HEB 5:11 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT concerning whom the message to us is great, but hard to speak about since you have become dull in your hearing.

UST We have many things to talk about with regard to Melchizedek. However, since you do not listen and understand well, these things will be difficult to explain to you.

BLB Concerning this there is much speech from us, and difficult in interpretation to speak, since you have become sluggish in the hearings.

AICNT Concerning this, we have much to say and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding.

OEB ¶ Now on this subject I have much to say, but it is difficult to explain it to you, because you have shown yourselves so slow to learn.

WEBBE About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing.

LSV concerning the Word, of whom we have much [to speak], and of hard explanation to say, since you have become dull of hearing,

FBV We have much to say about Jesus, and it's hard to explain because you don't seem able to understand!

TCNT On this topic we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing.

T4T Although there is much to say to you(pl) about how Christ resembles Melchizedek, this is hard for me to explain to you because you now understand things so slowly.

LEB ¶ Concerning this[fn] _⌊we have much to say and it is difficult to explain_⌋[fn], since you have become sluggish in hearing.

5:11 Literally “which”

5:11 Literally “great for us the message and hard to explain to say”

BBE Of whom we have much to say which it is hard to make clear, because you are slow of hearing.

Moff On this point I have a great deal to say, which it is hard to make intelligible to you. For you have grown dull of hearing.

Wymth Concerning Him we have much to say, and much that it would be difficult to make clear to you, since you have become so dull of apprehension.

ASV Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing.

DRA Of whom we have much to say, and hard to be intelligibly uttered: because you are become weak to hear.

YLT concerning whom we have much discourse and of hard explanation to say, since ye have become dull of hearing,

Drby Concerning whom we have much to say, and hard to be interpreted in speaking [of it], since ye are become dull in hearing.

RV Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing.
(Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing ye/you_all are become dull of hearing. )

SLT Of whom great is the word to us, and difficult of interpretation to speak, since ye have been sluggish in the hearing.

Wbstr Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

KJB-1769 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
(Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye/you_all are dull of hearing. )

KJB-1611 Of whom we haue many things to say, and hard to be vttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps Of whom we haue many thynges to say, and harde to be vttered, seing ye are dull of hearyng.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Gnva Of whome we haue many things to say, which are hard to be vttered, because ye are dull of hearing.
(Of whom we have many things to say, which are hard to be uttered, because ye/you_all are dull of hearing. )

Cvdl Wherof we haue many thinges to saye, which are harde to be vttered, because ye are dull of hearynge.
(Wherof we have many things to say, which are hard to be uttered, because ye/you_all are dull of hearing.)

TNT Wherof we have many thynges to saye which are harde to be vttered: because ye are dull of hearinge.
(Wherof we have many things to say which are hard to be uttered: because ye/you_all are dull of hearing. )

Wycl Of whom ther is to vs a greet word for to seie, and able to be expowned, for ye ben maad feble to here.
(Of whom there is to us a great word for to say, and able to be expowned, for ye/you_all been made feeble to here.)

Luth Davon hätten wir wohl viel zu reden; aber es ist schwer, weil ihr so unverständig seid.
(Of_that would_have we/us probably/well many to/for talk; but it is difficult/heavy, because you(pl)/their/her so unsensible/understanding are.)

ClVg De quo nobis grandis sermo, et ininterpretabilis ad dicendum: quoniam imbecilles facti estis ad audiendum.[fn]
(From/About where us great/large speech, and ininterpretabilis to sayendum: since/because imbecilles made you_are to to_be_heard. )

5.11 Ininterpretabilis. Sermo de incarnato Filio difficilis est ad interpretandum, quia debiles sensu estis ad intelligendum profunda mysteria.

5.11 Ininterpretabilis. Sermo from/about incarnato Filio difficilis it_is to interpretandum, because debiles sense you_are to to_be_understood deep mysteries.

UGNT περὶ οὗ πολὺς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, καὶ δυσερμήνευτος λέγειν, ἐπεὶ νωθροὶ γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς.
(peri hou polus haʸmin ho logos, kai dusermaʸneutos legein, epei nōthroi gegonate tais akoais.)

SBL-GNT Περὶ οὗ πολὺς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος καὶ δυσερμήνευτος λέγειν, ἐπεὶ νωθροὶ γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς·
(Peri hou polus haʸmin ho logos kai dusermaʸneutos legein, epei nōthroi gegonate tais akoais;)

RP-GNT Περὶ οὗ πολὺς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος καὶ δυσερμήνευτος λέγειν, ἐπεὶ νωθροὶ γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς.
(Peri hou polus haʸmin ho logos kai dusermaʸneutos legein, epei nōthroi gegonate tais akoais.)

TC-GNT Περὶ οὗ πολὺς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος καὶ δυσερμήνευτος λέγειν, ἐπεὶ νωθροὶ γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς.
(Peri hou polus haʸmin ho logos kai dusermaʸneutos legein, epei nōthroi gegonate tais akoais. )

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

TTN Tyndale Theme Notes:

Spiritual Maturity

When a person turns to Christ for salvation, it marks the beginning of a journey that will continue the rest of their life. Such a person does not simply remain as they are; they are transformed, growing continually into Christlikeness—a process often referred to as sanctification. Just as newborn babies drink milk in order to grow—eventually being able to eat solid food—new believers must avail themselves of “spiritual milk” in order to “grow into a full experience of salvation” (1 Pet 2:2-3), eventually consuming the “solid food” of deeper teaching (Heb 5:11-14).

Spiritual maturity has to do with one’s ability to discern spiritual truth (1 Cor 2:6). Christians are exhorted to be mature in their thinking (1 Cor 14:20). The body of Christ grows to maturity through the equipping of believers and by growing in knowledge of the Son of God (Eph 4:11-16). The result is a united community of faith in which love and truth further build up the body of Christ.

The audience of Hebrews was spiritually immature. The author wanted to give them real spiritual meat, but they were acting like spiritual babies who needed basic nourishment rather than deeper teaching (5:12). They had not been listening to the word of God. They had been believers long enough to be teaching others, but a growing insensitivity had rendered them spiritually dull (5:11-12; cp. 1 Cor 3:1-3). They lacked the maturity to discern the basic difference between right and wrong (Heb 5:14). Thus, the author challenged them to move on to maturity so he could present them with deeper truths of the faith, rather than repeatedly recounting the basics (6:1-3).

Spiritual maturity is not an automatic result of time. It results from focused listening to the word of God and living out that word in fellowship with a community of believers.

Passages for Further Study

1 Cor 2:6; 3:1-3; 14:20; 2 Cor 13:9-11; Eph 4:11-16; Col 4:12; Heb 5:11-14; 6:1-3; 10:14; 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:1-3

SOTN 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 5:11–14

In verses 11–14 the author told his listeners that they were like babies who do not understand much about God and his Word. He told them that they ought to be like teachers, not like babies.

5:11a

We have much to say about this,

¶ There are many things that I want to say about this,
¶ I have much to teach you^(plur) about this topic of Christ’s priesthood in the order of Melchizedek.

We have much to say about this: The author put the phrase about thisMost English versions and commentators interpret the Greek word that the BSB translates as “this” to refer to a topic (the high priesthood of Christ in the order of Melchizedek). However, a few versions and commentators believe that it refers to a person, either Melchizedek or Christ. at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize it. In some languages it is more natural to begin the sentence in a different way, as modelled by the BSB. In other languages it may be preferable to follow the Greek word order. For example:

About this we have much to say (NRSV)

We: Here the author used the word We to refer to himself, as was common for Greek authors. The word We does not include the readers, and it does not indicate that there is more than one author of Hebrews. In many languages it is more natural and accurate to use “I” here. See the examples in the following note on “have much to say.”

have much to say: In Greek the phrase have much to say is more literally “much (is) the word.” It indicates that the author wants to explain much more about Christ being our high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Some other ways to translate the phrase are:

there is much to tell you

There are many more things I would like to tell you

The author already said something about Christ and Melchizedek in 5:7 and 10. So in some languages it may be helpful to indicate that he has more to say about that topic. For example:

There is much more we would like to say about this (NLT)

about this: The phrase about this refers to the topic that the author has been discussing in 4:14–16 and 5:1–10. That topic is that Christ is our great high priest and his priesthood is like the priesthood of Melchizedek (5:10).

Some ways to refer back to this topic are:

Refer to the topic in a general way. For example:
About this topic/matter
Refer to the topic more specifically. For example:
There is much that I could say here concerning the priesthood of Jesus and MelchizedekTagbanwa back translation on TW.

5:11b

but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing.

but it is difficult to explain to you^(plur) because you are slow/lazy learners.
However, you^(plur) do not think carefully/hard about such matters, so it is difficult for me to help you understand them.

but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing: In this part of the verse the author tells his listeners why it is difficult to explain Christ’s high priesthood to them. The reason is that they are dull of hearing. As a result, it is hard to explain the topic to them in a way that they can understand. Some other ways to translate this result and its reason are:

it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand (NIV)

it is not easy to explain it to you because you do not seem to really listen

In some languages it is more natural to change the order of the reason and result so that the reason comes first. For example:

But you don’t seem to listen, so it’s hard to make you understand. (NLT96)

hard to explain: The BSB phrase hard to explain is one word in Greek. This word often refers to a topic that is difficult to understand in itself. However, in this context the author indicates that his topic is hard to explain to them because they are lazy in listening to it. They do not think about it carefully enough to understand it. Some other ways to translate this word are:

difficult to make it clear to you

hard to make you know/understand

because you are dull of hearing: This clause tells the reason why it was difficult for the author to explain the high priesthood of Christ to his listeners. The reason is that they were too lazy (slow) to understand it. The word the BSB translates as dull means “slow/lazy” and is translated as “sluggish” in 6:12, but it does not occur anywhere else in the NT.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

because you are so slow to understand (GNT)

you have become too dull/lazy to understand it

In some languages there is a figure of speech for this meaning. For example:

your heads/ears have become too hard

The author said this to encourage his listeners to try harder to understand what he wanted to teach them. Translate this meaning in a natural way in your language.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns

περὶ οὗ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Περί οὗ πολύς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος καί δυσερμήνευτος λέγειν ἐπεί νωθροί γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς)

The word whom could refer to: (1) Melchizedek, whom the author mentioned at the end of the previous verse. Alternate translation: [about whom] (2) the topic that the author is discussing, which is the priesthoods of Melchizedek and Jesus. Alternate translation: [concerning which topic]

περὶ οὗ πολὺς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Περί οὗ πολύς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος καί δυσερμήνευτος λέγειν ἐπεί νωθροί γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς)

Alternate translation: [about whom we have much to discuss] or [concerning whom I have many words to speak to you]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

νωθροὶ γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Περί οὗ πολύς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος καί δυσερμήνευτος λέγειν ἐπεί νωθροί γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς)

The author speaks as if hearing could become dull, just as if it were a sharp tool that became dull and no longer cuts things well. He speaks in this way to describe their hearing as ineffective and slow, which means that they do not understand what he is saying to them. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable idiom or express the idea plainly. Alternate translation: [you have become slow to understand] or [you do not pay attention to what I am saying]

Parallel HEB 5:11

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

Paragraph 5:11–14

5:11a

5:11b