Hebrews 5:1-14

5:1 For every high priest is taken from among the people ¹  and appointed ²  to represent them before God, ³  to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 5:2 He is able to deal compassionately with those who are ignorant and erring, since he also is subject to weakness, 5:3 and for this reason he is obligated to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. 5:4 And no one assumes this honor ⁴  on his own initiative, ⁵  but only when called to it by God, ⁶  as in fact Aaron was. 5:5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, ⁷  who said to him, “You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,” ⁸  5:6 as also in another place God ⁹  says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” ¹⁰  5:7 During his earthly life ¹¹  Christ ¹²  offered ¹³  both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion. 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. ¹⁴  5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 5:10 and he was designated ¹⁵  by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek. ¹⁶ 

The Need to Move on to Maturity

5:11 On this topic we have much to say ¹⁷  and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish ¹⁸  in hearing. 5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, ¹⁹  you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. ²⁰  You have gone back to needing ²¹  milk, not ²²  solid food. 5:13 For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

[5:1]  ¹ tn Grk “from among men,” but since the point in context is shared humanity (rather than shared maleness), the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) has been translated “people.”

[5:1]  ² tn Grk “who is taken from among people is appointed.”

[5:1]  ³ tn Grk “appointed on behalf of people in reference to things relating to God.”

[5:4]  ⁴ sn Honor refers here to the honor of the high priesthood.

[5:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “by himself, on his own.”

[5:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “being called by God.”

[5:5]  ⁷ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:5]  ⁸ tn Grk “I have begotten you”; see Heb 1:5.

[5:6]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 110:4.

[5:7]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in the days of his flesh.”

[5:7]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “who…having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5-6.

[5:8]  ¹⁴ sn There is a wordplay in the Greek text between the verbs “learned” (ἔμαθεν, emaqen) and “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epaqen).

[5:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “having been designated,” continuing the thought of Heb 5:9.

[5:10]  ¹⁶ sn The phrase in the order of Melchizedek picks up the quotation from Ps 110:4 in Heb 5:6.

[5:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “concerning which the message for us is great.”

[5:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “dull.”

[5:12]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “because of the time.”

[5:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”

[5:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “you have come to have a need for.”

[5:12]  ²² tc ‡ Most texts, including some early and important ones (א² A B* D Ψ 0122 0278 1881 Ï sy Cl), have καί (kai, “and”) immediately preceding οὐ (ou, “not”), but other equally significant witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B² C 33 81 1739 lat Or Did) lack the conjunction. As it was a natural tendency for scribes to add a coordinating conjunction, the καί appears to be a motivated reading. On balance, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. NA²⁷ has καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.