10:26 For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, 7 10:27 but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury 8 of fire that will consume God’s enemies. 9 10:28 Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death 10 without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 11 10:29 How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for 12 the Son of God, and profanes 13 the blood of the covenant that made him holy, 14 and insults the Spirit of grace? 10:30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” 15 and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 16 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, 20
and a righteous scepter 21 is the scepter of your kingdom.
1 tn Heb “remembered.”
2 sn See 1 Cor 1:25-31.
3 sn But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Jesus was not claiming here that salvation is by works, because he had already taught that it is by grace (cf. 10:15). He was simply arguing that genuine faith evidences itself in persistence through even the worst of trials.
4 tn Or “have fallen away.”
5 tn Or “while”; Grk “crucifying…and holding.” The Greek participles here (“crucifying…and holding”) can be understood as either causal (“since”) or temporal (“while”).
6 tn Grk “recrucifying the son of God for themselves.”
7 tn Grk “is left,” with “for us” implied by the first half of the verse.
8 tn Grk “zeal,” recalling God’s jealous protection of his holiness and honor (cf. Exod 20:5).
9 tn Grk “the enemies.”
10 tn Grk “dies.”
11 sn An allusion to Deut 17:6.
12 tn Grk “tramples under foot.”
13 tn Grk “regarded as common.”
14 tn Grk “by which he was made holy.”
15 sn A quotation from Deut 32:35.
16 sn A quotation from Deut 32:36.
17 tn Grk “the worshipers, having been purified once for all, would have.”
18 tn Or “to.”
19 tn The verb “he says” (λέγει, legei) is implied from the λέγει of v. 7.
20 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.
21 tn Grk “the righteous scepter,” but used generically.
22 tn Grk “is about to throw some of you,” but the force is causative in context.
23 tn Or “tempted.”
24 tn Or “experience persecution,” “will be in distress” (see L&N 22.2).
25 tn Grk “crown of life,” with the genitive “of life” (τῆς ζωῆς, th" zwh") functioning in apposition to “crown” (στέφανον, stefanon): “the crown that consists of life.”
26 tn On the verb λάβῃ (labh) here BDAG 583 s.v. λαμβάνω 2 states, “to take away, remove…with or without the use of force τὰ ἀργύρια take away the silver coins (fr. the temple) Mt 27:6. τὰς ἀσθενείας diseases 8:17. τὸν στέφανον Rv 3:11.”
27 sn Your crown refers to a wreath consisting either of foliage or of precious metals formed to resemble foliage and worn as a symbol of honor, victory, or as a badge of high office – ‘wreath, crown’ (L&N 6.192).