Verses 10-12 are a quotation of Psalm 102.25-27, introduced simply by “And” (Revised Standard Version), which Good News Translation expands into He also said.

The two halves of the quotation in verse 10 are parallel, so and may be omitted. “And,” in English and other languages, leads the receptor to expect new information, not something largely equivalent to what has gone before. However, in Hebrew poetry “and” often introduces the second part of a parallelism. In such cases literal translation may be misleading, and the word “and” is best omitted.

The quotation in this verse is introduced by an emphatic You. The writer is not saying that God began by creating the earth and went on to make the heavens. He is saying that, at the beginning of time, it was God who laid the foundations of the earth and at the same time made the heavens with his own hands.

In the Old Testament text, “the Lord” meant God. In Hebrews, as in Paul’s letters, “the Lord” usually means the Son, and that is the probable meaning in this instance. In this context it is important to use for Lord the same term which is applied to Jesus in the Gospels, when he is addressed as “Lord.” In some languages it is necessary to make a clear distinction between (a) “Lord” as it occurs in the New Testament in reference to Jesus Christ and (b) “Lord” in the Old Testament when it refers to God. In general, however, it is advisable to use precisely the same expression despite the ambiguity or obscurity.

In the beginning is a very difficult expression to render literally in some languages, since one must always specify what is involved in such a beginning. A more appropriate equivalent may be “before there was anything” or “before anything existed.”

With your own hands is a poetic way of indicating direct involvement, but a literal rendering of such an expression might seem contradictory to those statements in Genesis which indicate that creation took place by the word of God (Gen 1.3, 6, 9). Other statements show that direct involvement without mentioning “hands” (Gen 2.7, 8, 19, 22), though they may be implied. Therefore it may be better in some languages to translate created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens as “you, yourself, created the earth and the sky.”

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 .