Hebrews 13:3 (KJV)

What does Hebrews 13:3 mean?

Hebrews 13:3 tells its readers to keep people in prison and people suffering mistreatment in mind. The writer asks them to identify with those people closely, imagining themselves in the prisoners’ place and recognizing their own bodily vulnerability.

The phrase “as bound with them” pictures the readers sharing the prisoners’ confinement. “Yourselves also in the body” points to the readers’ own experience as people who can feel pain and endure hardship. After the mention of hospitality in verse 2, the writer turns attention to people whose suffering might separate them from others.

The Greek behind Hebrews 13:3

• “Remember” — μιμνῄσκομαι (mimnēskomai): The Greek word carries the sense of calling someone to mind or keeping someone in mind. Here, remembering is directed toward people in difficult conditions, rather than toward a past event.

• “suffer adversity” — κακουχέω (kakoucheō): The Greek word can mean to be mistreated or to suffer hardship. The phrase draws attention to people undergoing harsh treatment, not only to those in prison.

Why Hebrews 13:3 matters

• The verse places prisoners within the readers’ circle of concern. “As bound with them” asks the readers to picture confinement from the prisoners’ position, rather than simply observe it from a distance.

• The writer gives a bodily reason for identifying with those who suffer. “Yourselves also in the body” connects their hardship with the readers’ own condition as people who can experience suffering.

• The verse follows Hebrews 13:1–2, where the writer speaks of love among fellow believers and hospitality to strangers. Hebrews 13:3 extends that concern to people in prison and to those facing hardship.