Verses 1-2 form a single sentence in the Greek. Grammatically, the main verb is the verb for let us run. In addition there are three dependent clauses, the verbs of which are rendered (1) we have, literally “having,” (2) rid ourselves of, literally “ridding ourselves of” or “laying aside,” and (3) Let us keep our eyes fixed on, literally “looking steadily at.”
As for us translates an emphatic “We also,” meaning we as well as the Old Testament characters mentioned in chapter 11.
“Cloud” (Revised Standard Version and others) renders a common metaphor for “a large number of people.” Many modern translations either turn it into a simile, “like a cloud” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New English Bible), or use a nonfigurative expression (Good News Translation crowd, Bijbel in Gewone Taal “so many,” Moffatt “host,” Phillips “serried ranks”).
Witnesses: a “witness,” at least in the Bible, is not just a passive “spectator” (Barclay) but an active “witness to faith” (Bijbel in Gewone Taal, New English Bible, Translator’s New Testament), more specifically “people who have demonstrated their faith” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). The thought is that the Old Testament heroes are watching how the writer of Hebrews and his readers “run their race” in the Christian life, since their own salvation is linked with that of Christians (11.40). This large crowd of witnesses consists of the heroes of faith recorded in chapter 11.
We have this large crowd of witnesses around us may be expressed as “this large crowd of those who have witnessed to their faith are around us” or “… are, as it were, close by around us.”
The central part of this verse, from So then to so tightly, has been understood in rather different ways by translators and commentators. It is best to look first at the individual Greek words, and then at the relations between them:
Revised Standard Version‘s “Therefore” is a strong word which Good News Translation fourth edition translates as So then.
Rid ourselves may have either the general meaning “throw off, get rid of,” or the narrower idea of “taking off clothes.”
Everything that gets in the way is literally “every impediment” or “every encumbrance.” This is an unusual Greek word which partly overlaps in meaning with the more common biblical metaphor of the “stumbling-block.” The idea of “weight” (Revised Standard Version) does not seem prominent here, though in some texts outside the Bible the Greek word is used of flesh “weighing down” the spirit.
Sin translates the common word used in 1.3 and many other places. In Hebrews, “sin” is often thought of as a burden of guilt which can only be removed by sacrifice. Bijbel in Gewone Taal translates “burden of sin.” Despite the article the, nothing in the context suggests that the writer is thinking of any particular kind of sin or sinful act. Some English translations therefore omit the: Moffatt “strip off sin,” New American Bible “every encumbrance of sin” (similarly New English Bible, Translator’s New Testament). Knox‘s “the sinful habit that clings so closely” is too narrow. In many languages there will be no separate word corresponding to the in English, but there will be other ways of indicating old information.
In the phrase which holds on to us so tightly, to us is implied. A few manuscripts have “which so easily distracts us”; see New English Bible note. Most translations agree generally with Good News Translation. Barclay makes the metaphor more explicit by turning it into a simile: “We must therefore, as an athlete strips for action, strip off every encumbrance and the sin which clings to us….” New English Bible‘s text, “every sin to which we cling,” is grammatically possible but perhaps does not fit the context so well.
What is the relation between the rare word meaning “impediment,” translated that gets in the way, and the common word for sin? The writer may be thinking of things which, though not sinful in themselves, can “get in our way” by preventing us from “keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.” However, it seems better not to contrast “impediment” and sin, but to take sin as explaining or widening the meaning of “impediment.” If so, it is better to restructure these phrases within the clause, as in Bijbel in Gewone Taal “get rid of every burden of sin which so easily hinders us” and New American Bible “every encumbrance of sin which clings to us.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch distinguishes “impediment” and sin, but shows that they are connected: “free ourselves from everything which weighs us down, especially from sin, which so easily clings to us.” Sin renders a more general word than “impediment,” but the meaning of “impediment” is widened in Greek by the addition of every.
A literal rendering of let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way causes problems. It might suggest that one is justified in eliminating anything which hinders a person’s drive for success or which might limit a person’s ambition. This exhortation is not an excuse for aggression, and therefore it may be better to indicate clearly the relationship between everything that gets in the way and the sin which holds on to us so tightly. In fact, it may be better to render everything that gets in the way as “everything that keeps us from doing what we should.” One may translate the central part of verse 1 as “Therefore let us get rid of everything which keeps us from doing what we should, that is, the sin which clings so tightly to us.” In some languages, however, it may be impossible to speak of sin clinging to a person. One can often speak of “the sin which we love so much.”
The words for run (verse 1) and paths (verse 13) are related in Greek. With determination is emphasized in the Greek by its position, and in Good News Translation by the choice of words. In Romans 8.25 the same expression is somewhat undertranslated as with patience (similarly in Heb 10.36). In 10.32 the related verb is expanded to were not defeated. The idea is that of enduring to the end.
The word translated race may also mean “struggle,” but the meaning race is required here because of run; see comment on Heb. 12.4. The idea of life as an athletic contest is quite common, both in and outside the Bible (see 10.32). Some translations emphasize the metaphor implied in the words that lies before us, as in Knox, New English Bible, and Bijbel in Gewone Taal “the race for which we are entered.” Phillips “the race that we have to run,” like Good News Translation, gives the figure in a more simple form. Before refers to future time rather than to a place ahead of us.
It may be necessary to mark the final part of this verse as being figurative. This may be done by adding an expression which indicates that this is a simile; for example, “let us, as it were, run with determination.”
With determination can sometimes be expressed as “let us decide in our hearts” or “let us tell our hearts.” Instead of run … the race, it is often necessary to say “run the path” or “run the course.” Accordingly, the race that lies before us may be “the course ahead of us which we must take” or “the path which we must follow in the future.” Or it may be necessary to avoid the figure of speech and to say “let us be determined to act as we should in the life that we now will have.”
The idea that God has set us to run the race is not emphasized here. Verses 3-4 speak of human elements in the “struggle.”
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 .