The Meaning of Hebrews 9:17 Explained

Hebrews 9:17

KJV: For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

YLT: for a covenant over dead victims is stedfast, since it is no force at all when the covenant-victim liveth,

Darby: For a testament is of force when men are dead, since it is in no way of force while the testator is alive.)

ASV: For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  a testament  [is] of force  after  men are dead:  otherwise  it is of  no  strength  at all  while  the testator  liveth. 

What does Hebrews 9:17 Mean?

Context Summary

Hebrews 9:11-20 - The Blood Which Sealed The New Covenant
We are led to consider Christ's high-priestly work. The scene for it is no edifice made with hands in this transitory world, but eternal and divine. His stay in the Holiest is not brief, hurried, and repeated year by year, but once for all He enters by virtue of His own blood. That blood cleanses not only from ceremonial guilt, but from moral and spiritual pollution. A will or testament comes into force when the testator dies; so the will of the eternal Father toward us has been made valid through the blood of Jesus.
Consider, then, the Eternal or Timeless Spirit. What Jesus did on the Cross was the doing of God through His Spirit. The Atonement was not wrought by the dying Sufferer to appease God, but to express God as reconciling the world to Himself. The Timeless Cross. It belongs to no one age, but "towers o'er the wrecks of time," and is as near us as to the early Church. The Timeless Christ. Cast yourself out of yourself and into Him; out of the fret of the time-sphere into the freedom and ecstasy of the eternal! [source]

Chapter Summary: Hebrews 9

1  The description of the rites and sacrifices of the law;
11  which are far inferior to the dignity and perfection of the sacrifice of Christ

Greek Commentary for Hebrews 9:17

For a testament is of force after men are dead [διαθήκη γὰρ ἐπὶ νεκροῖς βεβαία]
Rend. “for a covenant is of force (or sure) over (or upon) dead (victims).” Comp. Soph. Elect. 237; Eurip. Ion. 228; Aesch. Eumen. 316; Hdt. iv. 162. See also Leviticus 21:5. [source]
Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth [ἐπεὶ μὴ τότε ἰσχύει ὅτε ζῇ ὁ διαθέμενος]
Rend. “since it hath not then force when the institutor is alive”: until he has been representatively slain. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Hebrews 9:17

Hebrews 9:18 Neither the first testament was dedicated without blood [οὐδὲ ἡ πρώτη χωρὶς αἵματος ἐνκεκαίνισται]
Rend. “neither hath the first (covenant) been inaugurated without blood.” There is surely no excuse for inserting testament here, as A.V., since the allusion is clearly to the ratification of a covenant with blood. But further, as this and the verses immediately following are intended to furnish a historical illustration of the statements in Hebrews 9:16, Hebrews 9:17, we seem forced either to render covenant in those verses, or to assume that the transaction here related was the ratification of a will and testament, or to find our writer guilty of using an illustration which turns on a point entirely different from the matter which he is illustrating. Thus: a testament is of force after men are dead. It has no force so long as the testator is alive. Wherefore, the first covenant was ratified by slaying victims and sprinkling their blood. For the incident see Exodus 24:8. Ἐνκαινίζειν only here and Hebrews 10:20. lxx, to renew, 1 Samuel 11:14; 2 Chronicles 15:8; Psalm 51:10: to dedicate, 1 Kings 8:63; John href="/desk/?q=joh+10:22&sr=1">John 10:22. Rend. οὐδὲ neitheras A.V., and not not even, in which case the meaning would be, “not even the first covenant, although its ministries did not perfect the worshipper as touching the conscience,” a thought which would be foreign to the point, which is merely the analogy in the matter of death. [source]
Hebrews 9:16 There must also of necessity be the death of the testator [θάνατου ἀνάγκη φέρεσθαι τοῦ διαθεμένου]
Rend. it is necessary that the death of the institutor (of the covenant ) should be borne. With the rendering testament, φέρεσθαι is well-nigh inexplicable. If covenant the meaning is not difficult. If he had meant to say it is necessary that the institutor die, he might better have used γένεσθαι : “it is necessary that the death of the institutor take place ”; but he meant to say that it was necessary that the institutor die representatively; that death should be borne for him by an animal victim. If we render testament, it follows that the death of the testator himself is referred to, for which θάνατου φέρεσθαι is a very unusual and awkward expression. Additional Note on Hebrews 9:16Against the rendering testament for διαθήκη , and in favor of retaining covenant, are the following considerations: (a) The abruptness of the change, and its interruption of the line of reasoning. It is introduced into the middle of a continuous argument, in which the new covenant is compared and contrasted with the Mosaic covenant (8:6-10:18). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(b) The turning-point, both of the analogy and of the contrast, is that both covenants were inaugurated and ratified by death: not ordinary, natural death, but sacrificial, violent death, accompanied with bloodshedding as an essential feature. Such a death is plainly indicated in Hebrews 9:15. If διαθήκη signifies testament, θάνατον deathin Hebrews 9:16must mean natural death without bloodshed. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(c) The figure of a testament would not appeal to Hebrews in connection with an inheritance. On the contrary, the idea of the κληρονομία was always associated in the Hebrew mind with the inheritance of Canaan, and that inheritance with the idea of a covenant. See Deuteronomy 4:20-23; 1 Chronicles 16:15-18; Psalm 105:8-11. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(d) In lxx, from which our writer habitually quotes, διαθήκη has universally the meaning of covenant. It occurs about 350 times, mostly representing בְּרִית, covenant. In the Apocryphal books it has the same sense, except in Exodus href="/desk/?q=ex+30:26&sr=1">Exodus 30:26; Numbers 14:44; 2 Kings 6:15; Jeremiah 3:16; Malachi 3:1; Luke 1:72, Acts 3:25; Acts 7:8. Also in N.T. quotations from the O.T., where, in its translation of the O.T., it uses foedus. See Jeremiah 31:31, cit. Hebrews 8:8. For διατιθέσθαι of making a covenant, see Hebrews 8:10; Acts 3:25; Hebrews 10:16. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(e) The ratification of a covenant by the sacrifice of a victim is attested by Genesis 15:10; Psalm 1:5; Jeremiah 34:18. This is suggested also by the phrase כָּרַֽת בְּרִֽת, to cut a covenant, which finds abundant analogy in both Greek and Latin. Thus we have ὅρκια τάμνειν tocut oaths, that is, to sacrifice a victim in attestation (Hom. Il. ii. 124; Od. xxiv. 483: Hdt. vii. 132). Similarly, σπονδὰς letus cut (make ) a league (Eurip. Hel. 1235): φίλια τέμνεσθαι tocement friendship by sacrificing a victim; lit. to cut friendship (Eurip. Suppl. 375). In Latin, foedus ferire to strike a league foedus ictum a ratified league, ratified by a blow (ictus ). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(f) If testament is the correct translation in Hebrews 9:16, Hebrews 9:17, the writer is fairly chargeable with a rhetorical blunder; for Hebrews 9:18ff. is plainly intended as a historical illustration of the propositions in Hebrews 9:16, Hebrews 9:17, and the illustration turns on a point entirely different from the matter illustrated. The writer is made to say, “A will is of no force until after the testator's death; therefore the first covenant was ratified with the blood of victims.sa180 [source]

Hebrews 10:28 Hath set at naught [ατετησας]
First aorist active participle of ατετεω — atheteō late compound, very common in lxx, from alpha privative and τιτημι — tithēmi to render null and void, to set aside, only here in Hebrews (see Mark 7:9), but note ατετησις — athetēsis (Hebrews 7:18; Hebrews 9:26). Without mercy See 2 Corinthians 1:3. This was the law (Deuteronomy 17:6) for apostates. On the word of two or three “On the basis of two or three.” For this use of επι — epi with the locative see Hebrews 9:17. [source]
Hebrews 13:20 That great shepherd of the sheep [τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν]
The Greek order is, “the shepherd of the sheep the great (shepherd).” Comp. John 10:2, John 10:11, John 10:14; 1 Peter 2:25, and see Isaiah 63:11. Of God, Zechariah href="/desk/?q=zec+9:11&sr=1">Zechariah 9:11. The phrase eternal covenant N.T.oCommon in lxx; see Genesis 9:16; Genesis 17:19; Leviticus 24:8; 2 Samuel 23:5; Jeremiah 32:40; Ezekiel 16:60. Const. with the great shepherd of the sheep. It may be granted that the raising of Christ from the dead, viewed as the consummation of the plan of salvation, was in the sphere of the blood of the covenant; nevertheless, the covenant is nowhere in the N.T. associated with the resurrection, but frequently with death, especially in this epistle. See Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:16, Hebrews 9:17, Hebrews 9:20. The connection of the blood of the covenant with Christ's pastoral office gives a thoroughly scriptural sense, and one which exactly fits into the context. Christ becomes the great shepherd solely through the blood of the covenant. Comp. Acts 20:28. Through this is brought about the new relation of the church with God described in Hebrews 8:10ff. This tallies perfectly with the conception of “the God of peace”; and the great Shepherd will assert the power of the eternal covenant of reconciliation and peace by perfecting his flock in every good work to do his will, working in them that which is well pleasing in his sight. With this agree Jeremiah 50:5, Jeremiah 50:19; Ezekiel 34:25, and the entire chapter, see especially Ezekiel 34:12-15, Ezekiel 34:23, Ezekiel 34:31. In these verses the Shepherd of the Covenant appears as guiding, tending his flock, and leading them into fair and safe pastures. Comp. Isaiah 63:11-14, and Revelation 7:17, see note on ποιμανεῖ shallshepherd. Ἑν αἵματι “in the blood,” is in virtue of, or in the power of the blood. [source]

What do the individual words in Hebrews 9:17 mean?

A will for after death [is] affirmed since not at the time it is in force when is living the [one] having made [it]
διαθήκη γὰρ ἐπὶ νεκροῖς βεβαία ἐπεὶ μή‿ ποτε ἰσχύει ὅτε ζῇ διαθέμενος

διαθήκη  A  will 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: διαθήκη  
Sense: a disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will.
ἐπὶ  after 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐπί  
Sense: upon, on, at, by, before.
νεκροῖς  death 
Parse: Adjective, Dative Masculine Plural
Root: νεκρός  
Sense: properly.
βεβαία  [is]  affirmed 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: βέβαιος  
Sense: stable, fast, firm.
ἐπεὶ  since 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ἐπεί  
Sense: when, since.
ποτε  at  the  time 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ποτέ  
Sense: once i.
ἰσχύει  it  is  in  force 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἰσχύω  
Sense: to be strong.
ζῇ  is  living 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ζάω  
Sense: to live, breathe, be among the living (not lifeless, not dead).
  the  [one] 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
διαθέμενος  having  made  [it] 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Middle, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: διατίθεμαι 
Sense: to arrange, dispose of, one’s own affairs.

What are the major concepts related to Hebrews 9:17?

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