希伯来书 7:4

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

麥基洗德的祭司職分你們想一想這人是多麼偉大啊！祖先亞伯拉罕也要從上等的擄物中，拿出十分之一來給了他。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
你 们 想 一 想 ， 先 祖 亚 伯 拉 罕 将 自 己 所 掳 来 上 等 之 物 取 十 分 之 一 给 他 ， 这 人 是 何 等 尊 贵 呢 ！

Contextual Overview

¹ Melchizedek was the king of Salem and a priest for God Most High. He met Abraham when Abraham was coming back after defeating the kings. When they met, Melchizedek blessed Abraham, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything he had brought back from the battle. First, Melchizedek's name means "king of goodness," and he is king of Salem, which means "king of peace." ³ No one knows who Melchizedek's father or mother was, where he came from, when he was born, or when he died. Melchizedek is like the Son of God; he continues being a priest forever. ⁴ You can see how great Melchizedek was. Abraham, the great father, gave him a tenth of everything that he won in battle. ⁵ Now the law says that those in the tribe of Levi who become priests must collect a tenth from the people—their own people—even though the priests and the people are from the family of Abraham. ⁶ Melchizedek was not from the tribe of Levi, but he collected a tenth from Abraham. And he blessed Abraham, the man who had God's promises. ⁷ Now everyone knows that the more important person blesses the less important person. ⁸ Priests receive a tenth, even though they are only men who live and then die. But Melchizedek, who received a tenth from Abraham, continues living, as the Scripture says. ⁹ We might even say that Levi, who receives a tenth, also paid it when Abraham paid Melchizedek a tenth. ¹⁰ Levi was not yet born, but he was in the body of his ancestor when Melchizedek met Abraham.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the patriarch: Acts 2:29, Acts 7:8, Acts 7:9

Abraham: Genesis 12:2, Genesis 17:5, Genesis 17:6, Romans 4:11-13, Romans 4:17, Romans 4:18, Galatians 3:28, Galatians 3:29, James 2:23

gave: Genesis 14:20

Reciprocal: Numbers 31:41 - Eleazar Zechariah 6:12 - behold 2 Timothy 2:7 - Consider Hebrews 7:6 - received Hebrews 7:9 - payed

Cross-References

Genesis 2:5
there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to care for the ground,

Genesis 6:3
The Lord said, "My Spirit will not remain in human beings forever, because they are flesh. They will live only 120 years."

Genesis 6:7
So the Lord said, "I will destroy all human beings that I made on the earth. And I will destroy every animal and everything that crawls on the earth and the birds of the air, because I am sorry I have made them."

Genesis 6:13
he said to Noah, "Because people have made the earth full of violence, I will destroy all of them from the earth.

Genesis 6:17
I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all living things that live under the sky, including everything that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will die.

Genesis 7:10
Seven days later the flood started.

Genesis 7:11
When Noah was six hundred years old, the flood started. On the seventeenth day of the second month of that year the underground springs split open, and the clouds in the sky poured out rain.

Genesis 7:12
The rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:17
Water flooded the earth for forty days, and as it rose it lifted the boat off the ground.

Genesis 7:21
All living things that moved on the earth died. This included all the birds, tame animals, wild animals, and creatures that swarm on the earth, as well as all human beings.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now consider how great this man was,.... Melchizedek, of whom so many great and wonderful things are said in the preceding verses: and as follows,

unto whom the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils; of Abraham's giving tithes to him, :- and Melchizedek's greatness is aggravated, not only from this act of Abraham's, but from Abraham's being a "patriarch", who did it; he was the patriarch of patriarchs, as the sons of Jacob are called, Acts 7:8 he is the patriarch of the whole Jewish nation, and of many nations, and of all believers, the friend of God, and heir of the world; how great then must Melchizedek be, to whom he paid tithes? and how much greater must Christ, the antitype of Melchizedek, be?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now consider how great this man was - The object of the apostle was to exalt the rank and dignity of Melchizedek. The Jews had a profound veneration for Abraham, and if it could be shown that Melchizedek was superior to Abraham, then it would be easy to demonstrate the superiority of Christ as a priest to all who descended from Abraham. Accordingly he argues, that he to whom even the patriarch Abraham showed so much respect, must have had an exalted rank. Abraham, according to the views of the East, the illustrious ancestor of the Jewish nation, was regarded as superior to any of his posterity, and of course was to be considered as of higher rank and dignity than the Levitical priests who were descended from him.

Even the patriarch Abraham - One so great as he is acknowledged to have been. On the word “patriarch,” see the notes on Acts 2:29. It occurs only in Acts 2:29; Acts 7:8-9, and in this place.

Gave the tenth of the spoils - see the notes, Hebrews 7:2. The argument here is, that Abraham acknowledged the superiority of Melchizedek by thus devoting the usual part of the spoils of war, or of what was possessed, to God by his hands, as the priest of the Most High. Instead of making a direct consecration by himself, he brought them to him as a minister of religion, and recognized in him one who had a higher official standing in the matter of religion than himself. The Greek word rendered here “spoils” - ἀκροθίνιον akrothinion - means literally, “the top of the heap,” from ἄκρον akron, “top,” and θίν thin, “heap.” The Greeks were accustomed, after a battle, to collect the spoils together, and throw them into a pile, and then, before they were distributed, to take off a portion from the top, and devote it to the gods; Xen. Cyro. 7, 5, 35; Herod. i. 86, 90; 8:121, 122; Dion. Hal. ii. In like manner it was customary to place the harvest in a heap, and as the first thing to take off a portion from the top to consecrate as a thank-offering to God. The word then came to denote the “first-fruits” which were offered to God, and then the best of the spoils of battle. It has that sense here, and denotes the spoils or plunder which Abraham had taken of the discomfited kings.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hebrews 7:4. Consider how great this man was — There is something exceedingly mysterious in the person and character of this king of Salem; and to find out the whole is impossible. He seems to have been a sort of universal priest, having none superior to him in all that region; and confessedly superior even to Abraham himself, the father of the faithful, and the source of the Jewish race. See Hebrews 7:7.

The patriarch Abraham — ο πατριαρχης. Either from πατηρ, a father, and αρχη, a chief or head; or from πατριας αρχη, the head of a family.' But the title is here applied, by way of eminence, to him who was the head or chief of all the fathers-or patriarch of the patriarchs, and father of the faithful. The Syriac translates it [Syriac] Rish Abahatha, "head of the fathers." The character and conduct of Abraham place him, as a man, deservedly at the head of the human race.