Hebrews 13:3 · Bible study
Hebrews 13:3 Commentary: Remember Prisoners, Bound with Them
Greek · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Exegetical study of Hebrews 13:3.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Actively remember prisoners and the mistreated with the same empathy you would want if you were in their place, because you share a mortal body.
- Key words: μιμνῄσκεσθε (remember, active imperative); συνδεδεμένοι (bound together with them, perfect participle, continuous solidarity); σώματι (body, anarthrous, pointing to physical human nature).
- Main debate: Does “in the body” mean “in the Church” (Calvin) or “in a human body liable to suffering” (most modern commentators)? The absence of the article favors the latter.
- Theological theme: The suffering church as one body, not a metaphor but a tangible, physical connection through shared vulnerability.
- Best use: A sermon on practical compassion, a small-group study on solidarity with the persecuted, or a personal meditation on visiting those in prison.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.
WEB World English Bible 2000
Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.
KJV King James Version 1769
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
be mindful of those in bonds, as having been bound with them, of those maltreated, as also yourselves being in the body;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Remember prisoners, as bound with [them]; those that are evil-treated, as being yourselves also in [the] body.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Remember them that are in bands, as if you were bound with them: and them that labour, as being yourselves also in the body.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Acordaos de los presos, como presos juntamente con ellos; y de los afligidos, como que también vosotros mismos sois del cuerpo.
Lembrai-vos dos prisoneiros, como se estivésseis presos com eles; e dos que são maltratados, como se vós mesmos também estivessem sendo em vossos corpos.
Souvenez-vous des prisonniers, comme si vous étiez aussi prisonniers; de ceux qui sont maltraités, comme étant aussi vous-mêmes dans un corps.
Gedenket der Gebundenen als die Mitgebundenen derer, die in Trübsal leiden, als die ihr auch noch im Leibe lebet.
Gedenkt der gevangenen, alsof gij mede gevangen waart; en dergenen, die kwalijk gehandeld worden, alsof gij ook zelven in het lichaam kwalijk gehandeld waart.
Ricordatevi de’ carcerati, come se foste in carcere con loro; di quelli che sono maltrattati, ricordando che anche voi siete nel corpo.
Pamiętajcie na więźniów, jakobyście spółwięźniami byli; na utrapionych, jako ci, którzy też w ciele jesteście.
Помните узников, как бы и вы с ними были в узах, и страждущих, как и сами находитесь в теле.
你們要記念 被捆綁的人，好像 與他們同受捆綁；也要記念遭苦害的人，想到 自己 也 在 肉身 之內。
Keep in mind those who are in chains, as if you were chained with them, and those who are in trouble, as being yourselves in the body.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · Hebrews 13:3
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across Protestant, Reformed, and Anglican traditions agree on the verse’s central imperative: Christians must actively remember prisoners and the ill-treated. The verb μιμνῄσκεσθε (remember) means more than mental recall; as Barnes argues, it implies “sympathy, prayer, and relief.” The perfect participle συνδεδεμένοι (having been bound with them) presses the hearer into a shared experience: feel their bonds as your own. The two groups, prisoners (δεσμίων) and the mistreated (κακουχουμένων), are to be seen as fellow sufferers. Yet the final phrase “as being yourselves also in the body” divides the commentators. Most (Barnes, Gill, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Vincent, Wesley) read it as “human beings, liable to bodily suffering.” Calvin, followed by others, takes it as “members of the same body of Christ.” The grammar settles the matter for many: σώματι lacks the article, so “the body” (the Church) is unlikely; it refers to the physical body, subject to pain and imprisonment.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Human body, liable to suffering: Anarthrous σώματι; parallels in 2 Corinthians 12:2; the phrase links to common physical vulnerability
- Body of Christ (the Church): Context of unity in the epistle (Hebrews 3:6, 10:21); echoed by Calvin and some early commentators
What is clear: The command to remember prisoners as bound with them — active, empathetic solidarity — is not disputed. The shared condition that motivates this sympathy, whether physical or ecclesiastical, remains the point of interpretive divergence.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning of 'in the body' (ἐν σώματι) | The phrase grounds the call to sympathy in some kind of shared condition with the sufferer. | Calvin and some Reformed commentators take it as membership in the body of Christ (the Church). Most others (Barnes, Gill, Vincent, Cambridge) take it as being physically alive and subject to suffering. Lexically, the anarthrous σώματι makes the Church reading less likely (Vincent). |
| Scope of 'prisoners' (δεσμίων) | The word includes all who are in bonds, regardless of the cause. | Adam Clarke and Gill specify those suffering for Christ’s sake, while Barnes extends it to all prisoners, criminals, slaves, captives. The principle of sympathy applies broadly, but the immediate context of Christian persecution narrows the primary reference. |
| Nature of 'remember' | The verb implies active care, prayer, visitation, material aid. | Some (Matthew Henry) emphasize intercessory prayer; others (Barnes) stress prison visitation and relief. The text does not prescribe one method, so traditions vary in emphasis. |
| Role of shared human nature vs. shared church membership | Both views agree that solidarity with the sufferer is essential. | If the Church body, then the motivation is covenant unity with brothers and sisters. If the mortal body, then the motivation is common vulnerability, even non-Christians can be objects of this command. This affects whether the verse is a general ethical command or a specific church directive. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Imprisonment in the Roman world was not a punishment but a holding cell before trial or execution. Conditions were brutal: dark, crowded, unsanitary, with prisoners often in chains (δεσμίων). The book of Hebrews was written to a community that had already suffered reproach and plundering of property (Hebrews 10:32-34). Many Christians were in bonds for confessing Christ, a pattern seen throughout Acts (Acts 16:23-24, 28:20). The command to “remember” them included visits, material aid, and intercessory prayer. Both synagogue and early church liturgies included prayers for prisoners (Vincent notes this from Clement of Rome's letter). The structural asyndeton in the Greek (no connecting “and”) makes the command more forceful: “Remember prisoners, as bound with them, those mistreated, as also yourselves being in the body.” The perfect tense of συνδεδεμένοι emphasizes a lasting solidarity: once you have entered into their suffering, the bond remains. The phrase “in the body” has a parallel in 2 Corinthians 12:2, where Paul distinguishes being in the body (alive on earth) from being out of the body. Here it points to the shared physical condition that makes every believer vulnerable to the same fate.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Hebrews 13:3. The Greek text is stable across major manuscripts. Some later scribes added a connective “and” between the two clauses, but the asyndeton (lack of conjunction) is original and gives the verse a sharper, more urgent tone. This is reflected in translations that omit the second “and” (e.g., YLT, Lange’s commentary).
Reception History
From the earliest centuries, Hebrews 13:3 shaped Christian practice. Clement of Rome’s letter (c. AD 96) includes a prayer for prisoners, and Vincent notes that public intercession for the bound was part of the daily synagogue liturgy and later the church’s morning service. Lucian of Samosata, a second-century satirist, observed that Christians would visit their imprisoned brethren with “effusive kindness” (Cambridge). The verse was a key text for prison ministries in the medieval church and was often cited by John Howard and other eighteenth-century prison reformers. During periods of persecution, believers read it as a call to visit the confessors in jail, bringing food, encouragement, and the Eucharist when possible. In the modern era, it has been used to advocate for criminal justice reform and to urge prayer for persecuted Christians worldwide.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Remember prisoners as your own flesh. The verb implies active sympathy, not passive awareness. Visit, pray, give. (Matthew 25:36)
- Feel their bonds as bound with them. The perfect participle calls for ongoing identification. Their suffering becomes your concern because of common humanity.
- You are in the body too. Your own physical existence, fragile, mortal, exposed to pain, is the ground of compassion. What they endure could be yours tomorrow.
Five-point outline
- The command: active, deliberate remembering (μμιμνῄσκεσθε).
- The object: prisoners and the mistreated, not limited by cause of suffering.
- The method: as bound with them, solidarity that costs.
- The motive: shared bodily existence, not abstract theology.
- The result: a church that suffers with the suffering, fulfilling Christ’s law of love.
Illustration hooks
- A friend is hospitalized with a long illness. You visit once, but the hardship of daily care falls on family. The verse asks you to imagine yourself in that bed, then act accordingly.
- In many countries today, Christians sit in prisons for their faith. A simple act like writing a letter through a prison ministry is “remembering them as bound with them.”
- Your own body aches, ages, tires. That very weakness qualifies you to stand alongside anyone who suffers, no special strength required, only honest empathy.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Why should I care about prisoners? They broke the law.”
- “How can I ‘remember’ someone I don’t know personally?”
- “Does this verse mean I must visit every suffering person I hear about?”
Leading a Discussion
This verse is a mirror: it shows how closely we identify with those who suffer. Before you discuss, read the verse aloud and sit in silence for thirty seconds. Then ask: What in this verse surprises you? What challenges you?
Discussion questions
- Read the verse in at least two translations. What difference do you notice in how they render “as bound with them”?
- The Greek word for “remember” (μιμνῄσκεσθε) is an imperative, a command. Why do you think the writer gives a command about compassion rather than a suggestion?
- What kinds of “bonds” and “ill-treatment” existed for Christians in the first century? What forms of imprisonment or mistreatment exist for believers today?
- The debate about “in the body” (the Church vs. human frailty) affects how we apply this. Which reading do you find more compelling, and why? How does each reading change what you do on Monday?
- Verse 3 sits between hospitality to strangers (v.2) and honoring marriage (v.4). How does this placement shape the meaning of “remembering prisoners”?
- Think of a time you felt truly remembered by someone when you were suffering. What did that mean to you? How can you become that kind of person for someone in prison?
- This verse does not distinguish between “innocent” and “guilty” prisoners. Does that matter? How should the church approach both the wrongly accused and the convicted?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 40:14 | But remember me when it is well with you. Please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. |
| Genesis 40:15 | For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.” |
| Genesis 40:23 | Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him. |
| Nehemiah 1:3 | They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” |
| Nehemiah 1:4 | When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned several days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, |
| Jeremiah 38:7 | Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate), |
| Jeremiah 38:13 | So they lifted Jeremiah up with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. |
| Matthew 25:36 | I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’ |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke insists on more than sympathy: Christians must identify so fully with imprisoned believers that they feel the chains as their own. His point is that because we share the same vulnerable human body, we might someday need the same compassion we are called to show now.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes insists that remembering prisoners means far more than thinking of them; it demands active sympathy, prayer, and practical aid. He draws a pointed application to the millions enslaved in America, arguing that Christians must identify with the oppressed as bound with them, because we ourselves are vulnerable to suffering.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin reads the body in this verse as the Church, the mystical body of Christ, not as the common human condition or the sufferer's literal body. Because believers are members of one body, they must share in each other's sufferings, feeling bound with those in distress as part of Christian unity.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator stresses that the Greek phrase “as bound with them” literally means “as having been bound with them,” implying perfect sympathy because all Christians are Christ’s slaves and captives. He also clarifies that “in the body” refers to shared human vulnerability to suffering, not membership in the church.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Bible notes stress that remembering prisoners and the afflicted means entering into their suffering with genuine empathy, as if we ourselves were bound or physically tormented alongside them. This isn't
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill specifies that the bonds refer to imprisonment for Christ and the Gospel, not for crime or debt. He calls for active sympathy through prayer, visits, and relief, treating their suffering as if it were our own. For adversity, he includes both outward hardships and spiritual struggles, and interprets "in the body" as shared membership in the church or shared human vulnerability.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB highlights that Christians are bound together as members of one body under Christ, so remembering those in distress is not optional but natural. The Greek phrase for "suffer adversity" means being in an evil state. Since you also share the same vulnerable human body, you should sympathize, knowing suffering may come to you at any stage of life.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange notes that the command for brotherly love to continue assumes this love was already active among the original readers. The exhortation calls for persistence
Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887
Vincent stresses the literal force of Paul's command: believers are to feel imprisoned with their fellow believers, not merely pray for them. He notes that public intercession for prisoners was already an ancient practice in both church and synagogue. The phrase "being in the body" means sharing the same vulnerability to physical suffering, not membership in the church.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley urges believers to remember prisoners and sufferers in two concrete ways: through prayer and through active help. His reason is twofold: Christians are members of one body, bound with each other, and every believer remains vulnerable to the same trials as long as they live in this mortal body.