Hebrews 5:7

During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — The author of Hebrews addresses Jewish believers, anchoring Christ's priestly role (v. 6) in his concrete human experience before the cross. The moment is the "days of the flesh" — his earthly life, culminating in Gethsemane and Calvary.

The words — σαρκὸς (sarkos), "flesh," is the load-bearing word: it insists the one praying is a human body in genuine distress, not a detached divine being. The phrase "days of the flesh" (ἡμέραι τῆς σαρκός) is a Hebraic idiom for the span of human life.

The thread — The scene is Gethsemane (Mark 14:32; Luke 22:41) and the cross (Matthew 27:46), where "loud cries and tears" find their concrete expression. Hebrews 5:8 tightens the point: as Son, He learned obedience through suffering.

Why it lands — The verse ties the effectiveness of Christ's prayer to his reverence, not his power, so the reader's access to God runs through a human who suffered rather than a deity who was merely present. It asks the reader to stop treating Christ's humanity as a theological footnote and see it as the very channel of their hope.

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

Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Cross-references

Luke 22:41 And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed,
Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Mark 14:32 Then they came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus told His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
John 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.
John 17:4 I have glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do.
John 12:27 Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come to this hour.
Mark 15:34 At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Matthew 26:28 This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 27:50 When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit.
Psalms 22:1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?