This verse consists of three short statements: Endure … your suffering shows … Was there ever…? The second statement expands part of the meaning of the first, and the third draws a conclusion from the second. Earlier editions of Good News Translation had “because your suffering…,” understanding the second statement as giving a reason for the first, but this is not necessary. The third statement has the form of a rhetorical question, which Phillips turns into a strong negative statement: “No true son ever grows up uncorrected by his father.” Good News Translation fourth edition, which changed “punishes” into corrects in verses 5 and 6a, did not do the same in verses 7-10, where the same Greek words are used.
On Endure, see verses 1-3. The indicative “You endure” is a possible but unlikely translation.
What you suffer is implied. Endure what you suffer as being a father’s punishment is stronger than Bible en français courant‘s “bear your sufferings as if they were the punishment of a father.” Both the discipline and God’s fatherhood are real, as the next part of the verse shows. Other common language translations bring out the same meaning in different words: Bijbel in Gewone Taal “That is part of your upbringing: bear it in that way. God treats you as his children” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “Bear the blows (patiently). God is treating you as his sons.” King James Version‘s “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons”” is based on inferior manuscripts.
A father’s is not in the Greek text but is added in order to soften punishment and to bring out the wider idea of upbringing by a parent.
The statement Endure what you suffer as being a father’s punishment leaves implicit the son’s reaction to the father’s action, or his understanding of its nature and purpose. Therefore it may be necessary to translate the first part of verse 7 as “Consider the suffering that you endure as being like the way in which a son suffers because of the way his father punishes him” or “… like the way in which a father punishes his son to show him that he has done wrong.”
In the statement your suffering shows that God is treating you as his sons, it is implied that the readers should draw a certain conclusion from the way in which God is treating them. The statement may therefore be translated as “if you suffer, then you know that God is treating you as his sons.” But it would be more satisfactory to translate “the fact that you are suffering shows that God is treating you as his sons” or “… is dealing with you just as though you are his sons.”
The connection between the two sentences of verse 7 in Good News Translation is shown by the repetition sons … son; Revised Standard Version‘s “for” is therefore omitted. Was there ever a son…? may also be translated “Who, having the status of a son…?” The difference of meaning is slight. In either case, the rhetorical question is equivalent to a strong double negative statement, “There is no son whose father does not punish him,” which Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente simplifies to the positive: “In fact, it is normal that a son be corrected by his father.” Other possible forms of the statement are “There never was a son who was not punished by his father” or “There never were sons who were not corrected by their fathers.”
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 .