so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
Parallel translations
- WEB So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
- KJV So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
- BSB So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
- NKJV So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
- NLT So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
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
Because God is our helper, we can confidently say we will not fear what people can do to us. God's presence produces courage in the face of human threats.
Overview
Building directly on the promise of verse 5, the author quotes Psalm 118:6 to express the boldness that flows from trusting God. If the Lord is the believer's helper, then human opposition loses its power to terrify. This confidence sustained the persecuted readers and rests ultimately on the God who secured our salvation in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- Ps 118:6–9Yahweh is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
- Isa 41:10Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
- Rom 8:31What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Ps 27:1–3By David. Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
- Ps 124:8Our help is in Yahweh’s name, who made heaven and earth.
- Heb 4:16Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.
- Ps 56:4In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
- Ps 56:11–12I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
- Matt 10:28Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
- Ps 54:4Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul.
- Ps 33:20Our soul has waited for Yahweh. He is our help and our shield.
- Ps 63:7For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.
- Dan 3:16–18Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
- Ps 94:17Unless Yahweh had been my help, my soul would have soon lived in silence.
- Luke 12:4–5“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
- Ps 40:17But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.
- Gen 15:1After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
- Eph 3:12in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.
- Deut 33:29You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You will tread on their high places.”
- Isa 41:14Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says Yahweh, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
- Ps 27:9Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation.
- Ps 115:9–11Israel, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield.
- Exod 18:4The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword.”
- Ps 146:3Don’t put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help.
- Deut 33:26“There is no one like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, in his excellency on the skies.
- Heb 10:19Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
- Ps 18:1–2For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, I love you, Yahweh, my strength.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 13:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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