What Does Hebrews 2:4 Mean?
God also bearing witness alongside them, with signs and wonders, and with many-colored powers, and portions of the Set-Apart Breath, according to his own will.
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 also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?THE KEY
What the KJV calls “gifts of the Holy Ghost” opens onto distributions of the Set-Apart Breath, showing God’s witness as many forms of power apportioned by God’s will.
THE MEANING
God’s testimony reaches you through signs, wonders, varied acts of power, and distributions of the Set-Apart Breath. Their forms differ, while their source and measure rest in God’s own will.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that these manifestations are human property or proof of human control: their distribution follows God’s own will.
THE ROOT
συνεπιμαρτυροῦντος
synepimartyrountos
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
Witness; testify; bear testimony.
“bearing witness alongside them” in this verse is synepimartyrountos. The verb carries the sense of joining testimony to testimony: God attests the message through signs and acts of power. The witness is not only asserted; it is made visible.
ALSO GROWS
martys: Witness; one who testifies.
μάρτυς
This noun names the witness at the center of the verb’s word family.
martyria: Testimony; witness.
μαρτυρία
The act of testifying becomes the testimony carried alongside the message.
μερισμοῖς
merismois
GROWS FROM
μερίζω
Divide and assign portions; apportion.
“portions of the Set-Apart Breath” in this verse is merismois. The word opens “gifts” into the picture of distributions of the Set-Apart Breath. Its root connects each manifestation to an apportioned share, given according to God’s will.
ALSO GROWS
merizō: To divide or apportion.
μερίζω
The verb makes the distributing action explicit in the word family behind “gifts.”
meros: A part or portion.
μέρος
A portion is what is apportioned, illuminating how the verse describes varied manifestations.
THE PATTERN
Divine testimony becomes legible through signs and works that accompany the message.
And it shall come to pass, if they will not lean their weight on you, nor hear and respond to the voice of the first sign, that they will lean their weight on the voice of the latter sign.But I have a greater witness than that of John, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, these same works that I do, bear witness about me, that the Father has sent me.Therefore they lingered a long time, speaking openly in the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his favor and gave signs and wonders to come about through their hands.THE THREAD
Therefore they lingered a long time, speaking openly in the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his favor and gave signs and wonders to come about through their hands.Acts uses the same witness verb as Hebrews: the Lord gives testimony alongside the spoken message, with signs and wonders. The shared wording shows the signs joining the testimony rather than standing apart from it.
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