Hebrews 13 (JND) - Bible Truth Library

Library Home>Hebrews 13 (JND)

Verse 3

Go

Verse 5

Articles on

Hebrews 13

Heb. 13:4 KJV (With Strong’s)

+

4

Marriageb is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongersc and adulterers God will judge.*

b

Prov. 5:15‑23• ¹⁵Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
¹⁶Thy fountains shall be poured forth, as water-brooks in the broadways.
¹⁷Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
¹⁸Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.
¹⁹As a lovely hind and a graceful roe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times: be thou ravished continually with her love.
²⁰And why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he pondereth all his paths.
²²His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
²³He shall die for want of discipline; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. (Prov. 5:15‑23)

c

1 Cor. 6:9• ⁹Do ye not know that unrighteous persons shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who make women of themselves, nor who abuse themselves with men, (1 Cor. 6:9)

;

Rev. 22:15• ¹⁵Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loves and makes a lie. (Rev. 22:15)

More on:

+

God,

Marriage

Cross References

+

Ministry on This Verse

+

Marriage.

Gen. 1:27‑28• ²⁷And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
²⁸And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every animal that moveth on the earth. (Gen. 1:27‑28)

;

Gen. 2:21,24• ²¹And Jehovah Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Man; and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up flesh in its stead.
²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Gen. 2:21,24)

;

Lev. 21:13‑15• ¹³And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
¹⁴A widow, or a divorced woman, or a dishonoured one, a harlot, these shall he not take; but he shall take as wife a virgin from among his peoples.
¹⁵And he shall not profane his seed among his peoples; for I am Jehovah who do hallow him. (Lev. 21:13‑15)

;

2 Kings 22:14• ¹⁴And Hilkijah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe: now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter of the town; and they spoke with her. (2 Kings 22:14)

;

Prov. 5:15‑23• ¹⁵Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
¹⁶Thy fountains shall be poured forth, as water-brooks in the broadways.
¹⁷Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
¹⁸Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.
¹⁹As a lovely hind and a graceful roe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times: be thou ravished continually with her love.
²⁰And why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he pondereth all his paths.
²²His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
²³He shall die for want of discipline; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. (Prov. 5:15‑23)

;

Isa. 8:3• ³And I came near to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son; and Jehovah said unto me, Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz. (Isa. 8:3)

;

1 Cor. 7:2‑16• ²but on account of fornications, let each have his own wife, and each woman have her own husband.
³Let the husband render her due to the wife, and in like manner the wife to the husband.
⁴The wife has not authority over her own body, but the husband: in like manner also the husband has not authority over his own body, but the wife.
⁵Defraud not one another, unless, it may be, by consent for a time, that ye may devote yourselves to prayer, and again be together, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency.
⁶But this I say, as consenting to, not as commanding it.
⁷Now I wish all men to be even as myself: but every one has his own gift of God: one man thus, and another thus.
⁸But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them that they remain even as I.
⁹But if they have not control over themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.
¹⁰But to the married I enjoin, not *I*, but the Lord, Let not wife be separated from husband;
¹¹(but if also she shall have been separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband;) and let not husband leave wife.
¹²But as to the rest, *I* say, not the Lord, If any brother have an unbelieving wife, and *she* consent to dwell with him, let him not leave her.
¹³And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to dwell with her, let her not leave her husband.
¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; since otherwise indeed your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
¹⁵But if the unbeliever go away, let them go away; a brother or a sister is not bound in such cases, but God has called us in peace.
¹⁶For what knowest thou, O wife, if thou shalt save thy husband? or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy wife? (1 Cor. 7:2‑16)

;

1 Cor. 9:5• ⁵have we not a right to take round a sister as wife, as also the other apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? (1 Cor. 9:5)

;

1 Tim. 3:2,4,12• ²The overseer then must be irreproachable, husband of one wife, sober, discreet, decorous, hospitable, apt to teach;
⁴conducting his own house well, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
¹²Let the ministers be husbands of one wife, conducting their children and their own houses well: (1 Tim. 3:2,4,12)

;

1 Tim. 5:14• ¹⁴I will therefore that the younger marry, bear children, rule the house, give no occasion to the adversary in respect of reproach. (1 Tim. 5:14)

;

Titus 1:6• ⁶if any one be free from all charge against him, husband of one wife, having believing children not accused of excess or unruly. (Titus 1:6)

and the bed.

Heb. 12:16• ¹⁶lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one meal sold his birthright; (Heb. 12:16)

;

1 Cor. 6:9• ⁹Do ye not know that unrighteous persons shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who make women of themselves, nor who abuse themselves with men, (1 Cor. 6:9)

;

Gal. 5:19,21• ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness,
²¹envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revels, and things like these; as to which I tell you beforehand, even as I also have said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit God's kingdom. (Gal. 5:19,21)

;

Eph. 5:5• ⁵For this ye are well informed of, knowing that no fornicator, or unclean person, or person of unbridled lust, who is an idolater, has inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and God. (Eph. 5:5)

;

Col. 3:5‑6• ⁵Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, vile passions, evil lust, and unbridled desire, which is idolatry.
⁶On account of which things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Col. 3:5‑6)

;

Rev. 22:15• ¹⁵Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loves and makes a lie. (Rev. 22:15)

God.

Psa. 50:16‑22• ¹⁶But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant into thy mouth,
¹⁷Seeing thou hast hated correction and hast cast my words behind thee?
¹⁸When thou sawest a thief, thou didst take pleasure in him, and thy portion was with adulterers;
¹⁹Thou lettest thy mouth loose to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit;
²⁰Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou revilest thine own mother's son:
²¹These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
²²Now consider this, ye that forget +God, lest I tear in pieces, and there be no deliverer. (Psa. 50:16‑22)

;

Mal. 3:5• ⁵And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired servant in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts. (Mal. 3:5)

;

1 Cor. 5:13• ¹³But those without God judges. Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves. (1 Cor. 5:13)

;

2 Cor. 5:10• ¹⁰For we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of the Christ, that each may receive the things done in the body, according to those he has done, whether it be good or evil. (2 Cor. 5:10)

• it is in no way a certificate of respectability which all people possess because they are in wedlock, but a solemn charge to married saints that their use of the relationship be thus pleasing to the Lord in every detail. (“Hebrews 13:1-6” by W. Kelly)

• Every violation of holiness or of the marriage tie will meet with judgment, either governmental or eternal. (“Outside the Camp: Hebrews 13” by H. Smith)

J. N. Darby Translation

+

4

Let marriage be held every way in honourk, and the bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers will God judge.

JND Translation Notes

+

k

Or "Let marriage be held in honour amongst all." The expression does not mean simply that the marriage tie is to be respected when in it, and kept pure, but that the tie itself was to be held in honour. In purity of walk that was done by the married no doubt, but not in every case.

W. Kelly Translation

+

4

[Be] marriagea in all [thingsb] held in honour, and the bed undefiledc; butd fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

WK Translation Notes

+

a

The KJV is faulty in two respects. It is not a mere affirmative sentence stamping the relationship with dignity, but an exhortation in the imperative calling us to carry it on worthily, and to guard it from all taint of unchastity or impureness. And we are bid to set it in honor; not in this respect or in that, but "in all things." To say it is honorable "in all men" overlooks, if it does not destroy, the force of the scripture for the Christian’s conscience.

b

The true rendering is, Let marriage be honorable (not "among all" as the Revisers say, but) "in all things," and the bed be undefiled. The construction is alike before and after. It is an injunction, not an affirmation. The masculine sense, though popular among Protestants, is here harsh in construction and can hardly be laid down absolutely if we bear in mind {vi 128489}{/vi}.

c

The imperative is right, and "undefiled" is a predicate as "in honor."

d

Or, "for."