5:4a
No one takes this honor upon himself: In Greek this clause is more literally “and not to/for himself does anyone take the honor.” It indicates that no one must claim the honor of being high priest for himself. The Berean Standard Bible uses the phrase No one takes…upon himself to emphasize that no person has the right to make himself a high priest. It is God who must choose the high priest.
Some other ways to translate the clause are:
No one chooses for himself the honor of being a high priest. (Good News Translation)
-or-
To be a high priest is an honor, but no one chooses himself for this work. (New Century Version)
-or-
And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. (New Living Translation (2004))
this honor: The phrase this honor refers to the important role and work of being a high priest. It indicates that being the high priest is a privilege. God has honored the person whom he chooses as high priest. Some other ways to translate the phrase are:
the important position of highest priest
-or-
this great respect that the high priest receives
5:4b
he must be called by God: This clause tells how a person can become the high priest. He can have that role only if he is called by God. Notice that the verb called is passive here, though the text indicates that the subject is God. In some languages it is more natural to use an active verb. For example:
but rather it is necessary that God call him
-or-
he can take that work/role only if God chooses him to do it
-or-
he receives it when called by God (New International Version)
called by God: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as called means “to choose (a person) to receive a special benefit or experience.” God chooses the person whom he wants to be the high priest and to do that special work.
Some other ways to translate the phrase called by God are:
when God chooses him ⌊and tells him to do that work⌋
-or-
God must appoint him.
-or-
It is God who chooses him.
just as Aaron was: The clause just as Aaron was is a short way to say “in the same way that Aaron was called (chosen)” or “like God chose Aaron.” Aaron was the older brother of Moses (see Exodus 7:7), and he was the first high priest. God chose him and his sons to be consecrated as priests after the people of Israel left Egypt.
Some ways to translate this clause are:
like God/he chose Aaron long ago
-or-
as Aaron was chosen by God in the past
See Exodus 28–29 and Leviticus 8–9 for more information about God choosing Aaron as the high priest.
© 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.