Hebrews 2

So we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

1Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Note"Let them slip" is not a warning about forgetting. The Greek image is of a boat drifting past its anchorage or a ring slipping off a finger: the danger is passive loss, sliding away from something rather than deciding against it.

2The message that God spoke through angels held firm, and every act of breaking it and every refusal to obey brought the punishment it deserved.

2For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

Note"The word spoken by angels" refers to the law given at Sinai. By the first century it was widely held in Jewish tradition that God delivered that law through angels, and the New Testament assumes the same idea elsewhere. "Stedfast" here is a legal term: the message was valid and enforceable. "A just recompence of reward" does not mean a prize; in 1611 "reward" meant simply what was paid back, good or bad, so the phrase means the penalty that was properly due.

3So how will we escape if we ignore a rescue as great as this one? The Lord himself was the first to announce it, and those who heard him confirmed it to us.

3How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Note"Salvation" in the King James does not carry only the churchly sense it has now. The underlying Greek word means rescue or deliverance, the kind of word used of being saved from drowning, an enemy, or an illness. The writer also places himself in the second generation: he did not hear Jesus directly but received the message from those who did.

4God backed up their witness too, with signs and wonders, with all kinds of miracles, and with gifts of the Holy Spirit, handed out as he himself chose.

4God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

Note"Divers" is the older spelling of "diverse" and means various or of many kinds, not the modern "divers" who swim. "Holy Ghost" is simply the 1611 way of saying Holy Spirit; "ghost" then meant spirit or breath and had no connotation of a haunting.

5God has not placed the world that is coming, the world we are talking about, under the rule of angels.

5For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.

Note"The world to come" translates a phrase for the inhabited world under the coming age, a standard Jewish way of dividing time into the present age and the age God will bring. It is a period as much as a place.

6Instead, someone gives this witness somewhere in the Scriptures: "What is man, that you keep him in mind? What is the son of man, that you care about him?

6But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Note"One in a certain place" is a normal way of citing Scripture in Greek writing of this period, where texts had no chapter or verse numbers and an author could gesture at a passage his hearers would recognize. The quotation is Psalm 8, verses 4 to 6. "Son of man" there is a Hebrew idiom meaning simply a human being, a member of the human race; it is a poetic restatement of "man" in the line before, not a title.

7You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor, and you put him in charge of what your hands have made.

7Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

Note"A little lower than the angels" follows the Greek version of Psalm 8; the Hebrew word behind "angels" can also mean God or heavenly beings, and ancient translators differed. The Greek phrase rendered "a little" is also genuinely ambiguous: it can mean a little in degree, or for a little while in time. The writer will use that second sense in verse 9.

8You put everything under his feet." Now when God put everything under him, he left nothing outside his control. But at present we do not yet see everything under his control.

8Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

Note"Put all things in subjection under his feet" is the language of a victorious king with a defeated enemy literally beneath his foot, a common image in ancient royal art and inscriptions. It means total authority, not just ownership.

9What we do see is Jesus. He was made a little lower than the angels, and now, because he suffered death, he is crowned with glory and honor. By God's grace he tasted death for everyone.

9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Note"Taste death" is a Semitic idiom meaning to undergo death, to experience it fully. It does not suggest a sip or a partial experience.

10Everything exists for God and through God. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for him to bring the leader of their rescue to completion through suffering.

10For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Note"It became him" means it was fitting for him, suitable to his character, not that he turned into something. "Captain" translates a Greek word meaning the one who goes first and opens the way: a pioneer, founder, or leader whom others follow. "Make perfect" translates a verb meaning to bring to completion or to its intended goal; in Greek usage it could also describe qualifying a priest for office. It does not imply that he was previously morally flawed.

11The one who makes people holy and the ones who are made holy all come from the same source. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

11For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Note"Sanctifieth" means makes holy, sets apart for God. "All of one" is deliberately unfinished in the Greek: one what is not stated. It may mean of one father, of one family, or of one origin, and translators have long disagreed.

12He says, "I will tell my brothers about your name. In the middle of the gathered assembly I will sing your praise."

12Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

NoteThe quotation is Psalm 22, verse 22. "Church" here translates a Greek word meaning an assembly of people gathered together; in the psalm it is the congregation of Israel at worship. It never means a building in this text.

13And again he says, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Here I am, and the children God has given me."

13And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

NoteBoth quotations come from Isaiah, chapter 8, verses 17 and 18, where the prophet declares his trust in God and presents himself and his children as signs to Israel.

14Since these children are people of flesh and blood, he also shared in the same flesh and blood himself. He did this so that by dying he could destroy the one who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,

14Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Note"Flesh and blood" is a standard idiom for human beings in their ordinary mortal condition. "Destroy" here translates a Greek verb meaning to render useless, break the power of, or put out of action; it is about stripping away force rather than wiping out of existence.

15and could set free all those who were held in slavery their whole lives long by their fear of death.

15And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

16For it is certainly not angels that he takes hold of to help. He takes hold of the descendants of Abraham.

16For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

NoteThe King James supplies the words "the nature of," which are not in the Greek. The verb means to take hold of someone, the gesture of grabbing a person to pull them out of danger, and so to come to their aid. "The seed of Abraham" means Abraham's descendants.

17So he had to be made like his brothers in every way. Then he could be a merciful and faithful high priest in everything that has to do with God, and could make things right for the sins of the people.

17Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Note"Behoved" is an old word meaning it was necessary for him, he was obliged to. The high priest was the single chief priest of Israel, the one man who entered the innermost part of the temple on the Day of Atonement to present blood for the people's sins. "Make reconciliation" translates a word from that same ritual world, meaning to make atonement, to deal with sin so that the relationship is settled.

18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

18For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Note"Succour" is an old word meaning to run to someone's aid, to come to the help of a person in distress. The Greek word translated "tempted" covers both senses of being enticed to do wrong and being put to the test by hardship, and the writer is drawing on both.