On lazy, see 5.11, where Good News Translation has slow to understand. Lazy fits better here, where the context deals more with behavior than with thought, but the two ideas are not sharply separated.
The Greek term rendered lazy in Good News Translation is in bold contrast with the Greek term rendered eagerness in verse 11. There the emphasis is upon the author’s great desire for the people to be eager, and this is expressed negatively at the beginning of verse 12 as We do not want you to become lazy or “I do not want you to become lazy.” The term lazy may be expressed as “not wanting to do anything” or “not wanting to work.”
On “faith” (Revised Standard Version) or believe, see 4.2-3.
But to be like those who believe involves the kind of contrast that may require the repetition of a verb meaning want; for example, “but I do want you to be like those who believe” or “… trust Christ.”
Patient is similar in meaning to a word which Good News Bible in 12.1 translates determination (where Jerusalem Bible and Barclay have “perseverance”). The main idea is that of holding on to the end, but chapter 12 shows that resistance to persecution is also involved. The emphasis here of “holding on to the end” refers to the nature of what is hoped for, and therefore patient may be expressed as “patient (or, steady) in continuing to hope.” On the other hand, patient may be expressed negatively as “they do not give up.”
The key concept of this verse is receive. In Greek the word is less common than in English. Most translations use either a present tense, such as receive, “are now taking possession” (Translator’s New Testament), or a future tense, “will receive what God has promised” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; similarly Knox). If a present tense is used, the meaning must be “imitate those who are showing great faith and patience, because that is how they are receiving what God promised,” but this does not seem very natural (see comments on 1.4). The meaning is probably “those who have entered and are still in possession of what God promised,” or more simply, “those who have received what God promised” (Phillips “came to possess the promises”). This fits in very well with the following statement on Abraham’s faith and its reward, and it prepares the way for a fuller treatment of the same theme in chapter 11.
And so receive may be expressed as “and in this way they receive” or “and by doing this they receive.” Or one may use a perfective tense, “and by means of this they have received.”
The traditional translation, “inherit the promises” (Revised Standard Version), may be criticized from three points of view: (a) There is no suggestion in this context of inheriting property by the will of someone who has died. (b) What is “received” is not here the promise itself, but the thing promised. (c) The text implies that God is the one who promises, and this needs to be made clear. See comments on 1.2.
What God has promised may be amplified as “what God has promised to give to them.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .