Bible Strands
Hebrews 5:3
That is why he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The author addresses Jewish believers familiar with the Levitical system, explaining the high priest’s duties immediately after noting his shared human weakness.
The words — ὀφείλει (opheilei) means he is obligated, and περὶ (peri) means for, framing the priest’s work as a binding requirement rather than a voluntary service.
The thread — The text describes the same dual offering pattern found in Leviticus 9:7 and Leviticus 16:6, where the priest presents sacrifices for himself and the congregation, and points forward to the blood ritual detailed in Hebrews 9:7.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge that legitimate mediation demands both personal accountability before God and a formal duty to represent the people.
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
And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 9:7 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering to make atonement for yourself and for the people. And sacrifice the people’s offering to make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded.”
- Leviticus 16:6 Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.
- Hebrews 9:7 But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
- Hebrews 7:27 Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.
- Leviticus 4:3 If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
- Leviticus 16:15 Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.
- Exodus 29:12 Take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.
- Leviticus 8:14 Moses then brought the bull near for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.