What Does Hebrews 2:6 Mean?
But someone in a certain place bore witness, saying, What is humankind, that you remember him? Or the son of man, that you look upon him?
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
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?THE KEY
God’s attention to you is not distant awareness: the word “visitest” makes that regard arrive.
THE MEANING
You are held in God’s attention even when your smallness makes you seem easy to overlook. That regard comes near as active attention: God visits you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that being small makes you forgettable to God.
THE ROOT
μιμνῄσκῃ
mimnēskē
GROWS FROM
μνη-
The Greek stem μνη- (mnē-) carries the sense of remembering and keeping in mind.
“remember” in this verse is mimnēskē. “Mindful” is more than a passing thought: the verb carries the sense of keeping someone in remembrance. The verse places that sustained attention beside “visitest,” showing that being remembered opens into being met.
ALSO GROWS
mnēmē: Memory or remembrance.
μνήμη
The shared stem makes God’s regard sound like continuing remembrance, not a momentary notice.
mnēmoneuō: To remember or call to mind.
μνημονεύω
This related verb makes explicit the act of bringing someone back into thought.
mnēmosynon: A memorial or remembrance.
μνημόσυνον
A memorial gives remembrance a lasting form, echoing the verse’s sense of being kept in mind.
ἐπισκέπτῃ
episkeptē
GROWS FROM
σκοπ-
The Greek stem σκοπ- (skop-) carries the sense of looking at, examining, or attending to.
“look upon” in this verse is episkeptē. The verb translated “visitest” conveys directed attention that turns toward someone and attends to them. Paired with “mindful,” it presents regard as something that comes near rather than remaining abstract.
ALSO GROWS
skopeō: To look at or consider carefully.
σκοπέω
It shows the attentive looking within the sense of visiting.
episkopos: An overseer, one who watches over.
ἐπίσκοπος
The related word joins looking with responsibility for what is seen.
תִפְקְדֶנּוּ
tifqedennu
GROWS FROM
פקד
The Hebrew root פקד (p-q-d) carries senses of attending to, visiting, and taking account of.
“visitest” in this verse is tifqedennu. The Psalm quoted here uses פקד (p-q-d) where the Greek has ἐπισκέπτομαι (episkeptomai), “visit.” In both languages the word reaches beyond noticing: the one who is seen is attended to.
ALSO GROWS
paqad: To attend to, visit, or take account of.
פָּקַד
This verb gives the source wording its sense of attention directed toward a person.
pequddah: Oversight, visitation, or an appointed charge.
פְּקֻדָּה
The related noun shows the root extending from an act of attention to the care or charge that follows.
THE PATTERN
Divine attention holds the human in remembrance and comes near in particular care.
What is a frail one that you remember him, and the son of man that you visit him?Let the LORD God of Israel be spoken well of, for he has looked upon and redeemed his people,But even the hairs of your head are all counted.THE THREAD
Let the LORD God of Israel be spoken well of, for he has looked upon and redeemed his people,Hebrews uses ἐπισκέπτομαι (episkeptomai), “visit,” for God’s attention to the human; Luke uses the same Greek verb when God “hath visited” his people. The shared root presents divine regard as an arrival into the life it beholds.
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