What Does Hebrews 5:3 Mean?
Because of this he owes, as for the people, so also for himself, to bring near for shortcomings.
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
And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.THE KEY
The priest brings an offering for the very condition he shares with the people.
THE MEANING
The person who carries an offering for others is included in the need it addresses. “As for the people, so also for himself” leaves no role of care outside the human condition: responsibility does not erase the caregiver’s own need.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that helping others makes a person exempt from the need they help others face.
THE ROOT
προσφέρειν
prospherein
GROWS FROM
φερ-
pher-
Carry, bear, bring; with πρός (pros, toward), προσφέρω means to bring toward or present.
“bring near” in this verse is prospherein. The verb holds movement inside the offering: something is carried toward God. The priest brings it for the people and for himself, placing both within the same act of approach.
ALSO GROWS
prospherō: bring toward; present, offer
προσφέρω
This related verb makes the movement toward a recipient visible in the act translated “offer.”
prosphorá: offering; what is brought toward
προσφορά
The related noun keeps the offering connected to what the priest carries for both the people and himself.
ἁμαρτία
hamartía
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
Miss; fail to reach or hit the mark.
“shortcomings” in this verse is hamartía. The Greek phrase means “concerning missings,” and the priest’s own missings belong to the same category as the people’s. English can make “sins” sound like a label for others, but this verse includes the one who serves among those the offering concerns.
ALSO GROWS
hamartánō: to miss, err, do wrong
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb names the act behind the condition for which an offering is brought.
hamartōlós: sinner; one who misses
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word names a person by the same condition, showing why the priest is not outside the people’s need.
THE PATTERN
The one who brings an offering for others remains included in the need it addresses.
And Aaron brings near his bullock, the offering for falling short, which is for himself, and makes a covering for himself and for his house.For all have missed the mark, and fall short of the weight of God.Who has no need, day after day, as those high priests did, to carry up sacrifices, first for his own shortcomings, and then for the shortcomings of the people. For this he did once for all, when he carried himself up.THE THREAD
For we do not have a high priest who cannot suffer alongside our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every way as we are, apart from falling short.The same Greek word, ἁμαρτία (hamartía, missing), lies behind “sins” here and “sin” in Hebrews 4:15. The verses hold human vulnerability alongside a distinction: the high priest shares our testing, yet is without missing.
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