6:1 Therefore we must progress beyond 17 the elementary 18 instructions about Christ 19 and move on 20 to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,
7:1 Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. 21
7:11 So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood – for on that basis 25 the people received the law – what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron’s order?
9:15 And so he is the mediator 30 of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, 31 since he died 32 to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.
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.
2 tn Grk “by the word of his power.”
3 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.
4 tn Or “who was made a little lower than the angels.”
5 tn Grk “because of the suffering of death.”
6 tn Grk “would taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).
7 tn Grk “for whom are all things and through whom are all things.”
8 sn The Greek word translated pioneer is used of a “prince” or leader, the representative head of a family. It also carries nuances of “trailblazer,” one who breaks through to new ground for those who follow him. It is used some thirty-five times in the Greek OT and four times in the NT, always of Christ (Acts 3:15; 5:31; Heb 2:10; 12:2).
10 tn Or “he was obligated.”
11 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
12 tn Or “propitiation.”
13 sn The Greek makes the contrast between v. 5 and v. 6a more emphatic and explicit than is easily done in English.
14 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
15 tn Grk “whose house we are,” continuing the previous sentence.
16 tc The reading adopted by the translation is found in Ì13,46 B sa, while the vast majority of
17 tn Grk “the pride of our hope.”
16 tn Grk “Therefore leaving behind.” The implication is not of abandoning this elementary information, but of building on it.
17 tn Or “basic.”
18 tn Grk “the message of the beginning of Christ.”
19 tn Grk “leaving behind…let us move on.”
19 sn A series of quotations from Gen 14:17-19.
22 tn Or “the priesthood.”
23 tn Grk “from their brothers.” See BDAG 18-19 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.b.
24 tn Grk “have come from the loins of Abraham.”
25 tn Grk “based on it.”
28 tn Grk “who serve in,” referring to the Levitical priests, but focusing on the provisional and typological nature of the tabernacle in which they served.
29 tn Or “prototype,” “outline.” The Greek word ὑπόδειγμα (Jupodeigma) does not mean “copy,” as it is often translated; it means “something to be copied,” a basis for imitation. BDAG 1037 s.v. 2 lists both Heb 8:5 and 9:23 under the second category of usage, “an indication of someth. that appears at a subsequent time,” emphasizing the temporal progression between the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries.
30 tn The word τύπος (tupos) here has the meaning “an archetype serving as a model, type, pattern, model” (BDAG 1020 s.v. 6.a). This is in keeping with the horizontal imagery accepted for this verse (see sn on “sketch” earlier in the verse). Here Moses was shown the future heavenly sanctuary which, though it did not yet exist, became the outline for the earthly sanctuary.
31 sn A quotation from Exod 25:40.
31 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.
32 tn Grk “the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
33 tn Grk “a death having occurred.”
34 tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”
35 sn A quotation from Jer 31:33.
37 tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through which.”
38 tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through it.”
40 tn Cf. BDAG 407 s.v. εὐλαβέομαι 2, “out of reverent regard (for God’s command).”
43 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.
46 tn Grk “that there not be any root of bitterness,” but referring figuratively to a person who causes trouble (as in Deut 29:17 [LXX] from which this is quoted).