Revised Standard Version makes clear the grammatical connection between verses 13 and 14, but most common language translations divide them into two sentences. Bijbel in Gewone Taal links verse 14a with verse 13: “if the blood of goats and bulls, and sprinkling with the ash of a young cow, can make impure people holy, so that they are pure according to the law, 14 how much more then the blood of Christ!”

Since this is true may be expressed as “Since this is what does take place” or “Since people are purified in this way.”

On how much more, see 2.1-3; 3.3; 8.6.

Is accomplished is not in the text, but it is essential to bring out the meaning and to avoid the misleading suggestions that Christ’s sacrifice is merely a better way of making people ritually clean, or that Christ’s sacrifice cleanses the conscience more effectively than animal sacrifices made people ritually clean. The first suggestion would contradict verse 14b, and the second, though doubtless true in itself, is not what this text means. There is no contrast between the present tense of is accomplished and the future will purify. Is accomplished, as already noted, is not expressed in the Greek text, but will purify is implicitly present in meaning: “if the argument is correct, this consequence follows” or “… will follow.”

The blood of Christ: though grammatically blood is a noun, the rest of the verse shows that it means the event of Christ’s dying as a sacrifice.

Rather than an exclamation such as how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! some languages require an emphatic statement; for example, “the blood of Christ accomplishes so much more” or “… is even more powerful.”

If a literal reference to the blood of Christ can be retained, this is useful, since it continues the analogy between the Old Testament sacrifices and the death of Christ. But in some instances it may be important to render by the blood of Christ as “by the death of Christ,” and therefore how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! may be expressed as “how much more Christ accomplished when he died as a sacrifice” or “… when he shed his own blood.” However, in rendering “shed his own blood” it is important to avoid any implication of suicide.

Through the eternal Spirit may be expressed as “By means of the Spirit that lives forever.” This is usually understood as a reference to God’s eternal Spirit, and it may be necessary to make this clear by translating “By means of God’s Spirit which always exists.”

Sacrifice is implied, both by the word for offered (see 5.1) and by the word for perfect, which recalls Numbers 19.2 (compare 1 Peter 1.19). In Numbers perfect means that “the animal has no defect which would disqualify it for use as a sacrifice.” However, in Psalms 15.2 and 18.24 the same term is used of human worshipers.

He offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God may involve some readjustment in some languages; for example, “he gave himself to God as a perfect sacrifice.” But the phrase as a perfect sacrifice must be understood in a figurative sense, since he really died on a cross. Therefore in translation it may be necessary to render this clause as “when he died he was just like a sacrifice and, as such, he was just what he should be.”

Translations and commentaries are divided about the meaning of Through the eternal Spirit. Some give an alternative translation in a note, and some leave the meaning unclear when the verse is read aloud (Bible de Jérusalem “an eternal Spirit”).
(a) common language translations, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, and Translator’s New Testament spell Spirit with a capital “S,” suggesting either “the Holy Spirit” (Knox) or “the divine nature of Christ.”
(b) Moffatt “in the spirit of the eternal”; Phillips and New American Bible “in the eternal spirit”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Barclay, and New English Bible “a spiritual and eternal sacrifice” spell it with a small “s,” either suggesting “the unique but human spirit of Christ” or leaving the meaning unclear.

In favor of (b) it may be said (i) that “eternal spirit” does not have “the” in the text (but this argument is not decisive); (ii) that the writer speaks several times of the Holy Spirit, and there seems no reason why he should not have done so here if that was what he meant; and (iii) that “eternal spirit” may mean the same as the power of a life which has no end in 7.16.

It is therefore possible, as an alternative to Good News Bible and Revised Standard Version, to translate with New English Bible “a spiritual and eternal sacrifice” or “an eternal and spiritual sacrifice.” This solution should not, however, be adopted if there is any danger of the reader thinking that Christ’s sacrifice itself, rather than its effects, took place eternally. This would conflict with clear statements that his sacrifice took place “once for all” (for example, see verse 26).

On consciences, see comment on heart in Heb. 9.9. The UBS Greek New Testament, common language translations, and most other translations except Moffatt read our rather than “your” consciences. The manuscript evidence is rather evenly divided, but our fits better in a part of the letter which consists of teaching rather than calls to action.

On useless rituals or “dead works,” see comment on 6.1, and then Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch quoted in the general comment on 9.11-14. There is a rather complex problem in rendering His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals. The implication is that the useless rituals (or literally “dead works”) actually make the conscience unclean or impure, or even cause death. But what makes the person impure is not the ritual as such but it uselessness, in that it does not take away sin or guilt. His blood is a reference to Christ’s sacrificial death. It may therefore be possible to translate His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals as “By his sacrificial death Christ will purify us from what remains as the result of the rituals which accomplish nothing.”

Serve here renders the word used for liturgical worship in verse 9, worshiper.

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s “God, the giver of life” is at least part of the meaning of the living God, and it has a fresher impact than the traditional phrase.

So that we may serve the living God may be rendered as “in order that we may serve the God who lives” or “… the God who gives life.” But “to serve God” must be expressed in some languages as “to do what God wants us to do.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .