Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.
Parallel translations
- KJV Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
- BSB Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.
- NKJV Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.
- NASB Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are badly treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.
- NLT Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Believers should remember and identify with prisoners and the mistreated as if they shared their suffering. It calls for active, empathetic solidarity with the persecuted.
Overview
The original readers faced persecution, and some fellow Christians were imprisoned for their faith. The author urges them to remember such people not abstractly but with the compassion of those who themselves share a vulnerable body. This love within the body of Christ reflects Jesus, who identifies with His suffering people (Matthew 25:36).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Matt 25:36I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
- Heb 10:34For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
- Rom 12:15Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
- 1 Cor 12:26When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
- Col 4:18The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand: remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
- Gal 6:1–2Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
- 1 Pet 3:8Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tender hearted, courteous,
- Matt 25:43I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
- Acts 24:23He ordered the centurion that Paul should be kept in custody, and should have some privileges, and not to forbid any of his friends to serve him or to visit him.
- Gen 40:23Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him.
- 2 Tim 1:16–18May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,
- Gen 40:14–15But remember me when it will be well with you, and please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.
- Phil 4:14–19However you did well that you shared in my affliction.
- Jer 38:7–13Now 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 the gate of Benjamin),
- Eph 4:1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
- Acts 16:29–34He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas,
- Neh 1:3–4They 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.”
- Acts 27:3The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself.
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Original language
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