What Does Hebrews 5:7 Mean in the King James?
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
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
Being heard did not mean being spared death; the deliverance reached beyond death’s final hold.
THE MEANING
Your anguish can be fully voiced and heard without the painful passage disappearing at once. Here, deliverance reaches beyond what seems final, while reverent awe stands alongside strong cries and tears.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that tears mean you are unheard, or that prayer is answered only when suffering is prevented.
THE ROOT
σῴζειν
sōzein
GROWS FROM
σῴζω
sōzō
to rescue, preserve, or bring safely through
The verb here belongs to the same Greek word family as the noun translated “salvation” in Hebrews 5:9. That link lets “save him from death” open into deliverance completed beyond death, so being heard need not mean death was bypassed.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēria: deliverance, salvation
σωτηρία
The related noun in Hebrews 5:9 connects this plea for rescue with the deliverance named in the next verse.
sōtēr: deliverer, savior
σωτήρ
This related word names the one who brings rescue, making deliverance an act of bringing through.
εἰσακουσθείς
eisakoustheis
GROWS FROM
ἀκούω
akouō
to hear, listen, or heed
The word translated “was heard” means more than sound reaching an ear; it can carry the sense of being heard favorably. Its word family connects hearing with response, so the verse can call the prayer heard even though suffering is not immediately removed.
ALSO GROWS
hypakouō: to listen and obey, heed
ὑπακούω
This related verb shows hearing extending into a response.
parakouō: to fail to hear, disregard
παρακούω
Its contrast shows that hearing can mean attending to a voice rather than merely registering sound.
εὐλαβείας
eulabeias
GROWS FROM
εὐλαβ-
eulab-
reverent care, cautious regard
The word rendered “feared” carries the sense of reverence and careful regard. Its word family places that awe beside strong cries and tears: reverence does not cancel anguish.
ALSO GROWS
eulabēs: reverent, devout, careful
εὐλαβής
This related word shows the quality of attentive reverence behind the phrase.
eulabeomai: to act carefully or reverently
εὐλαβέομαι
This verb form links the noun’s reverence with a lived posture of careful regard.
THE PATTERN
A cry can be heard through suffering, with deliverance reaching beyond the condition that seems final.
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;THE THREAD
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;The word rendered “salvation” here, σωτηρία (sōtēria), belongs to the same Greek word family as “save” in verse 7. The next verse names the deliverance that follows suffering, showing how he can be heard without being spared death.
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