OET interlinear HEB 2:8

Section 2:5–18: Jesus, the Son of God, became a human being

In the previous section, the author stated the seriousness of ignoring the Son’s message of salvation. In this section he gave more reasons why Jesus is greater than the angels and why we should take Jesus’ salvation more seriously than the law that was received through the angels. Some of these reasons are:

1. Jesus, not the angels, will control the future world (2:5)

2. Jesus humbled himself in order to make himself like us:

   • In our lower position (2:7, 2:9)

   • In our suffering and death (2:10, 2:14)

   • As his brothers, God’s children (2:11–14, 2:17)

3. Jesus can:

   • Bring us to glory (2:10)

   • Bring us to salvation (2:10)

   • Make us holy (2:11)

   • Break the power of death (2:14)

   • Sets us free from the fear of death (2:15)

   • Help us (he did not come to help angels) (2:16)

   • Be a merciful and faithful high priest before God (2:17)

   • Take away the sins of people (2:17)

   • Help us when we are tempted (2:18)

   • [Angels cannot do this]

Some other possible headings for this section are:

The Son became human to save us

Christ Became like Humans (NCV)

Jesus Became One of Us to Help Us (GW)

Paragraph 2:5–9

There is an interpretation issue in 2:6–8. These verses contain a quote from Psalm 8:4–6. The psalm refers to “man” and “son of man,” and uses words like “him” and “his.” In the psalm these words refer to human beings (mankind) in general. However, there are two ways to interpret these forms when they are quoted here in Hebrews 2:

1. They refer to both humanity and to Jesus as the Messiah. For example:

   What is a mortal that you should remember him, the Son of Man that you care for him? (GW) (BSB, NIV84, RSV, ESV, GW, REB, NASB, NET, NLT96, JBP, KJV)

2. They refer only to humanity. This interpretation is implied by English versions that use plural or collective forms. For example:

   What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? (NRSV) (NIV, GNT, CEV, NRSV, NJB, NCV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The author of Hebrews often used verses from the OT as evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. A number of commentaries, including recent ones, also support this interpretation.There is a growing number of scholars supporting the Messianic tones of Hebrews 2:6–8: Koester (page 221) says, “A tension in the psalm enables it to bear two different lines of interpretation…. The psalm asks about God’s will for ‘man,’ which can be understood as a question about humankind generally so that Hebrews can deal with God’s design for people…. The psalm can also be taken as a statement about Jesus, who is God’s Son and heir of all things.” Lane (47) says that when the author of Hebrews quotes the statement in Psalm 8 “You put everything in subjection under his feet” (verse 8a), he “immediately adds, we do not yet…see everything subject to his control.” Lane sees this “not yet” as crucial, “for it indicates that the writer found in the quotation a prophecy that will eventually be fulfilled.” He continues (page 48) to explain that since the psalmist recognized that this prophecy has not yet been fulfilled, the author of Hebrews sees “that the promised subjection has reference not to humankind in general (verse 8), but to Jesus (verse 9), whom God has appointed ‘heir of everything.” See also O’Brien (pages 91–93) and Attridge (page 72). For a detailed article on this topic see Guthrie and Quinn (2006: pages 235–246).

In some languages it may not be possible to use a singular form to refer to human beings in general. If this is true in your language, you may want to include a footnote in your translation. For example:

Some scholars believe that “son of man” is used in the psalm to refer to humans in general. However, the author of Hebrews also used it to refer to Jesus as the Messiah who “leads many sons to glory” (2:10). Jesus is the one who fulfilled the psalm’s prophecy that God put all things under mankind’s control.

It is clear that in the OT the psalmist is praising God for choosing “human beings” to rule over creation. However, the author of Hebrews does not have only humanity in mind. He also uses the psalm to refer to the Messiah. He implies that the psalmist also spoke about Jesus becoming human and being crowned with glory and honor.

and placed everything under his feet.”

• and you^(sing) caused him to have authority over everything.”

• You^(sing) appointed him to rule over all that you created.”

General Comment on 2:7a–8a

In some languages it is more natural to translate 2:7a, 2:7b, and 2:8a as separate sentences. Some ways to do this are:

You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor. You put everything under his control.

You made him lower than the angels for a while. Yet you crowned him with glory and honor. And you gave him authority over everything.

When God subjected all things to him,

• When God gave him authority over everything,

• As this scripture/writing says, God appointed him to rule over all that he created.

He left nothing outside of his control.

• there was nothing that he did not put under man’s authority.

• God said, “I give you^(sing) the right to control everything.”

General Comment on 2:8b–c

In 2:8b the author repeated part of the quotation from Psalm 8. In 2:8c he explained the meaning of that part of the quotation. Connect the statements in a natural way in your language.

Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.

• But we^(incl) see/know that right now everything is not under man’s authority.

• However, at the present time we^(incl) know that he does not yet rule/control everything.