Hebrews 13:2
And hospitality do not forget; for by this some, being not aware of it, have entertained angels.
Open Hebrews 13:2 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et hospitalitatem nolite oblivisci : per hanc enim latuerunt quidam, angelis hospitio receptis.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- τῆς φιλοξενίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθε, διὰ ταύτης γὰρ ἔλαθόν τινες ξενίσαντες ἀγγέλους.
Haydock's commentary
And hospitality do not forget,...some being not aware1 of it, have entertained Angels. They imagined they received men, when they were Angels. The Latin interpreter followed exactly the Greek, though the expression be unusual in both languages. It is meant of Abraham, (Genesis xviii. 2.) and of Lot, Genesis xix. 1. (Witham)
1 Per hanc enim latuerunt quidam Angelis hospitio receptis, dia tautes gar elathon tines xenisantes Aggelous, i.e. hospitio recipiendo Angelos. The Latin has exactly followed the Greek.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine City of God, Of the Three Men or Angels, in Whom the Lord is Related to Have Appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre
God appeared again to Abraham at the oak of Mamre in three men, who it is not to be doubted were angels, although some think that one of them was Christ, and assert that He was visible before He put on flesh. Now it belongs to the divine power, and invisible, incorporeal, and incommutable nature, without changing itself at all, to appear even to mortal men, not by what it is, but by what is subject to it. And what is not subject to it? Yet if they try to establish that one of these three was Christ by the fact that, although he saw three, he addressed the Lord in the singular, as it is written, “And, lo, three men stood by him: and, when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and worshipped toward the ground, and said, Lord, if I have found favor before thee,” etc.; why do they not advert to this also, that when two of them came to destroy the Sodomites, while Abraham still …
St Augustine Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, On the words of the Gospel, Luke x. 38, ‘And a certain woman named Martha received him into her house,’ etc
5. Good are ministrations done to the poor, and especially the due services and the religious offices done to the saints of God. For they are a payment, not a gift, as the Apostle says, “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?” Good are they, we exhort you to them, yea by the word of the Lord we build you up, “be not slow to entertain” the saints. Sometimes, they who were not aware of it, by entertaining those whom they knew not, have entertained angels. These things are good; yet better is that thing which Mary hath chosen. For the one thing hath manifold trouble from necessity; the other hath sweetness from charity. A man wishes when he is serving, to meet with something; and sometimes he is not able: that which is lacking is sought for, that which is at hand is got ready; and the mind is distracted. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 6.13-16
Enquire, if thou wilt, how Abraham showed hospitality towards all who came to him. If he had been over-curious about those who fled to him for refuge, he would not have “entertained angels.” ( c. xiii. 2 .) For perhaps not thinking them to be angels, he would have thrust them too away with the rest. But since he used to receive all, he received even angels.
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 12.28,29
C. xiii. 1, 2 . “Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful of hospitality, for hereby some have entertained angels unawares.” See how he enjoins them to preserve what they had: he does not add other things. He did not say, “Be loving as brethren,” but, “Let brotherly love continue.” And again, he did not say, “Be hospitable,” as if they were not, but, “Be not forgetful of hospitality,” for this was likely to happen owing to their afflictions.