Hebrews 13:21
Fit you in all goodness, that you may do his will; doing in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Open Hebrews 13:21 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- aptet vos in omni bono, ut faciatis ejus voluntatem : faciens in vobis quod placeat coram se per Jesum Christum : cui est gloria in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- καταρτίσαι ὑμᾶς ἐν παντὶ ἀγαθῷ εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ποιῶν ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ εὐάρεστον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν.
Haydock's commentary
On verses 20 to 21
Who brought, or raised from the dead, the great pastor of the sheep, of all the faithful, Jesus Christ, in the blood of the everlasting testament: in the testament that is to last for ever, not for a time, like the former testament made to the people of Israel. These words, in the blood, may either be joined with brought from the dead his son, as man, by the merits of his blood, which he had shed on the cross, as it is said in Philippians ii. 8. Or they may be joined with the great pastor, and then the sense will be, that God raised Jesus Christ, who, by his blood shed on the cross, became the great shepherd of all the faithful. Working in you by his grace every good work, &c. (Witham)
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 John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XVIII on Acts vii. 54
See, once more, the wrong-doers in trouble. Just as the Jews are perplexed, saying, “What are we to do with these men?” so these also are “cut to the heart.” ( ch. iv. 16 .) And yet it was he that had good right to be incensed, who, having done no wrong, was treated like a criminal, and was spitefully calumniated. But the calumniators had the worst of it in the end. So true is that saying, which I am ever repeating, “Ill to do, is ill to fare.” And yet he (in his charges against them) resorted to no calumny, but proved (what he said). So sure are we, when we are shamefully borne down in a matter wherein we have a clear conscience, to be none the worse for it. “If they desired,” say you, “to kill him, how was it that they did not take occasion, out of what he said, that they might kill him?” They would fain have a fair-seeming plea to put upon their outrage. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 13.17
Therefore having first asked their prayers, he then himself also prays for all good things on them. ( Ver. 20 ) “Now the God of peace,” he says (be ye not therefore at variance one with another), “that brought again from the earth the Shepherd of the sheep” (this is said concerning the resurrection) “the Great [Shepherd]” (another addition: here again he confirms to them even to the end, his discourse concerning the Resurrection) “through the blood of the everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ,” ( ver. 21 ) “make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight.”
Theodoret Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, To John the Œconomus
Let us, then, not shun the name whereby we enjoy salvation, and whereby all things are made new, as says our teacher himself in his Epistle to the Ephesians, “According to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of time He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him.” Let us rather learn from this blessed language how we are bound to glorify our benefactor, by connecting the name of Christ with our God and Father. …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X, Chapter XVII. That temperateness and the endurance of temptations must be given to us by the Lord
And that all the endurance, with which we can bear the temptations brought upon us, depends not so much on our own strength as on the mercy and guidance of God, the blessed Apostle thus declares: “No temptation hath come upon you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make also a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” And that God fits and strengthens our souls for every good work, and worketh in us all those things which are pleasing to Him, the same Apostle teaches: “May the God of peace who brought out of darkness the great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ, in the blood of the everlasting Testament, fit you in all goodness, working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight.” And that the same thing may happen to the Thessalonians he prays as follows, saying: “Now our Lord …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).