9:15 And so he is the mediator 6 of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, 7 since he died 8 to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.
9:1 Now the first covenant, 9 in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.
2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
1 tn Grk “momentary lightness of affliction.”
2 tn L&N 13.156; the word can also mean “to assert opposition to,” thus here “we have denounced” (L&N 33.220).
3 tn Grk “the hidden things [deeds] of shame”; here αἰσχύνης (aiscunh") has been translated as an attributive genitive.
4 tn Or “not conducting ourselves”; Grk “not walking” (a common NT idiom for conduct, way of life, or behavior).
5 tn Or “craftiness.”
6 tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.
7 tn Grk “the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
8 tn Grk “a death having occurred.”
9 tn Grk “the first” (referring to the covenant described in Heb 8:7, 13). In the translation the referent (covenant) has been specified for clarity.