Then means “therefore.” It does not refer to time, but indicates a conclusion drawn from verse 5b: “Because God has said that he will never abandon us, we can say with confidence, ‘I will not be afraid.’ ”

It may be necessary to indicate to whom a particular statement is made. Accordingly, the first part of verse 6 may be rendered as “Therefore we should have confidence in God and say to people.”

The quotation is from Psalm 118.6. The result of the confidence is given in line 2 of the quotation, as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes clear by putting it first: “We can say with confidence: ‘I will have no fear, for the Lord helps me.’ ” This is effective in itself, but takes some of the emphasis away from The Lord is my helper, which Bible en français courant expresses more strongly by “The Lord is the one who comes to my help.” The word for helper, surprisingly, is not used anywhere else in the New Testament, but it is common in the Septuagint. It suggests “someone who responds to a call for help” rather than “an assistant.”

Modern translations omit King James Version‘s “and” before “I will not fear.” This is more effective in translation, and the word is bracketed as doubtful in the UBS Greek text.

The writer of Hebrews probably changes the punctuation of the Septuagint text, which means “I will not fear what man will do to me.” The change to a rhetorical question, What can anyone (Revised Standard Version “man”) do to me? is more vivid.

“Man” (Revised Standard Version) renders a quite general Greek term, which refers to human beings in contrast with Lord. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “a human being” and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente “men,” with the same meaning. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy restructures to read “I will not fear what any man can do to me.” Women are not excluded.

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 .

Remember renders a different word from that used in verse 3, but the meaning is the same; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “do not forget,” as in verse 2 (see Revised Standard Version), for the sake of variety. In a number of languages a literal rendering of Remember is somewhat misleading. The Greek term may often be more satisfactorily translated as “Consider” or “Think about.” There is no suggestion that people had literally forgotten who their former leaders were.

Former is implied. We do not know the names or precise functions of the leaders, and therefore specific titles such as “bishop” should be avoided.

On God’s message see 4.12, where Good News Translation translates literally The word of God. This phrase may also mean “the message about God.”

Who spoke God’s message to you may be expressed as “who spoke to you about God’s message concerning Christ,” or “… what God has announced concerning Christ,” or “… the message that has come from God.”

Think back on may be expressed as “Consider carefully” or “Meditate on.”

Good News Translation‘s simple translation how they lived and died is the result of careful analysis and a rather complicated restructuring of the original text. This is literally “looking-back-on the going-out of their way-of-life.” “Looking-back-on” is an implied imperative. The text may be understood in two main ways. (a) “Going-out” means “end,” and “way-of-life” in this context means simply “life.” This is the interpretation of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, “Remember how they died.” (b) “Going-out” means “outcome”; Phillips “result”; compare Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “what resulted from their life.”

The main argument in favor of (a) is that the writer is constantly concerned that his readers shall hold on to their faith “to the end” (3.6, 14; 6.11). The main argument in favor of (b) is that it gives the word for “way-of-life” its usual meaning. How they lived and died combines the strongest parts of both interpretations, showing that although the writer is concerned with the quality of the former leaders’ life, he also has a special interest in how they … died, that is, still holding on to their faith. Lived and died are thus closely connected.

Imitate their faith may be expressed as “have the same kind of confidence in God that they had” or “show the same kind of trust in God which they showed.”

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 .

Though at first sight this verse seems to stand on its own, in fact, connections are implied and some translations express them. Jesus Christ is the content of God’s message in verse 7, and yesterday (with the extended meaning “in the past”), like today (compare 3.15), points back to your former leaders, perhaps even to the “heroes of faith” in chapter 11. The same (compare 1.12) contrasts with all kinds of strange teachings in verse 9, as New English Bible suggests by beginning verse 9 “So do not be swept off your course.”

The same is emphasized in the Greek by being in an unusual position. A possible alternative translation would be “Jesus Christ is yesterday and today the same, and (also the same) forever.” The simpler translation of Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version, in which the three main parts of the sentence are given equal weight, is probably better.

There are a number of problems involved in translating Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In the first place the statement that Jesus Christ is the same may be regarded as simply a truism. Therefore it may be necessary to translate “Jesus Christ never changes.” In the second place yesterday may not be a figurative symbol for past events or past time, and a literal rendering of today may suggest only a particular day rather than present time. Therefore yesterday, today, and forever may need to be rendered as “in the past, now, and in the future.” To communicate this information clearly may require considerable expansion; for example, “Jesus Christ never changes. He has not changed in the past, he does not change now, and he will never change in the future.”

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 .

All kinds of need not have a bad sense; see 2.4. It is the word strange which shows that the teachings are dangerous. Strange means “alien to the Gospel,” not merely “odd.” The plural teachings may refer to different kinds of false teaching, and should be kept in translation if possible. All kinds of strange teachings may be most effectively expressed as “all kinds of different teachings” or “all kinds of teachings that are different from the Good News.”

Lead you from the right way means “be carried along” (as in Jude 12), or in this context, more precisely, “be swept away” (Barclay). The rest of the verse shows that the contrast is with “standing firm” rather than “staying on a fixed course” (see New English Bible). The thought, though not the language, is similar to 2.1. In some languages lead you from the right way may be expressed idiomatically as “cause you to go down the wrong road,” or “cause you to be turned aside from the truth,” or “lead you off from the right road.”

The word for good includes the idea of beauty or attractiveness. It has been called “that kind of goodness which is at once seen to be good.” To receive inner strength is literally “for the heart to be strengthened” (see Revised Standard Version). Thus inner is literally “the heart.” It can be understood as “our heart,” as the next verse shows (see Revised Standard Version), but since verse 8 is an imperative, “your heart” fits the context better. A translation may therefore be something like “It is good for you to be strengthened inwardly by God’s grace.” God’s is strongly implied. If “inwardly” is chosen to translate “the heart,” meaning “what is deepest in man” as a whole, then “outwardly” may be used later in the sentence, to point out the contrast.

See comments on grace in 4.16.

Earlier editions of Good News Bible had for our souls after It is good. Good News Translation fourth edition omits these words, probably because soul was thought to be little used outside religious circles, and because the meaning is better conveyed by adding inner before strength.

The statement It is good to receive inner strength from God’s grace may need considerable restructuring. One may need to employ a rendering such as “The fact that our hearts are made strong because of God’s loving kindness to us is good.” It may be important to render the first part of the second sentence in such a way as to anticipate the statement about obeying rules about foods. Therefore one may translate “God’s kindness to us causes our hearts to have strength. This helps us, but obeying rules about food doesn’t help us.”

Most modern translations, like Good News Translation, understand “by foods” to refer to rules about foods, not literally to the strengthening of the body by what is eaten. The phrase right to eat in the next verse confirms that this is correct, as does obey (literally “walk in”) these rules in this verse. Revised Standard Version‘s “by foods” and “their adherents” is unclear. Barclay expresses the meaning strongly with a little expansion, as “The best thing to fortify your souls is the grace of God, not regulations about what we may eat and not eat, which have never been of the slightest use to those who use them as rules of life.” Good News Translation brings out the meaning of by them, which may also mean “in them”: “those who walk in them,” that is, obey these rules, have not been helped by them. The last part of this verse may also be rendered as “to obey rules about what to eat or not to eat doesn’t help them” or “… doesn’t do people any good.”

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 .

This verse, like verse 8, points both backward and forward. This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to understand, and therefore difficult to translate. Two contrasts are involved, one of which is expressed and the other only implied. The expressed contrast is between the Jewish place of worship (Jewish is not explicit in the Greek) and our altar. The implied contrast, which has not always been noticed, is between the rules about foods and the Christian sacrifices of praise to God (verse 15) and doing good (verse 16). The writer is thinking particularly of the rule mentioned in verses 10-11, that the Old Testament priests are not allowed to eat the sacrifice for sins.

It is in this setting that the question “Does this verse refer to the Lord’s Supper?” may be answered. The view of most Roman Catholics until recent years was that it did, and Knox‘s translation reflects this: “We have an altar of our own, and it is not those who carry out the worship of the tabernacle that are qualified to eat its sacrifices” (implying “but Christians do so in the Mass”). More recently, scholars of various churches have come to agree that our altar is “not the table used for the Eucharist, but either the cross on which Christ was sacrificed, or Christ himself through whom we offer the sacrifice of prayer to God” (Jerusalem Bible note; similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

How is this to be made clear in translation? In the clause, literally, “We have an altar” (Revised Standard Version), Biblia Dios Habla Hoy replaces “altar” by “sacrifice” and so points more clearly to verses 15-16, “We have a different sacrifice, from which the priests of the old sanctuary have no right to eat,” but even this could be misunderstood to refer to the Lord’s Supper. Good News Translation adds the sacrifice on, in order to avoid the idea of eating the altar itself. More important, the sentence is restructured so that our altar is deliberately given a less emphatic place than it has in the Greek text. This also makes a better link between The priests as the grammatical subject of verse 10, and the Jewish High Priest as the subject of verse 11. Jewish, as always in Hebrews, is implied; see comment on 10.1. Priests also fits the context better than Moffatt‘s “worshippers,” which is another possible meaning of the Greek.

In the Jewish place of worship may be expressed as “in the Jewish Temple.” But to speak about the priest having no right to eat any of the sacrifice on our altar may wrongly suggest that Christians made sacrifices on altars. It is only after the reader comes to verse 15 that he realizes that the sacrifice is one of praise to God. It may therefore be necessary to introduce a marginal note referring the reader to verse 15. It may be possible to anticipate part of the content of verse 15 by translating this verse “The priests who serve in the Jewish place of worship have no right to share in any of the sacrifice of praise which we offer on our altar” or “… in our place of worship.”

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 .

Compare Leviticus 16.27 and, for the significance of being outside the camp, see Numbers 12.14-15. It is clear from the above summary that the Old Testament “sacrifice” for sin is partly contrasted and partly compared with the “sacrifice” of Christ. In verses 11-12 the two are compared rather than contrasted. On High Priest, see 2.17.

The Greek verbs in this verse, like the verb for serve in verse 10, are in the present. This is probably not because the writer thinks of the Old Testament sacrifices as still being offered in Jerusalem, but because the Old Testament itself is still available. In order to make clear the meaning of the present tenses brings and are burned, it may be necessary in some languages to specify that the action of bringing the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place was a yearly event. Therefore the first part of the verse may have “The Jewish High Priest each year brought the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place in order to offer it as a sacrifice for people’s sins.”

Most is implied; see comment on 8.2.

Bodies here clearly implies “dead bodies.” The use of the word for camp takes the readers back to the time of the exodus from Egypt (for example, Exo 29.14; Lev 4.12).

The bodies are burned in this case to destroy impurity, not as part of the sacrifice. Outside the camp may be rendered as “outside the area where people lived” or “away from the dwellings of the people.” There is no suggestion of a military camp.

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 .

For this reason points back to verse 11; Barclay “That is why Jesus had to suffer outside the city….” Jerusalem Bible “and so Jesus too suffered outside the gate…” (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). City is literally “gate” (Revised Standard Version). The picture is that of a walled town, such as was usual at that time (compare Acts 9.25). For the Old Testament background, see Leviticus 24.14 and Numbers 15.35. “Suffered” (Revised Standard Version) here implies died, as, for example, in Luke 22.15. The meaning of Revised Standard Version‘s “sanctify the people” is expressed negatively by Good News Translation purify the people from sin, and positively by Barclay “make the people fit to enter the presence of God.” Both aspects are involved, but the second includes the first and may therefore be better. On purify, see 2.11 and 9.13. The people (see comments on 2.17) implies “God’s people,” as in 4.9. The Christian community is still thought of as being in continuity with Israel. His own blood is emphatic, in contrast with the blood of the animals in verse 11; see 9.25-26.

The purpose clause in order to purify the people from sin with his own blood may be rendered as “in order to take away from people their guilt by means of his blood which flowed out when he died.”

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 .

Then (“Therefore,” Revised Standard Version) renders a strong word in an unusual and therefore emphatic position, like the different Greek word for “therefore” in verse 12.1. It marks a transition from history to an appeal for action by the writer together with his readers. On camp, see verse 11. On shame, see comment on insulted in 10.33, and see especially 11.26, suffer scorn for the Messiah. These verses recall Psalm 89.50-51. Here his shame means “the shame which Jesus suffered because of the way in which he was killed.”

It may be necessary to indicate clearly the figurative nature of this admonition to go to him outside the camp and share his shame. In order to mark that this is a figure, one may translate “Therefore we should, as it were, go to him outside the place where people are dwelling and share with him the shame he suffered,” or “… be put to shame in the same way that he was put to shame,” or “… be despised with him.”

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 .