Hebrews 13:7

them which have the rule over you, who have spoken Rather, "your leaders, who spoke to you;" for, as the next clause shews, these spiritual leaders were dead. At this time the ecclesiastical organisation was still unfixed. The vague term "leaders" (found also in Acts 15:22), like the phrase "those set over you" (proistamenoi, 1 Thessalonians 5:12) means "bishops" and "presbyters," the two terms being, in the Apostolic age, practically identical. In later ecclesiastical Greek this word (ἡγούμενοι) was used for "Abbots."

whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation In the emphatic order of the original, "and earnestly contemplating the issue of their conversation, imitate their faith."

the end Not the ordinary word for "end" (telos) but the very unusual word ekbasin, "outcome." This word in the N.T. is found only in 1 Corinthians 10:13, where it is rendered "escape." In Wis 2:17 we find, "Let us see if his words be true, and let us see what shall happen at his end" (ἐν ἐκβάσει). It here seems to mean death, but not necessarily a death by martyrdom. It merely means "imitate them, by being faithful unto death." The words exodos, "departure" (Luke 9:31; 2 Peter 1:15) and aphixis(Acts 20:29) are similar euphemisms for death.