HEB 5:8 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 5:1–10: God appointed Jesus Christ to be our high priest

The term “high priest” connects Section 4:14–16 with this section (5:1–10). In this section the author gives more information about the high priests of Israel and the work that they did. Then he compares the work of those high priests to the work of Christ as our high priest. The main point of this section is that Christ is the high priest because God said that he is.

The author mentions three facts about a high priest’s role and applies them to Christ:

A high priest is appointed by God. The Scriptures show that Jesus Christ was appointed by God. In Hebrews 5:5–6, the author quotes Psalm 2:7 and 110:4 as evidence that God appointed him.Lane (page 118) says, “The writer correctly interprets Ps 2:7 as a declaration of appointment…. The same emphasis is evident in the quotation of Ps 110:4.”
A high priest should understand and sympathize with the weaknesses of his people. In 5:7–8 the author talked about how Christ suffered and prayed to God with tears.
A high priest must offer a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. In 5:8–9 the author indicated that when Christ suffered and offered himself as a perfect sacrifice, he obtained eternal salvation for his people. This implies that he atoned for their sins.

In the Greek text for this section, the author usually used a pronoun (“he” or “him”) to refer to Christ. He referred to him as “Christ” only once (5:5), and he did not use the term “Jesus” in this section. However, in the previous section (4:14) the author used the term “Jesus, the Son of God.” Consider carefully how to refer to Christ in the verses where only a pronoun is used in Greek or English. You should use the term “Christ” instead of a pronoun in places where you think that the reader will be confused about who the pronoun refers to.

Remember to read the section carefully before deciding on a heading for it. Some other examples of headings for this section are:

Jesus Christ is the perfect high priest

God made his Son the high priest for his people

God declares that Jesus is a priest

Paragraph 5:5–10

After the author described the call and duties of a high priest of Israel in 5:1–4, he applied this description to Jesus Christ in 5:5–10.

5:8a–b

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered: This statement expresses surpriseIt expresses a fact that is contrary to what people expect. that even Christ, the Son of God, needed to suffer in order to fully obey God. The phrase learned obedience does not imply that the Son was disobedient or that he did not know how to obey. It indicates that when the Son was a man on earth, he had to suffer in order to obey the Father. Then he learned the type of obedience that involves suffering or causes suffering.

In some languages it may be helpful to mention “suffering” before learned obedience. For example:

He, being Son of God, still suffered. Through his suffering, he learned/experienced obedience.

Some other ways to translate the meaning are:

but Son though he was, he had to prove the meaning of obedience through all that he suffered (JBP)

Even though Christ was the Son of God, yet in order that he might obey God, he let himself go through suffering.

5:8a

Although He was a Son,

He is God’s Son, but still
But even though he was the Son of God,

Although He was a Son: In Greek this phrase is more literally, “Though being Son.” It emphasizes Christ’s identity as the Son of God. It does not imply that there was more than one son. In some languages it is necessary to supply the word for “God.” For example:

But even though he was God’s Son (GNT)

Jesus is God’s own Son, but still… (CEV)

5:8b

He learned obedience from what He suffered.

he learned to obey God by means of the suffering that he endured.
he suffered much and discovered how to obey God as a human being.

He learned obedience from what He suffered: The phrase He learned obedience indicates that Christ learned (experienced) submitting to God even when the submission caused him to suffer. In some languages a phrase like learned obedience wrongly implies that Christ was only pretending to obey.The note in the Uma back translation (TW) says, “in Uma to say ‘he learned to obey’ implies that he was just pretending or imitating.” In other languages it wrongly implies that Christ was disobedient until he learned from suffering that he ought to obey.

If this phrase implies such a wrong meaning in your language, use a different way to describe Jesus’ experience of obeying God as he suffered. For example:

he experienced the meaning of obeying God through/by what he suffered

through all that he endured, he realized the meaning of following/obeying God

he too underwent suffering, and he submitted to God like mankindUma back translation on TW.

obedience: The word obedience refers to listening to someone (here, listening to God) and doing what he says to do. In some languages it is more natural to translate obedience as a phrase or clause. For example:

to obey God

to listen to God and do as he says/commands

from what He suffered: The phrase from what He suffered indicates the means by which Christ “learned obedience.” He learned it by suffering and in the process of suffering. The phrase what He suffered is a general way to refer to all the pain, sorrow, tortures, and agony that Christ endured when he died to atone for our sins.

For translation examples, see the first note on 5:8b.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: guidelines-sonofgodprinciples

υἱός

˓a˒_son

The word son is an important title for Jesus, the Son of God. Alternate translation: [the Son of God]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἔμαθεν & τὴν ὑπακοήν

˱he˲_learned & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καίπερ ὤν υἱός ἔμαθεν ἀφʼ ὧν ἔπαθεν τήν ὑπακοήν)

The clause he learned obedience means that the Son gained new knowledge and experience about obedience. It does not mean that the Son had never “obeyed” before or had to become better at obeying God. The Son has always “obeyed,” but this verse shows that he learned new things about obedience when he suffered. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make this idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [he learned what is required to be obedient] or [he learned more about obedience]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

τὴν ὑπακοήν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καίπερ ὤν υἱός ἔμαθεν ἀφʼ ὧν ἔπαθεν τήν ὑπακοήν)

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of obedience, you could express the idea by using an adjective such as “obedient” or a verb such as “obey.” Alternate translation: [to be obedient]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / extrainfo

ἀφ’ ὧν ἔπαθεν

from what_‹things› ˱he˲_suffered

The author does not clarify exactly what the things which he suffered are. These things probably include everything that Jesus suffered during his life up to and including his death. If possible, use a general phrase that could refer to all the “suffering” that Jesus experienced. Alternate translation: [from all the suffering that he experienced]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.