Hebrews 13:16 Meaning and Explanation
“But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →A thankful mouth and an open hand belong together in this closing section of Hebrews. Good intentions can be forgotten when life becomes crowded, resources feel limited, or another person's need is inconvenient. This verse gives memorable instruction: keep doing good, keep sharing, and recognize that God receives such acts with pleasure.
God is pleased by sacrifices expressed in active goodness and generous sharing. Hebrews calls believers to remember these practices, showing that worship offered to God reaches into concrete care for other people.
The Context of Hebrews 13:16
Hebrews 13 is a final series of exhortations for communal life. It has called for brotherly love, hospitality to strangers, remembrance of prisoners and sufferers, honor in marriage, contentment, courage, and faithfulness to godly teaching. In verses 10-14, Jesus is described as suffering outside the gate to sanctify the people, and readers are summoned to go to him bearing reproach. Verse 15 calls for continual praise through him. Verse 16 immediately turns from thankful lips to good deeds and communication. The following verse speaks of responsible care within the community, while verses 20-21 ask God to equip believers for every good work.
What Does Hebrews 13:16 Mean?
The contrast word "but" adds an essential companion to the sacrifice of praise in verse 15. "To do good" means to act for another's true benefit in the situations God places before us. "To communicate" in this setting refers to sharing what we have with others, especially in fellowship and generosity. The command "forget not" recognizes how easily mercy is displaced by preoccupation, fear, or habit. The verse calls attention back to acts that may seem ordinary: a meal offered, money shared, a burden carried, a visitor welcomed, or help given to someone suffering adversity. God sees these as sacrifices presented to him.
This instruction gathers up several earlier commands in the chapter. Brotherly love continues through hospitable welcome, sympathy with those in bonds, moral faithfulness, contentment, and prayer. The writer has also spoken of bearing reproach with Jesus and seeking the city to come. Sharing with others is one way pilgrims live faithfully while they wait for that city. Such generosity is not a way to purchase God's favor. The verse says that God is "well pleased" with these sacrifices, and the chapter's closing prayer asks God himself to work in his people what is well pleasing in his sight. God supplies grace and calls his people into willing, tangible response.
Hebrews connects these sacrifices to Jesus by placing them immediately after the call to offer praise "by him." Jesus suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people with his own blood, then the writer calls the sanctified community to follow him in a life marked by worship, reproach-bearing, goodness, and sharing. This is an earned connection, not a claim that every charitable act repeats Christ's offering. His sacrifice remains the foundation named in the chapter. Our acts of mercy are received as sacrifices because they arise within a people drawn near to God through him and shaped by his self-giving love.
Bible Verses Related to Hebrews 13:16
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
- Hebrews 13:2
“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
- Hebrews 13:3
“But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.”
- Philippians 4:18
“But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
- 1 John 3:17-18
Where Hebrews 13:16 Echoes in Scripture
Philippians 4:18 strongly echoes Hebrews 13:16 by describing a gift shared for ministry as an offering acceptable and pleasing to God. Both passages teach that material generosity is more than a private transfer between people. God receives it as worship when it serves real needs. The echo also clarifies that sharing may support those who labor in the gospel as well as those facing hardship.
How to Apply Hebrews 13:16 Today
We can remember goodness and sharing by making room for them before a crisis arrives. A household may set aside part of its resources for generosity, keep a simple list of people needing prayer or practical help, or invite someone who is isolated into ordinary fellowship. A congregation can care attentively for those under strain without reducing them to a project. Before offering help, listening can reveal what would actually serve the person. When resources are small, time, attention, transportation, skills, and encouragement may also be shared. Such choices turn gratitude into a visible pattern of life.
Reflection & Prayer
Whose need has God recently brought near enough for us to notice, yet easy enough for us to postpone? Ask for a willing and discerning heart. Pray: "God of peace, teach me to remember those in need. Work in me what is pleasing in thy sight, and guide my hands, words, time, and resources toward faithful good."