What Does Hebrews 4:14 Mean?
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us grip what we say together.
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
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.THE KEY
Your profession is a same-saying about Deliverance himself, held with strength beside the high priest who has passed through the heavens.
THE MEANING
You have a great high priest: Jesus, the Son of God, who has passed through the heavens. The thing held is a shared acknowledgment of who he is. His Hebrew name carries the root sense of deliverance, placing the one who brings out at the center of this confession.
THE ROOT
κρατῶμεν
kratōmen
GROWS FROM
κρατ-
krat-
Grasp, hold firmly, or have strength over.
“grip” in this verse is kratōmen. The consonants connect holding firmly with strength: this is a grasp that keeps its object, not a vague attitude. The verse places that strong hold on a confession about the high priest who has passed through the heavens.
ALSO GROWS
krateō: To grasp, hold, or retain.
κρατέω
This is the verb family behind “hold fast,” making the firmness of the action visible.
kratos: Strength, might, or dominion.
κράτος
It shares the same consonants and shows the strength carried in the image of a firm grasp.
krataioō: To strengthen or make strong.
κραταιόω
It shares the same consonants and links holding with being made strong.
ὁμολογία
homología
GROWS FROM
λογ-
log-
Say or speak; word, account.
“what we say together” in this verse is homología. The noun rendered “profession” combines the idea of “same” with saying: a shared acknowledgment spoken aloud. Here the held saying names Jesus as the Son of God.
ALSO GROWS
homologeō: To confess, acknowledge, or agree aloud.
ὁμολογέω
This verb shares the same word family and makes the spoken quality of the confession explicit.
logos: Word, saying, or account.
λόγος
It shares the root consonants and shows the word-and-speech sense within the confession.
logizomai: To reckon, consider, or account.
λογίζομαι
It shares the root consonants and shows how this word family can also describe an account or reckoning.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yeshua
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁע
yasha
Deliver, rescue, bring out to safety.
The name Jesus corresponds to Yeshua, from the root for deliverance. The verse places that deliverance-name beside the high priest who has passed through the heavens.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver or rescue.
יָשַׁע
This is the root carried in the name and names its basic movement of bringing out.
yeshuah: Deliverance or rescue.
יְשׁוּעָה
It shares the root consonants and turns the action into the deliverance itself.
moshia: Deliverer or rescuer.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
It shares the root consonants and names the one who brings deliverance.
THE PATTERN
The reality of deliverance becomes a spoken confession that people hold together.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he has redeemed from the hand of the one who presses.That if you say the same with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered.Let us hold fast the saying of our hope without swerving, for steady is the one who promised;THE THREAD
That if you say the same with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered.Hebrews names the confession with a Greek noun from the same word family as Romans’ verb “confess.” Romans shows this same-saying voiced by the mouth alongside trust in the heart, opening the held profession as spoken recognition rooted in trust.
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