2:8a

and placed everything under his feet: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as placed everything under his feet means “put under his authority,” “made him ruler over.” It indicates that God gave the Messiah and/or mankind authority to rule over everything that God created. It does not indicate that the things were literally located under his or their feet.

In some languages it is more natural to translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:

and made him ruler over all things (Good News Translation)
-or-
The Lord God gives mankind authority to rule everything.

everything: The word everything refers to all that God created. Another way to translate everything is:

all the things you have made

If you have a figure of speech in your language that has this meaning, you may be able to use it here.

his: See the note on 2:6b. Make sure that you translate the whole quotation in 2:6–8 so that the parts agree with each other. For example, if you used a pronoun like his in the previous parts of this quotation, you should also use his here. If you used “us(incl.) ” there, you should use “our(incl.) ” here.

General Comment on 2:7a–8a

In some languages it is more natural to translate 2:7a, 2:7b, and 2:8a as separate sentences. Some ways to do this are:

You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor. You put everything under his control.
-or-
You made him lower than the angels for a while. Yet you crowned him with glory and honor. And you gave him authority over everything.

2:8b

In some languages it will be more natural to combine 2:8b and 2:8c. See the General Comment on 2:8b–c at the end of 2:8c.

This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that is often translated as “for.” As in 2:2a, it introduces a statement that explains something about what the author has just said. Introduce the statement in a natural way in your language. In some languages a connecting word is not necessary.

When God subjected all things to him: The phrase subjected all things is repeated from 2:8a, where the Berean Standard Bible uses “placed.” The word When indicates that the author will explain what the phrase implies. Other ways to translate When God subjected all things to him are:

when he said that he subjected everything under their feet, he meant/implied that…
-or-
when it says “all things,” it means that… (New Living Translation (2004))

2:8c

He left nothing outside of his control: This clause is a way of repeating what the author said in 2:8a. God put everything under the authority of mankind. When he gave mankind this authority, he did not mention anything that he would not allow them to control. Some other ways to translate this meaning are:

He gave them control over every single thing.
-or-
He did not say that there was something that they could not control.

General Comment on 2:8b–c

In 2:8b the author repeated part of the quotation from Psalm 8. In 2:8c he explained the meaning of that part of the quotation. Connect the statements in a natural way in your language.

2:8d

Yet at present: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Yet at present is more literally “but now.” It indicates a contrast between the quotation in 2:8a and what humans experience now. Some other ways to express this contrast are:

however…now (Good News Translation)
-or-
But (New Living Translation (2004))

we do not see everything subject to him: The clause we do not see everything subject to him indicates that people do not yet rule or control everything else that God created. The clause contrasts with 2:8a–c, and it repeats some of the words in those clauses. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
But until the present time we do not see that all the things are ruled by the people.

In this statement the word we refers to people in general. Some other ways to translate the statement are:

But today/now, this has not yet happened.
-or-
But people have not yet seen all this happen.

see: In this context the verb see refers to being aware that something has happened or to experiencing it. It does not refer here to seeing with the eyes.

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