Bible Strands
Hebrews 11:25
He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The anonymous author of Hebrews addresses a Jewish-Christian community under pressure to abandon Christ and return to the Mosaic system. This verse sits in the middle of the Moses narrative (vv. 23–29), the longest entry in the "faith" chapter.
The words — συγκακουχεῖσθαι (sugkakoucheisthai) is a rare compound meaning "to suffer affliction together with," binding Moses' fate inseparably to the people's. The comparative μᾶλλον (mallon) frames the whole verse as a deliberate weighing, not a reflex.
The thread — Psalms 84:10 makes the same comparative move—one day in God's courts outweighs a thousand elsewhere—while Job 36:21 inverts the logic, calling it a failure to prefer iniquity over affliction. 2 Timothy 2:3 echoes the cost: "suffer like a good soldier."
Why it lands — The verse asks the reader to name what they are choosing to avoid and what they are choosing to endure, and to treat that choice as the actual act of faith. It offers no comfort that the suffering will be brief; it only says the alternative was fleeting.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Cross-references
- Psalms 84:10 For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
- 2 Timothy 2:3 Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
- Job 36:21 Be careful not to turn to iniquity, for this you have preferred to affliction.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
- 1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.
- Job 20:5 the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- 1 Peter 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials
- Psalms 73:18 Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.
- 1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.