Hebrews 4
A promise of entering the rest still remains, so let us fear lest any be found to have fallen short. We too have had good news brought to us, as they did, but the word they heard did not profit them, since they were not blended together in faith with those who heard. We who have believed enter into rest. Because Genesis says “God rested on the seventh day” and the psalm says “If they shall enter my rest —,” and both stand on one root, the writer reads the two places together. Since it still remains for some to enter, and those who first had the news did not enter because of disobedience, God again determines a day, in David — “Today.” If Joshua had brought them into rest, he would not have spoken of another day. So a sabbath keeping remains for the people of God: the one who has entered his rest has rested from his works as God did from his own. Let us then be diligent to enter, and not fall by the same pattern of disobedience. For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-mouthed sword, piercing to the division of life and spirit, of joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart; and no creature is hidden from him, but all lie naked and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Having a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession; for he is not unable to suffer with us in our weaknesses, but was tested in all things in the same likeness, apart from sin. So let us come with openness to the throne of grace, to receive mercy and find grace for timely help.
Why this rendering
Heb.4.3 Observation
Syntactic observation
Φοβηθῶμεν οὖν μήποτε καταλειπομένης ἐπαγγελίας εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν αὐτοῦ δοκῇ τις ἐξ ὑμῶν ὑστερηκέναι· καὶ γάρ ἐσμεν εὐηγγελισμένοι καθάπερ κἀκεῖνοι … Chapter 3 brought back ‘we’, and chapter 4 opens four times with a first-person plural subjunctive — let us fear (v.1), be diligent (v.11), hold fast (v.14), come (v.16) · ὑστερηκέναι, perfect infinitive, ‘to have fallen short’ · ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀκοῆς ‘the word they heard’ — ἀκοή carries a different grain at Matt 13:14 ‘hearing’ and Mark 7:35 ‘ears’ · ⸀συγκεκερασμένους is accusative and so agrees with ‘them’ — the Received Text reads it as nominative, making it the word that was not mixed with faith; in the base text’s form it is the people who were not mixed · συγκεράννυμι ‘blend together’ stands only here and at 1 Cor 12:24 · the dative τοῖς ἀκούσασιν is taken as ‘with those who heard’, though ‘by the things heard’ is also open · v.3 cites Ps 95:11 again and repeats the broken oath as it stands · καταβολή ‘founding’ with κόσμος ‘world’ (as fixed at Matt 13:35).
Rendering options · 3
Basis The base text’s form is accusative and so agrees with ἐκείνους just before · the Received Text’s nominative reading (that the word was not mixed) is not rendered.
Basis The reading of the Received Text.
Rejected The base text prints the accusative.
Basis The passive of this verb is ‘have the good news announced to one’, which neither language can take in a single word (recorded).
Lost in translation
Φοβηθῶμεν · σπουδάσωμεν · κρατῶμεν · προσερχώμεθα (vv.1 · 11 · 14 · 16) — four ‘let us’ verbs frame the chapter.
συγκεκερασμένους (v.2) — the accusative agrees with the people. Both renderings follow the base text’s form.
ἐσμεν εὐηγγελισμένοι (v.2) — one verb, perfect passive. Both must unpack it.
τοῖς ἀκούσασιν (v.2) — the hearers or the things heard. Closed on the hearers.
Εἰ εἰσελεύσονται (vv.3 · 5) — the broken oath of chapter 3 comes twice more. All three stand alike.
ὑστερηκέναι (v.1) — a perfect infinitive. ‘To have fallen short’ carries the tense.
Why this rendering
Heb.4.7 Observation
Syntactic observation
εἴρηκεν γάρ που περὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης οὕτως· Καὶ κατέπαυσεν ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ … Two quotations unlock each other — ‘rested’ in Gen 2:2 and ‘rest’ in Ps 95:11 share one root, and the writer ties the places together by it · again ‘somewhere’ (που), after ‘someone’ at 3:6: this book names the speaker, not the human author · ἐν Δαυίδ ‘in David’ — a preposition that makes the man a place, so it is not turned into ‘through David’ · μετὰ τοσοῦτον χρόνον ‘after so long a time’ · ὁρίζει is present, ‘he determines’ (as fixed at Acts 17:26 and Rom 1:4) · Σήμερον stands without an article as the name of the day · ἀπολείπεται ‘remains’ (twice, vv.6 · 9) · ἀπείθεια ‘disobedience’ is the noun of ἀπειθέω as fixed · ⸀προείρηται, perfect passive, ‘as has been said before’ — the Received Text has another form.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The argument hangs on the verb in Genesis and the noun in the psalm sharing a root — rendering them apart would make vv.4-5 pointless.
Basis At v.8 Joshua takes an object; at vv.4 · 10 God does not · ‘give rest’ belongs to ἀναπαύω and cannot be borrowed, so ‘bring into rest’ is used.
Basis The speaker at v.7 is God and David is where the word stands — ‘through David’ would make David the one who conveys it.
Lost in translation
κατέπαυσεν / κατάπαυσις (vv.4 · 5) — verb and noun on one root. ‘Rested / rest’ keeps it.
που (v.4) — the place of the quotation is left unsaid. ‘Somewhere’ keeps it so.
ἐν Δαυίδ (v.7) — a preposition making the man a place. ‘In David’ keeps it.
ἀπείθεια (vv.6 · 11) / ἀπειθέω (3:18) — noun and verb on one root. ‘Disobedience / disobey’ keeps it.
Ἰησοῦς (v.8) — Joshua and Jesus are one name in Greek. Both renderings must choose which man.
ὁρίζει (v.7) — present. ‘He determines’ carries it.
Why this rendering
Heb.4.10 Observation
Syntactic observation
εἰ γὰρ αὐτοὺς Ἰησοῦς κατέπαυσεν, οὐκ ἂν περὶ ἄλλης ἐλάλει μετὰ ταῦτα ἡμέρας. ἄρα ἀπολείπεται σαββατισμὸς τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ … Ἰησοῦς is one name for Joshua and for Jesus — in Greek the name at v.8 is letter for letter the name at v.14, but both renderings must name the man · σαββατισμός ‘a sabbath keeping’ is once in the New Testament, a word coined from σάββατον and deliberately different from the κατάπαυσις ‘rest’ of the lines before — the writer changes words here · ἀπολείπεται stands twice (vv.6 · 9), so ‘remains’ is the nail of the argument · ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ὁ θεός ‘just as God did from his own’ — ἴδιος ‘his own’ comes last and points back to God’s works · ὑπόδειγμα ‘pattern’ (as fixed at John 13:15; three times in Hebrews) · σπουδάζω ‘be diligent’ (as fixed at Gal 2:10) · πέσῃ ‘fall’ — ‘fall down dead’ was the site of 3:17.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The Greek is one name but two men, and the one meant at v.8 is the man who brought them into the land · that it is one name does not survive, and is recorded as loss.
Basis The writer changes, for this one verse, the word he has used ten times — covering both with ‘rest’ would erase the change · σάββατον is inside the word, so ‘sabbath’ is kept.
Basis The familiar reading.
Rejected Makes it the same word as ‘rest’, hiding the writer’s change.
Lost in translation
σαββατισμός (v.9) — the writer changes words only here. ‘A sabbath keeping’ shows the change.
Ἰησοῦς (v.8) / Ἰησοῦν (v.14) — one name, two men, in one chapter. Both must name them apart.
ἀπολείπεται (vv.6 · 9) — the same verb nails the argument. ‘Remains’ twice keeps it.
κατάπαυσις · καταπαύω (vv.9-10) — noun and verb in one line. ‘Rest … rested’ keeps the pair.
ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων (v.10) — ‘his own’ comes last. Both must move it.
οὐκ ἂν … ἐλάλει (v.8) — ἄν marks what did not happen. ‘Would not have spoken’ carries it.
Why this rendering
Heb.4.13 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ζῶν γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐνεργὴς καὶ τομώτερος ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον … τομώτερος ‘sharper’ · διϊκνέομαι ‘pierce through’ · ἁρμός ‘joints’ · μυελός ‘marrow’ · κριτικός ‘able to judge’ — these five all occur once in the New Testament, and all in one sentence · ἐνεργής ‘effective’ is the adjective of Phlm 6 and 1 Cor 16:9 · δίστομος is δίς + στόμα, ‘two-mouthed’, a picture of mouths, not of edges · μερισμός is the word of 2:4, but here it is not a distributing but a dividing · ψυχή ‘life’ (as fixed at Mark 8:35, the same choice as 1 Thess 5:23) · τετραχηλισμένα is once in the New Testament, from τράχηλος ‘neck’, the look of a neck bent back and exposed · πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος is a verbless clause, and λόγος returns in two senses inside one sentence — first God’s word, then the account we must give · vv.12-13 slide from the word of God to God himself, and the text does not mark where.
Rendering options · 4
Basis στόμα ‘mouth’ is inside the word, and Greek calls a blade’s edge a mouth — ‘double-edged’ would erase the picture · the two places in Revelation use the same word.
Basis The familiar reading.
Rejected The mouth-picture is lost.
Basis τράχηλος ‘neck’ is inside the word — the look of a victim’s or a wrestler’s neck bent back · Korean can keep the neck; English cannot (recorded).
Basis One word comes twice in one sentence, as word and as account — one rendering will not stand, and two lose the repetition. Rendered apart, with the loss recorded.
Lost in translation
λόγος twice (vv.12 · 13) — word and account in one sentence. Rendered apart, the repetition is lost.
τετραχηλισμένα (v.13) — the neck is inside the word. English cannot keep it.
δίστομον (v.12) — the mouth-picture. ‘Two-mouthed’ keeps it.
μερισμός (2:4 · 4:12) — one word as distributing and as dividing. The two places take different words.
ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος (v.12) — the two words of 1 Thess 5:23. ‘Life and spirit’ joins the places.
πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος (v.13) — a verbless clause. Both supply a verb.
Why this rendering
Heb.4.16 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἔχοντες οὖν ἀρχιερέα μέγαν διεληλυθότα τοὺς οὐρανούς, Ἰησοῦν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, κρατῶμεν τῆς ὁμολογίας … ἀρχιερεὺς μέγας ‘a great high priest’ — ‘great’ laid on a word that already carries ‘chief’ · διεληλυθότα τοὺς οὐρανούς ‘who has passed through the heavens’ — the plural ‘heavens’, passed as a priest passes a curtain · v.15 stacks two negatives (οὐ … μὴ δυνάμενον) — ‘we do not have a high priest unable to’ keeps both · συμπαθέω ‘suffer with’ stands only here and at Heb 10:34, and is συν- + πάσχω · ὁμοιότης ‘likeness’ twice in Hebrews (4:15 · 7:15) · χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας comes at the end of the sentence — whether it attaches to the testing or to the likeness, the text does not say · the ‘confession’ of 3:1 returns at v.14 with ‘hold fast’ (at 3:6 · 3:14 the verb was κατέχω; here it is κρατέω) · θρόνος τῆς χάριτος ‘the throne of grace’ — the throne of 1:8 becomes a place to come to · εὔκαιρος ‘timely’ (with Mark 6:21) · βοήθεια ‘help’ (with Acts 27:17).
Rendering options · 3
Basis The text stacks two negatives to say by indirection that he does suffer with us — flattening it to ‘who is able to’ would lose the indirection.
Basis ‘Hold fast’ at 3:6 · 3:14 was κατέχω; this is another verb · following ‘seize’ as fixed at Matt 26:48, though the genitive object gives it a different grain.
Basis The text leaves it last and does not say what it qualifies — moving it forward would settle that.
Lost in translation
οὐ … μὴ δυνάμενον (v.15) — two negatives. ‘Do not have … unable’ keeps both.
ἀρχιερεὺς μέγας (v.14) — ‘great’ on a word that already holds ‘chief’. The doubling shows.
συμπαθῆσαι (v.15) — a compound of συν- and πάσχω. ‘Suffer with’ carries both pieces.
χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας (v.15) — what it qualifies is unsettled. Left last, it stays open.
κατέχω (3:6 · 3:14) / κρατέω (4:14) — two verbs doing one work. ‘Hold fast’ covers both in English.
τοὺς οὐρανούς (v.14) — plural. ‘The heavens’ keeps the number.