so it is more than a private opinion.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: persuade, convince, win trust
πείθω
It shows the persuasive, trust-forming sense in the same word family.
pistos: trustworthy, reliable
πιστός
It connects trust with a quality that can be seen in someone’s conduct.
ἔκβασιν
ekbasin
GROWS FROM
βαίνω
bainō
To step or go; ἔκβασις (ekbasis) can mean an outcome or a way out.
“where their walk comes out” in this verse is ekbasin. “End” here points to the outcome of a life, while “conversation” means conduct. The verse directs attention to where a person’s way of life comes out, not only to what that person says.
ALSO GROWS
anabainō: go up, ascend
ἀναβαίνω
It carries the same root of going or stepping into a direction.
katabainō: go down, descend
καταβαίνω
Together with “go up,” it shows how this root can describe the course a person takes.
THE PATTERN
A life’s trust becomes visible in its course, and its outcome can become a pattern others follow.
Watch the whole one, and see the straight one, for the end of that man is wholeness.Become imitators of me, even as I also am of the Anointed One.So that you do not grow sluggish, but become imitators of those who, through trust and slowness to heat, inherit the promises.THE THREAD
No test has seized you except what is common to humankind. God is steady, and he will not let you be tested beyond what you are able to carry, but with the test he will also make the way out, so that you can carry it.The Greek word ἔκβασις (ekbasis, outcome or way out) appears in both verses: Hebrews uses it for the outcome of a life, while Corinthians uses it for the way out God provides. The shared word makes the “end” more than a final point: it is where a path comes out.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us