Hebrews 1:3

1:3 The Son is ¹  the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, ²  and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ³ 

Hebrews 1:8

1:8 but of ⁴  the Son he says, ⁵ 

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, ⁶ 

and a righteous scepter ⁷  is the scepter of your kingdom.

[1:3]  ¹ tn Grk “who being…and sustaining.” Heb 1:1-4 form one skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments to correspond to contemporary English usage, which does not allow for sentences of this length and complexity.

[1:3]  ² tn Grk “by the word of his power.”

[1:3]  ³ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.

[1:8]  ⁴ tn Or “to.”

[1:8]  ⁵ tn The verb “he says” (λέγει, legei) is implied from the λέγει of v. 7.

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Or possibly, “Your throne is God forever and ever.” This translation is quite doubtful, however, since (1) in the context the Son is being contrasted to the angels and is presented as far better than they. The imagery of God being the Son’s throne would seem to be of God being his authority. If so, in what sense could this not be said of the angels? In what sense is the Son thus contrasted with the angels? (2) The μέν…δέ (men…de) construction that connects v. 7 with v. 8 clearly lays out this contrast: “On the one hand, he says of the angels…on the other hand, he says of the Son.” Thus, although it is grammatically possible that θεός (qeos) in v. 8 should be taken as a predicate nominative, the context and the correlative conjunctions are decidedly against it. Hebrews 1:8 is thus a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ.

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Grk “the righteous scepter,” but used generically.