independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)
Love and its household — hospitality, prisoners, marriage, money 13:1–6
vv. 1–3 — love sustained: brothers, strangers, prisoners
1
Let brotherly love continue.independent — asyndeton — the parenesis opens with its programmatic command
2
Do not neglect hospitality to strangers,independent — φιλαδελφία widens to φιλοξενία
for through this some unknowingly entertained angels.cause — Gen 18–19 — Abraham and Lot; ἔλαθον answers ἐπιλανθάνεσθε
3
Remember those in prison,independent — active concern, not mere recollection
as bound with them,comparative — the perfect participle — as if jointly fettered
and those who are mistreated,independent — elliptical — μιμνῄσκεσθε carried over
since you yourselves are also in the body.comparative — shared bodily vulnerability grounds the empathy
vv. 4–6 — marriage honored, money renounced, the promise held
4
Let marriage be held in honor among all,independent — verbless — read as exhortation, not statement
and the marriage bed be undefiled,independent — the second verbless limb
for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.cause — the sanction on both limbs — future κρινεῖ, eschatological
5
Let your manner of life be free from the love of money,independent — verbless again — the fronted predicate carries the stress
being content with what you have;participial — imperatival participle — contentment as greed's antidote
for he himself has said:cause — intensive αὐτός — God himself the speaker; perfect εἴρηκεν, a standing word
'I will never leave you,content — Deut 31:6 / Josh 1:5 — οὐ μή, the strongest denial
nor will I ever forsake you.'content — the negatives piled up — never abandoned
6
so that with confidence we may say:purpose — ὥστε + infinitive — result: God's promise emboldens our confession
'The Lord is my helper,content — Ps 118:6 (LXX 117:6) — verbless
and I will not fear;content — Ps 118:6 — fear excluded
what will man do to me?'content — the rhetorical question — mere man can do nothing final
Remember your leaders — Jesus Christ the same 13:7–8
7
Remember your leaders,independent — the former leaders, now passed on
who spoke to you the word of God;relative — qualitative οἵτινες — such as preached the word
considering the outcome of their way of life, imitate their faith.relative — ὧν with ἀναστροφῆς — the imperative μιμεῖσθε rides inside the relative; ἔκβασις, perhaps their faithful deaths
8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today — and forever.independent — the lapidary acclamation — leaders pass, the object of their faith does not (cf. 1:11–12)
The altar outside the camp 13:9–14
vv. 9–10 — grace, not foods: we have an altar
9
Do not be carried away by various and strange teachings;independent — the warning that opens the altar argument
for it is good that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods,cause — the two stabilizers opposed — χάριτι against βρώμασιν
by which those who walked in them were not benefited.relative — the verdict on the food-rules — no profit
10
We have an altarindependent — the counter-claim — Christ's sacrifice as the believers' altar
from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.relative — the old order excluded from the new altar
vv. 11–14 — outside the camp: the pattern, the Christ, the exodus
11
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp.cause — Lev 16:27 — blood inside, bodies outside; the fronted ὧν-clause kept with its τούτων resumption
12
Therefore Jesus also —independent — the subject suspended; διό draws the typological inference
that he might sanctify the people through his own blood —purpose — the purpose of ἔπαθεν below — his own blood against the animals'
suffered outside the gate.independent — the antitype — Golgotha outside Jerusalem's wall
13
Therefore let us go out to him outside the camp,independent — τοίνυν — the hortatory conclusion: a new exodus
bearing his reproach.participial — attendant — the cost of the going out (cf. 11:26)
14
For here we have no lasting city,cause — why we can leave — nothing here abides
but we seek the one to come.cause — the ἀλλά counterpart — the coming city sought (11:10, 16; 12:22)
The sacrifice of praise and of good works 13:15–16
15
Through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God,independent — δι' αὐτοῦ — through the crucified priest; the new cultus
that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.phrase modifier — τοῦτ' ἔστιν — the sacrifice glossed (Hos 14:2 LXX)
16
And do not neglect doing good and sharing,independent — praise joined to practical love — v. 2's verb of forgetting returns
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.cause — θυσίαις again — good works as offering
Obey your leaders; pray for us 13:17–19
17
Obey your leaders and submit to them,independent — the present leaders now, after the past ones of v. 7
for they keep watch over your soulscause — ἀγρυπνέω — the shepherd's sleepless vigilance
as those who will give an account,comparative — ὡς + future participle — accountable watchmen
that they may do this with joy and not with groaning,purpose — ἵνα taken with Πείθεσθε — τοῦτο = their watching
for that would be unprofitable for you.cause — verbless — their groaning rebounds on you
18
Pray for us,independent — the author steps forward
for we are convincedcause — πειθόμεθα echoes πείθεσθε — the persuaded ask for prayer
that we have a clear conscience,content — the claim that warrants the request
desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.participial — circumstantial — the settled intent behind the conscience
19
And I urge you the more earnestly to do this,independent — the first person singular emerges
so that I may be restored to you the sooner.purpose — the author hopes to return — the hindrance unnamed
The benediction of the God of peace 13:20–21
20
Now may the God of peace —independent — the subject suspended — its optative waits in v. 21
who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant,participial — Isa 63:11; Zech 9:11 — Hebrews' one explicit resurrection statement
our Lord Jesus —phrase modifier — apposition — the Shepherd named last
21
equip you with every good thingindependent — the optative main verb at last — the prayer-wish
to do his will,purpose — εἰς τό + infinitive — the goal of the equipping
working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,participial — nominative ποιῶν back on ὁ θεός; note the shift ὑμᾶς → ἡμῖν
to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.relative — the doxology — ᾧ taken with the nearer Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, though ὁ θεός is possible
The epistolary close 13:22–25
22
Now I urge you, brothers:independent — the personal appeal for the whole letter
bear with the word of exhortation,content — paratactic imperative as the appeal's content — the letter self-described
for indeed I have written to you only briefly.cause — epistolary aorist — thirteen chapters counted 'brief'
23
Know that our brother Timothy has been released,independent — Γινώσκετε read as imperative; supplementary participle
with whom, if he comes soon, I will see you.relative — the ἐάν-protasis kept inline within the relative
24
Greet all your leaders and all the saints.independent — the leaders a third time (vv. 7, 17)
Those from Italy greet you.independent — οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας — Italians abroad or greetings from Italy? left open
25
Grace be with you all.independent — the verbless grace-benediction — the Pauline-style close
Analysis. Hebrews 13 reads as a staccato of flush-left purple: the closing parenesis fires one short independent command after another — love, hospitality, prisoners, marriage, money — most with a single olive γάρ-ground hanging beneath (angels entertained unawares, God the judge, God's own promise), so vv. 1–6 form a picket line of imperatives, each driving one stake of motive. The promise of v. 5 opens the chapter's one early chain: εἴρηκεν carries the Deut 31:6/Josh 1:5 assurance in blue, and the ὥστε-result of v. 6 hangs the Ps 118:6 confession beneath it — a ground that itself speaks Scripture. Verse 8's creedal one-liner sits verbless and flush-left between the two leader-commands, read here as the ground of v. 7's 'imitate their faith' rather than as the subject of v. 9's strange teachings. The central argument (vv. 9–14) descends from ἔχομεν θυσιαστήριον: the Day-of-Atonement pattern (v. 11, kept as a single line with its fronted ὧν-clause and τούτων resumption), Jesus suffering outside the gate (his suspended subject-line split around the embedded ἵνα), and the twin hortatives ἐξερχώμεθα and ἀναφέρωμεν with their γάρ-grounds — no abiding city here, and praise plus good works as the sacrifices God now accepts. The layout's other calls, named honestly: the verbless nominal sentences of vv. 4–5 are read as exhortations, not statements; ἀρκούμενοι (v. 5) as an imperatival participle; the ἵνα of v. 17 is attached to Πείθεσθε (obey, so that they may keep their watch with joy), not to ἀγρυπνοῦσιν; the great benediction is drawn as one suspended arc — Ὁ δὲ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης waits through the resurrection-participle and the apposition 'our Lord Jesus' before the optative καταρτίσαι lands flush-left in v. 21 — and its doxological ᾧ is anchored to the nearer Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ while the tag admits ὁ θεός; Γινώσκετε (v. 23) is taken as imperative, and οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας (v. 24) is left open between Italians at home and Italians abroad.