What Does Hebrews 13:9 Mean in the King James?
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Food practice can occupy a person without benefiting them; favor is what makes the heart firm.
THE MEANING
Your heart is made steady through favor, the kindness given freely. Food observances cannot do that work; those who make them their way of life gain no benefit from them. The verse places inward firmness and outward practice side by side.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that stricter food practices can make the heart spiritually secure. The verse locates that firmness in favor, not in the menu.
THE ROOT
βεβαιοῦσθαι
bebaiousthai
GROWS FROM
βεβαι-
bebai-
To make firm, secure, or confirm.
“established” in this verse is bebaiousthai. The Greek verb names being made firm or confirmed, so the heart’s steadiness is received through favor. The contrast with foods shows that repeated observance can occupy a person’s practice without supplying that inner firmness.
ALSO GROWS
bebaios: Firm, stable, secure.
βέβαιος
It shares the same stem and makes clear that the verse describes the heart becoming secure.
bebaiōsis: Confirmation, establishment.
βεβαίωσις
This related noun names the act of confirming or making firm, the work attributed here to favor.
χάριτι
chariti
GROWS FROM
χαρι-
chari-
Favor, freely given kindness.
“grace” in this verse is chariti. The verse places favor as the means by which the heart is made firm: it is a sustaining gift, not a prize earned through a correct regimen. The word family also names granting freely and a gift of favor, keeping the emphasis on what is given.
ALSO GROWS
charizomai: To grant freely, show favor.
χαρίζομαι
This verb shows favor as an act of giving, which illuminates how the heart receives its firmness.
charisma: A gift of favor.
χάρισμα
This related word presents favor as something given, not something produced by food practices.
ὠφελήθησαν
ōphelēthēsan
GROWS FROM
ὠφελ-
ōphel-
To help, benefit, or be of use.
“profited” in this verse is ōphelēthēsan. The Greek word points to actual benefit, not merely being occupied with a practice. The same word family appears in Hebrews 4:2, where what is heard fails to benefit without trust.
ALSO GROWS
ōpheleō: To help or benefit.
ὠφελέω
This is the verb behind “profited” and supplies the passage’s measure of whether the food practices help.
ōphelimos: Useful, beneficial.
ὠφέλιμος
This related form describes what produces benefit, sharpening the verse’s claim that these foods do not.
THE PATTERN
The heart’s firmness comes through favor, while food itself cannot confer that inward steadiness.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.THE THREAD
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.The Greek word rendered “profit” here comes from the same word family as “profited” in Hebrews 13:9. There, what is heard fails to benefit without trust; here, food practices leave the heart unestablished. The shared word measures practice by whether it actually benefits the hearer.
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