Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Hebrews 13:18-25, Timothy released, greetings from Italy
The writer asks for prayer so that he may be restored to his readers soon, blesses them in the name of the God of peace who brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, calls the letter a brief word of exhortation, and reports that Timothy has been released. Those from Italy send greetings.
Hebrews 13:18-25, in every translation this tool compares.
Hebrews opened with no greeting, but it closes like a letter. The writer asks for prayer so that he can rejoin his readers soon and offers a blessing that calls Jesus the great shepherd, raised by God by the blood of an everlasting covenant. He describes what he has written as a short word of encouragement, passes on the news that Timothy is free, and sends greetings, including some from people connected with Italy.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/shepherd-and-sheep\/","n":"Shepherd and sheep","s":"Scripture pictured Israel without a leader as sheep without a shepherd, and promised that God himself would come to shepherd them.","r":""}
In the Greek of Isaiah 63:11 Moses is the shepherd of the sheep whom God led up out of the sea, and the prophets promised a new exodus (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Philosophers and moralists gave words of exhortation, which could also be written, and speakers often claimed a brevity they did not practice (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes); Carson, Moo and Morris take the phrase to mean the whole book, a sermon sent as a letter. Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes think Timothy was likely arrested under Nero and freed at Nero's death in 68; the ESV Study Bible says he was presumably released; the Zondervan dictionary reads him as simply away, perhaps touring churches. If he is Paul's companion, Carson, Moo and Morris add, the letter falls within his lifetime. Those from Italy could mean people in Italy sending greetings, which Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes think likely, or Italians abroad sending greetings home, which the ESV Study Bible and the Zondervan dictionary prefer: "If the writer had been in Italy, he would have named the precise place." The open questions of author, date and readers are set out in the note on 1:1-14.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Hebrews 13:18-19, 13:20-21, 13:22, 13:23 and 13:24-25
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Hebrews 13:19, 13:20, 13:22, 13:23 and 13:24
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Hebrews 13:23 and 13:24
- N. T. Wright, Hebrews for Everyone, comment on Hebrews 13.17-25
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 17, Hebrews, Contents and Date
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Hebrews, Letter to the, II
