Hebrews 2:1-7

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2:2 For if the message spoken through angels ¹  proved to be so firm that every violation ²  or disobedience received its just penalty, 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 2:4 while God confirmed their witness ³  with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed ⁴  according to his will.

Exposition of Psalm 8: Jesus and the Destiny of Humanity

2:5 For he did not put the world to come, ⁵  about which we are speaking, ⁶  under the control of angels. 2:6 Instead someone testified somewhere:

“What is man that you think of him ⁷  or the son of man that you care for him?

2:7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while.

You crowned him with glory and honor. ⁸ 

[2:2]  ¹ sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).

[2:2]  ² tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”

[2:4]  ³ tn Grk “God bearing witness together” (the phrase “with them” is implied).

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “and distributions of the Holy Spirit.”

[2:5]  ⁵ sn The phrase the world to come means “the coming inhabited earth,” using the Greek term which describes the world of people and their civilizations.

[2:5]  ⁶ sn See the previous reference to the world in Heb 1:6.

[2:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “remember him.”

[2:7]  ⁸ tc Several witnesses, many of them early and important (א A C D* P Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat co), have at the end of v 7, “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.” Other mss, not quite as impressive in weight, lack the words (Ì⁴⁶ B D² Ï). In spite of the impressive external evidence for the longer reading, it is most likely a scribal addition to conform the text of Hebrews to Ps 8:6 (8:7 LXX). Conformity of a NT quotation of the OT to the LXX was a routine scribal activity, and can hardly be in doubt here as to the cause of the longer reading.