Hebrews 13 · Verse 8

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Hebrews 13:8, King James Version

Hebrews 13:8 in other translations

BSB	Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
WEB	Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
ASV	Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever.
YLT	Jesus Christ yesterday and to-day the same, and to the ages;
DARBY	Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and to the ages to come.
BBE	Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.
Webster	Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.

What does Hebrews 13:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

8. This verse is not, as some read it, in apposition with "the end of their conversation" (He 13:7), but forms the transition. "Jesus Christ, yesterday and to-day (is) the same, and (shall be the same) unto the ages (that is, unto all ages)." The Jesus Christ (the full name being given, to mark with affectionate solemnity both His person and His office) who supported your spiritual rulers through life even unto their end "yesterday" (in times past), being at once "the Author and the Finisher of their faith" (He 12:2), remains still the same Jesus Christ "to-day," ready to help you also, if like them you walk by "faith" in Him. Compare "this same Jesus," Ac 1:11. He who yesterday (proverbial for the past time) suffered and died, is to-day in glory (Re 1:18). "As night comes between yesterday and to-day, and yet night itself is swallowed up by yesterday and to-day, so the "suffering" did not so interrupt the glory of Jesus Christ which was of yesterday, and that which is to-day, as not to continue to be the same. He is the same yesterday, before He came into the world, and to-day, in heaven. Yesterday in the time of our predecessors, and to-day in our age" [Bengel]. So the doctrine is the same, not variable: this verse thus forms the transition between He 13:7 and He 13:9. He is always "the same" (He 1:12). The same in the Old and in the New Testament.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 8. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, etc. As this stands in our common translation it conveys an idea which is not in the original. It would seem to mean that Jesus Christ, the unchangeable Saviour, was the end or aim of the conduct of those referred to, or that they lived to imitate and glorify him. But this is by no means the meaning in the original. There it stands as an absolute proposition, that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever;" that is, that he is unchangeable. The evident design of this independent proposition here is, to encourage them to persevere by showing that their Saviour was always the same; that he who had sustained his people in former times was the same still, and would be the same for ever. The argument here, therefore, for perseverance is founded on the immutability of the Redeemer. If he were fickle, vacillating, changing in his character and plans; if to-day he aids his people, and to-morrow will forsake them; if at one time he loves the virtuous, and at another equally loves the vicious; if he formed a plan yesterday which he has abandoned today; or if he is ever to be a different being from what he is now, there would be no encouragement to effort. Who would know what to depend on? Who would know what to expect tomorrow? For who could have any certainty that he could ever please a capricious or a vacillating being? Who could know how to shape his conduct if the principles of the Divine administration were not always the same? At the same time, also, that this passage furnishes the strongest argument for fidelity and perseverance, it is an irrefragable proof of the divinity of the Saviour. It asserts immutability--sameness in the past, the present, and to all eternity --but of whom can this be affirmed but God? It would not be possible to conceive of a declaration which would more strongly assert immutability than this.

(b) "same" Rev 1:4

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday - In all past times there was no way to the holiest but through the blood of Jesus, either actually shed, or significantly typified. To-day - he is the lamb newly slain, and continues to appear in the presence of God for us. For ever - to the conclusion of time, he will be the way, the truth, and the life, none coming to the Father but through him; and throughout eternity, εις τους αιωνας, it will appear that all glorified human spirits owe their salvation to his infinite merit. This Jesus was thus witnessed of by your guides, who are already departed to glory. Remember Him; remember them; and take heed to yourselves.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hebrews 13:7-15

The instructions and examples of ministers, who honourably and comfortably closed their testimony, should be particularly remembered by survivors. And though their ministers were some dead, others dying, yet the great Head and High Priest of the church, the Bishop of their souls, ever lives, and is ever the same. Christ is the same in the Old Testament day. as in the gospel day, and will be so to his people for…

Read the full comment on Hebrews 13:7-15 →

Hebrews 13:8 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424

ΧριστὸςChristosChristG5547

ἐχθὲςechthesyesterdayG5504

καὶkaiandG2532

σήμερονsēmerontodayG4594

ὁho[is] theG3588

αὐτὸςautossameG846

καὶkaiandG2532

εἰςeistoG1519

τοὺςtoustheG3588

αἰῶνας.aiōnasages.G165

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Hebrews 13:8

Malachi 3:6
For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Isaiah 44:6
Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Hebrews 1:12
And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Psalms 102:27-28
But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
Psalms 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Psalms 103:17
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.
Psalms 90:4
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Revelation 1:17-18
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation 1:4
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1:12; Ps 90:2,4; 102:27,28; 103:17; Isa 41:4; 44:6; Mal 3:6
Joh 8:56-58; Jas 1:17; Re 1:4,8,11,17,18

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Hebrews 13:7
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Hebrews 13:9
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Read all of Hebrews 13

Hebrews 13:8 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Jesucristo es el mismo ayer, y hoy, y por los siglos.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Jésus Christ est le même, hier, et aujourd’hui, et éternellement.
German Elberfelder 1871	Jesus Christus ist derselbe gestern und heute und in Ewigkeit.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Jesus Christus heri, et hodie: ipse et in sæcula.