Hebrews 2
The full text of Hebrews 2 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
2 For if the message spoken through angels proved binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just penalty,
3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? It was first announced by the Lord, and confirmed to us by those who heard him,
4 while God also testified to it by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
5 Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.
6 But someone has testified somewhere,
"What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
or a son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet."
Now in subjecting everything to him, God left nothing outside his control. Yet at present we do not yet see everything subjected to him.
9 But we do see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.
11 For the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy all share one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
12 saying,
"I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the assembly I will sing your praise."
13 And again,
"I will put my trust in him."
And again,
"Here am I, and the children God has given me."
14 Since, then, the children share in flesh and blood, he too shared the same, so that through death he might destroy the one who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but he helps Abraham's offspring.
17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Translation notes (8)
- Hebrews 2:2a The message spoken through angels is the law of Sinai, reflecting the Jewish tradition that angels mediated its giving, a tradition echoed in Acts 7:53 and Galatians 3:19 and rooted in the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 33:2. The Greek egeneto bebaios, 'proved binding', is legal language: the law took effect with full validity, so that every violation incurred its penalty.
- Hebrews 2:6a The quotation is from Psalm 8:4-6. The vague formula diemarturato pou tis (διεμαρτύρατο πού τις), 'someone has testified somewhere', is characteristic of Hebrews and signals not ignorance of the source but the conviction that God is the true speaker of Scripture, making the human author incidental. Greek huios anthrōpou, 'son of man', here follows the Hebrew idiom for a human being.
- Hebrews 2:7a This can also be translated as "for a little while lower than the angels." The Greek phrase "brachy ti" can refer to a short time (temporal) or a slightly lower rank (spatial).
- Hebrews 2:9a This can also be translated as "for a little while lower than the angels" (see verse 7).
- Hebrews 2:9b A few manuscripts read "apart from God" (choris theou) instead of "by the grace of God" (chariti theou).
- Hebrews 2:10a The Greek archēgos (ἀρχηγός), rendered here as 'pioneer', spans 'founder', 'author', and 'leader'; it combines the ideas of origin and of going first, picturing one who blazes a trail others then follow. The same word describes Jesus in Acts 3:15 and Hebrews 12:2. The Greek huious, literally 'sons', is rendered 'sons and daughters' because the promised glory belongs to all believers.
- Hebrews 2:12a The quotation is Psalm 22:22 (21:23 in the Septuagint), whose opening cry the Gospels place on the lips of the crucified Jesus; the author draws from the psalm's turn to praise. The Greek ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία), 'assembly', renders the Hebrew qahal, 'congregation', and is the same word the New Testament uses for the church.
- Hebrews 2:13a Both quotations come from Isaiah 8:17–18, where the prophet declares his trust in the LORD and presents his children as signs to Israel. The author cites the Septuagint, whose esomai pepoithōs, 'I will put my trust', makes explicit an act of reliance, and applies Isaiah's words to Christ, who shares both faith in God and solidarity with the children given to him.
About this translation
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