Many translations replace He by “Jesus” at the beginning of the verse, to make the sentence absolutely clear.
He was faithful to God may be expressed as “He did everything that God told him to do.” In some languages this can be best expressed as “God could trust him completely.” The context shows that the writer is thinking especially of Christ’s performance of the tasks God gave him as High Priest.
Chose is a common language equivalent for “appointed.” The same word is used about Jesus choosing the twelve disciples in Mark 3.14. It is the usual word for “made,” but cannot have that meaning here. As so often in this letter, God is implied. So is to do this work, which explains the purpose of “choosing.” Who chose him to do this work may be expressed as “who designated him to do what he did” or even “who said to him, ‘This is what you must do.’ ”
The second half of the verse contains a key quotation which becomes the text for this whole section. It is taken from Numbers 12.7, where Good News Translation translates “house” (Revised Standard Version) as people. In Hebrews, however, the translation house is required for the play on words in verses 3-4. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch underlines the importance of this quotation and makes it clear that it is a quotation: “He was just as true to the one who had appointed him as Moses, of whom it was said: ‘He was true to God in his whole house.’ ” This is one of the rare cases in which a word-for-word translation of a key term is essential to the meaning, since the argument turns on a literal understanding of the word “in.” A similar case is Galatians 3.16, where the plural “seeds” is unnatural but essential to this type of argument, a type which was common in Jewish tradition.
In God’s house: God makes explicit the antecedent of the Greek pronoun meaning “his.” In the Old Testament passage, God is speaking and says “my house.” Some manuscripts have “whole house” instead of “house.”
The same word for house is used six times in the Greek in five verses. The difficulty for the translator in most languages is that the meaning varies between (a) a building and (b) a household, family, or nation. Both meanings are possible in Greek as in Hebrew, depending on the context. The first meaning is clearest in verse 4 (built), the second in verse 6 (We are his house). The other references in this section combine both meanings in various ways. Translators into languages which do not use the same term for “house” and “family” have three main choices: (a) To use “house” (or some equivalent indicating a building) throughout, leaving We are his house in verse 6 as a striking metaphor. (b) To use “people,” “household,” or some other word indicating a kinship group, throughout; for example, using “founded” for built . (c) To alternate between “house” and “household” according to the context, using related words if possible. The first choice, made by Good News Translation and other common language translations, and also by Revised Standard Version, is the simplest. God’s house could be understood as the Temple, but this is at most only part of the meaning.
There are relatively few languages in which the play on words between the meaning of “house” and “household” (or “family”) can be maintained. In general, it is better to make sense of the passage, so that it can be meaningful when heard. The basis for the underlying play on words can then be explained in a footnote.
The expression Moses was faithful must be rendered in a manner parallel to the way in which Jesus’ faithfulness to God is expressed in the first part of this verse. But a literal rendering of in God’s house will be understood by most persons to refer only to the Temple. This immediately suggests an anachronism, since the Temple was built only in the time of Solomon. Accordingly, in his work in God’s house may be rendered in some languages as “what he did in leading God’s people” or “… helping God’s people.”
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 .