Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
Parallel translations
- WEB Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are 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 25:36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
- Heb 10:34For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
- Rom 12:15Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
- 1 Cor 12:26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
- Col 4:18The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
- Gal 6:1–2Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
- 1 Pet 3:8Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
- Matt 25:43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
- Acts 24:23And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him.
- Gen 40:23Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
- 2 Tim 1:16–18The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:
- Gen 40:14–15But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
- Phil 4:14–19Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
- Jer 38:7–13Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
- Eph 4:1I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
- Acts 16:29–34Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
- Neh 1:3–4And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
- Acts 27:3And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.
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Original language
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