Hebrews 1

Syntactic observation

Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ, ὃν ἔθηκεν κληρονόμον πάντων, δι’ οὗ καὶ ⸂ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας⸃ — “In many portions and in many ways long ago God spoke to the fathers in the prophets; at the last of these days he spoke to us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages.” The book opens with no greeting and no sender’s name — two adverbs instead: Πολυμερῶς and πολυτρόπως each occur once in the New Testament, paired by their p-sound — the first from μέρος = portion, the second from τρόπος = way · unlike the thirteen letters of Paul, which open with a name and a greeting · the one finite verb is ἐλάλησεν; λαλήσας is a participle, so the old speaking and the new stand inside one sentence · πάλαι ‘long ago’ (the site-rule of Matt 11:21) ↔ ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ‘at the last of these days’ · τοῖς πατράσιν ‘to the fathers’ (as fixed at Acts 3:13) · ἐν τοῖς προφήταις and ἐν υἱῷ take the same preposition — ‘in the prophets / in a Son’, kept the same word (‘through’ would import a word the text does not use) · ἐν υἱῷ has no article — not ‘the Son’ but ‘a Son’, and the text does not name him here · ὃν ἔθηκεν κληρονόμον πάντων ‘whom he appointed heir of all things’ (Rom 4:13 ‘heir’) · δι’ οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας ‘through whom also he made the ages’ — the order varies at ⸂⸃ · αἰών is ‘age’ in this edition (as fixed at Matt 12:32), and the plural here, being made, stands between time and world.

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Syntactic observation

ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως, ⸂δι’ αὑτοῦ⸃ καθαρισμὸν ⸂τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιησάμενος⸃ ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς, τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων ὅσῳ διαφορώτερον παρ’ αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα — “He is the radiance of his glory and the impress of his assurance, and bears all things along by the word of power; having made through himself a purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become by so much better than the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” ἀπαύγασμα ‘radiance’ and χαρακτήρ ‘impress’ are each once in the New Testament — the first is ἀπό + αὐγή (light), ‘light out of light’; the second comes from the verb meaning ‘to engrave’ and names the mark a die leaves · ὑπόστασις is ὑπό + στάσις, ‘what stands underneath’, and this edition fixed it as ‘assurance’ at 2 Cor 9:4 — here the word leans toward the underlying thing itself, while the rendering carries the firmness side (recorded as loss) · φέρων τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως ‘bears all things along by the word of power’ — the base text has no ‘his’ (the Received Text adds αὐτοῦ after δυνάμεως) · δι’ αὑτοῦ has the rough breathing and is reflexive: ‘through himself’ · καθαρισμὸν ποιησάμενος, middle, ‘having made a purification’ (Luke 2:22 ‘purification’) · ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ ‘he sat down at the right hand’ — Ps 110:1, quoted again at v.13 · μεγαλωσύνη ‘Majesty’ stands three times in the New Testament (Heb 1:3 · 8:1 · Jude 1:25) · ἐν ὑψηλοῖς ‘on high’ · τοσούτῳ … ὅσῳ, the ‘by so much … as’ comparison · κρείττων ‘better’ is this book’s signature word: thirteen of its nineteen New Testament places are in Hebrews · διαφορώτερον is the comparative of the word fixed as ‘differing’ at Rom 12:6, here leaning to ‘more excellent’ · κεκληρονόμηκεν, perfect, ‘he has inherited’.

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Syntactic observation

Τίνι γὰρ εἶπέν ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων· Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε, καὶ πάλιν· Ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν; ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, λέγει· Καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ — “For to which of the angels did he ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you’? … And when he again brings the firstborn into the inhabited world, he says, ‘And let all God’s angels worship him.’” Two quotations run together — Ps 2:7, the sentence already rendered at Acts 13:33, is kept word for word · 2 Sam 7:14 uses εἰς πατέρα / εἰς υἱόν, the Semitic ‘become as’ construction, and it is kept · in Υἱός μου εἶ σύ the expressed σύ falls at the end of the clause and takes the weight · γεγέννηκα, perfect, ‘I have begotten’ · the question of v.5 returns almost word for word at v.13 (εἶπέν ποτε ↔ εἴρηκέν ποτε) — the chapter opens and closes on the same question · πάλιν in ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ may attach to the bringing or to the saying (‘when he again brings’ / ‘and again he says’) — the text does not settle it; the first is taken and the other recorded · πρωτότοκος ‘firstborn’ (as fixed at Luke 2:7) · οἰκουμένη ‘the inhabited world’ (as fixed at Luke 2:1) · προσκυνησάτωσαν is a third-person plural imperative, for which English has no single form — ‘let … worship’, the usual makeshift · πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ has no article.

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Syntactic observation

καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει· Ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα, καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα· πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν· Ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, ⸂καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς εὐθύτητος⸃ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας ⸀σου. ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέν σε ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός σου, ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου — “And of the angels he says, ‘He is the one who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire’; but of the Son, ‘Your throne, O God, is to the age of the age …’” μὲν … δὲ sets the angels’ side against the Son’s · in the quotation of Ps 104:4, πνεῦμα is the word this edition always renders ‘spirit’, and the Hebrew behind it is also ‘wind’ (recorded) · λειτουργός ‘ministers’ (as fixed at Rom 13:6) · πυρὸς φλόγα ‘a flame of fire’, the genitive first · in the quotation of Ps 45:6-7, ὁ θεός may be address or subject (‘Your throne, O God, is …’ / ‘God is your throne’) — the text has no punctuation to settle it, so the address is taken and the other recorded · εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος is singular twice over, unlike the doubled plural of Gal 1:5 · εὐθύτης ‘uprightness’ is once in the New Testament · ῥάβδος twice in one verse (‘staff’ as fixed at Matt 10:10 — that it is a king’s sceptre is not carried by the rendering) · ἔχρισέν σε ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός σου ‘God, your God, anointed you’ — the same words twice, the second with σου · ἀγαλλίασις ‘gladness’ (as fixed at Luke 1:14) · μέτοχος ‘companions’ stands five times in Hebrews (1:9 · 3:1 · 3:14 · 6:4 · 12:8) and only once outside it, at Luke 5:7 · παρά with the accusative, ‘beyond’, is the construction of παρ’ αὐτούς in v.4.

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Syntactic observation

καί· Σὺ κατ’ ἀρχάς, κύριε, τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας … αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις … σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν. πρὸς τίνα δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἴρηκέν ποτε· Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου; οὐχὶ πάντες εἰσὶν λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν — In the quotation of Ps 102:25-27 the expressed Σύ stands three times (vv.10 · 11 · 12) against ‘they’ · κατ’ ἀρχάς, plural, ‘at the beginning’ · θεμελιόω active, ‘founded’ (as fixed at Matt 7:25) · ἀπόλλυμι ‘perish’ · διαμένω ‘remain’ (as fixed at Luke 1:22) · παλαιόω ‘wear out’ (Luke 12:33) · ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ‘like a mantle’ (1 Cor 11:15 ‘mantle’) · ἑλίσσω ‘roll up’ stands twice in the New Testament, here and at Rev 6:14 · ⸂ὡς ἱμάτιον⸃ brings the garment in a second time in v.12 — twice in one quotation with v.11 · ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ ‘you are the same’ · ἐκλείπω ‘fail’ (as fixed at Luke 16:9) · v.13 is Ps 110:1, kept word for word with Luke 20:42-43 and Acts 2:34-35 · ὑποπόδιον ‘footstool’ — the base text reads ὑποκάτω ‘under the feet’ at Matt 22:44 and Mark 12:36, so the footstool stands in only seven places in the New Testament · in v.14 λειτουργικά is once in the New Testament and shares the root of λειτουργούς in v.7 · εἰς διακονίαν ‘for service’ — a different root, which English keeps apart and Korean does not (recorded) · the chapter closes on a question.

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