HEB 6:8 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 5:11–6:12: Grow up in your faith, and do not give up

In Section 5:11–6:12 the author interrupted his teaching about God appointing Christ as the high priest in order to tell his listeners to mature in their faith and to warn them not to stop believing in Christ. After this warning (6:4–12), he will continue to teach them in 6:13–7:28 about the priesthood of Jesus and Melchizedek.

Remember to translate the section before choosing a heading for it. Some other possible headings are:

Warning about abandoning Christ

Do not be lazy but become mature followers of Christ

Paragraph Group 6:4–8

In the second (6:4–6) and third (6:7–8) paragraphs in this chapter the author gave the third warning in Hebrews (as indicated in the Outline). In 6:4–6 he warned that if people “fall away” from their faith, they bring disgrace to God’s Son. It is impossible to make them repent again. In 6:7–8 he compared faithful and unfaithful believers to fruitful and unfruitful land. Land that produces only thorns must be burned.

6:8

In this verse the author compares worthless land to the fruitful land in 6:7. In some languages it is necessary to make the comparison explicit. This may be done either at the beginning of the verse or at its end. For example:

But other people are like land that produces only thorns and thistles…

…This represents the people whom God will punish.Otomi back translation on TW.

6:8a

But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless,

However, other land also receives rain, but it produces only thorny weeds. That land has no value,
Other people are like useless soil. When that land soaks up the rain water, it produces only plants that no one wants/needs.

But: The particle But introduces a contrast to the fruitful land in 6:7. In 6:8 the land produces useless plants like thorns and thistles and must be burned. The author implies that this land is like people who fall away from Christ (6:4–6). Translate the contrast in a natural way in your language.

land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless: Here the author refers to land where nothing grows except thorns and thistles. As in 6:7, in some languages it may not be natural to speak of land “producing” plants. Translate this meaning in a similar way as you did in 6:7. Some other ways to translate it are:

But the bad soil where weeds and thorns grow is useless.Kankanaey back translation on TW.

But if that land has nothing growing on it but thorns and thistles it has no value

thorns and thistles: The words thorns and thistles refer to the most common weeds in Israel. Thorn bushes and thistle plants are not useful for anything. Even most animals will not eat them. It is fine to translate the phrase thorns and thistles with similar useless, thorny weeds that are found in your area or with general terms.

Some other ways to translate the phrase are:

nothing but sword-grass and thorns growing on itUma back translation on TW.

weeds and thorny plantsTagbanwa back translation on TW.

These two types of plants are very similar. The word thorns refers to “plants that have thorns.” Thorns are sharp spikes that can hurt someone who touches them. The word thistles refers to prickly weeds. This word only occurs here and in Matthew 7:16. The author probably mentioned both of these plants to emphasize his meaning. In some languages it may be more natural to emphasize the meaning in a different way. For example:

only thornbushes (CEV)

only useless/harmful plants

only weeds

Both words occur in Matthew 7:16. See how you translated them there.

is worthless: The word worthless indicates here that the land produces nothing of value. It is barren, and its owners do not get anything good from it. The author implies that it is like the people who go away from Christ. They cannot do anything good to please God. Other ways to translate this meaning are:

has no use/value

is worth nothing

6:8b

and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.

and it is almost ready to be cursed by God and burned.
If it continues to be like that, God will soon punish it, and it will be burned.

and its curse is imminent: The Greek word that the BSB translates as imminent is often translated as “near.” There are two main ways to interpret it here:

It means “in danger of.” For example:
and is in danger of being cursed (NIV) (NRSV, NIV, GNT, CEV, NCV, GW, REB)
It means “soon.” For example:
The farmer will soon condemn that field (NLT) (BSB, NLT, NRSV, NET)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). It is supported by more English versions and commentaries.

its curse: The Greek word that the BSB translates as its curse refers here to a decision that God may make to condemn the people who are like the worthless land. When God speaks the condemnation (curse), it is a judgment that cannot be avoided.

In some cultures the meaning of curse is different from the biblical meaning here. If that is true in your culture you may have to use a different word. For example:

being judged/condemned

being punished/destroyed

The text strongly implies that God is the one who will punish the land (people). In some languages it is necessary to make that explicit. For example:

being cursed/punished by God

God may soon condemn it.

In the end it will be burned: In Greek this clause is more literally “its end [is] for burning.” It means that, finally, the land will be burned. This implies that fire will burn all the plants on the land. (It does not imply that the land itself will burn.) In many places in the world, it is common to burn a field to prepare it for planting.

Some ways to translate this clause are:

finally, it will be burned

in the end, the farmer must burn the weeds off of it

In some languages it is necessary to make the meaning more explicit. For example:

it’s burned over by the owner. And the same way also, the person like this land, he will be punished by God.Western Bukidnon Manobo back translation on TW.

General Comment on 6:7–8

Paragraph 6:7–8 compares soil and people. In some languages it is necessary to make the comparison more explicit. For example:

⁷Some people are like land that gets plenty of rain. The land produces a good crop for those who work it, and it receives God’s blessings. ⁸Other people are like land that grows thorns and weeds and is worthless. It is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire. (NCV)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-condition-hypothetical

ἐκφέρουσα

bringing_out

The word producing introduces what must be true about the land for it to be close to a curse and eventually “burned.” In many languages, this idea can be expressed with a conditional form. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a form that indicates that the word producing introduces the condition or situation in which the rest of the sentence would be true. Alternate translation: [if it produces]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet

ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους

thorns (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐκφέρουσα δέ ἀκάνθας καί τριβόλους ἀδόκιμος καί κατάρας ἐγγύς ἧς τό τέλος εἰς καῦσιν)

The words thorns and thistles mean almost the same thing. The quotation uses both words to emphasize that the field grows only plants that have no use and may hurt people. If the repetition would be confusing, or if you do not have two words that express this particular meaning, you could use one word or phrase here. Alternate translation: [weeds only] or [only plants with thorns]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

κατάρας ἐγγύς

˓a˒_curse near

The author could be using the phrase close to a curse to express the idea that: (1) the land will receive a curse soon. Alternate translation: [about to be cursed] (2) the land may possibly receive a curse. Alternate translation: [in danger of being cursed] or [may be cursed]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἧς τὸ τέλος εἰς καῦσιν

˱of˲_which (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐκφέρουσα δέ ἀκάνθας καί τριβόλους ἀδόκιμος καί κατάρας ἐγγύς ἧς τό τέλος εἰς καῦσιν)

The phrase the end of which is for burning indicates what will finally happen to the land. Use a phrase that refers to the final destiny of something. Alternate translation: [its final destiny is to be burned] or [and eventually it will be burned]

Note 5 topic: writing-pronouns

ἧς

˱of˲_which

The word which could refer to: (1) the “land,” which the author mentioned in [6:7](../06/07.md). Alternate translation: [of which land] (2) the curse. This would mean that the final result of the curse is that the land is “burned.” Alternate translation: [of which curse]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

εἰς καῦσιν

to burning

In the author’s culture, people would burn a field to destroy the plants that were growing on it. That way, they could start fresh with a field that did not have any weeds or other bad plants growing on it. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make this idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [is for burning all its vegetation] or [is for someone to burn everything on it]

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.

OET interlinear HEB 6:8