What Does Hebrews 7:6 Mean?
But the one whose descent is not counted from them received tithes from Abraham, and blessed him who held the promises.
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 he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.THE KEY
Abraham carries the promises, yet receives a blessing from a priest whose descent is not traced through Levi.
THE MEANING
You can carry a promise and still be a receiver. Abraham has the promises, yet the verse shows him receiving a blessing from a priest whose lineage is not counted through Levi. Bearing a promise does not make you the source of every blessing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that having a promise makes you its source or places you beyond receiving blessing.
THE ROOT
γενεαλογούμενος
genealogoumenos
GROWS FROM
γενεαλογέω
genealogéō
To trace or record someone’s descent through generations.
The Greek describes descent as a line that can be traced or reckoned. The text says this priestly line is not traced through Levi, so his authority to bless Abraham does not come from that lineage.
ALSO GROWS
genealogía: Genealogy; a record of descent.
γενεαλογία
It names the kind of family record that traces a line through generations.
genealogéō: To trace or give a genealogy.
γενεαλογέω
This is the verb behind the verse’s description of descent as something reckoned from a line.
εὐλόγησεν
eulógēsen
GROWS FROM
εὐλογέω
eulogéō
To speak good; to bless or speak well over someone.
“blessed” in this verse is eulógēsen. The Greek word carries the sense of speaking good over someone. Abraham has the promises, yet receives this spoken blessing from another.
ALSO GROWS
eulogía: Blessing; a spoken good or benefit.
εὐλογία
It makes the blessing a spoken gift, not merely a status Abraham possesses.
eulogētós: Blessed or praised.
εὐλογητός
It describes someone as the recipient of good words or praise.
ἐπαγγελίας
epangelías
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ- (angel-), from ἀγγέλλω (angéllō)
To announce or carry a message.
The Greek for promises carries the idea of an announcement: a pledged word spoken outward. Beside the word for blessing, the verse pairs what has been announced with a blessing spoken over its bearer.
ALSO GROWS
ángelos: Messenger.
ἄγγελος
A messenger carries an announcement to someone else.
euangélion: Good news; a good announcement.
εὐαγγέλιον
It shares the announcement root, showing the message-shaped sense beneath the word for promise.
THE PATTERN
A blessing is spoken from giver to receiver; it is not a status the recipient generates alone.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, holder of heaven and earth.The LORD bless you, and guard you.And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting his hands, he blessed them.THE THREAD
Without any speaking against, the lesser is spoken well of by the stronger.The next verse makes explicit the relation this one leaves implicit: the one who blesses is “the better,” and the one blessed is “the less.” Abraham can carry the promises and still receive a blessing from Melchizedek.
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