Hebrews 13:3

3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Hebrews 13:3 in Other Translations

3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

3 Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.

3 Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them. Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you.

3 Remember the prisoners, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.

Hebrews 13:3 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 13:3

Remember them that are in bonds
Not for criminal actions, or for debt, though such should be remembered, and pity showed them, especially the latter; but such as are in bonds for the sake of Christ, and the Gospel. This has been often the lot of God's people, who should be remembered, by praying for them, sending comfortable letters to them, personally visiting them, and relieving them under their distresses:

as bound with them;
as if it were so, as if in the same condition, and circumstances; by sympathizing with them; by considering themselves liable to the same bonds; by dealing with them as it would be desirable to be dealt with in the same case: and

them which suffer adversity;
outward afflictions of body, distress for want of temporal mercies, food and raiment, and persecution by enemies; or spiritual adversity, as the prevailings of corruptions, and particularly unbelief, the hidings of God's face, and the temptations of Satan.

As being yourselves also in the body;
as if in their bodies, enduring the same things; or as being afflicted in the body with diseases, necessities, and persecutions; or as being in the body, the church, of which these afflicted ones are a part, and therefore should have a fellow feeling with them; or rather as being in this world, in the flesh, or in a body and state subject to the like adversities, temporal and spiritual.

Hebrews 13:3 In-Context

1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 25:36; Colossians 4:18; Hebrews 10:34