Jewish is implied, as in verse 11. This term is not historically correct, since Israelites were not called “Jews” until after the exile, while the first five books of the Bible are set in an earlier period. However, the writer is not concerned with the distinction between the various periods of Old Testament history. Nor are most modern readers concerned, for whom “Jews” are a recognizable group, whereas “Israelites” or “Hebrews” are not. Jewish is therefore widely used in common language translations. See comment on 8.4.

The phrase The Jewish Law may be rendered as “The Law given to the Jews” or “The Law for the Jews.” Note, however, that in many languages it may be necessary to employ a plural form, namely, “The laws given to the Jews.”

As a comparison with Revised Standard Version shows, Good News Translation reverses the original order of not a full and faithful model and only a faint outline. This change makes the verse easier to understand, by putting the more important negative statement first. The translator should consider whether or not this is natural and effective in his own language.

In contrasting the full and faithful model and the faint outline, the writer returns to the contrast expressed in partly different words in 8.5 between the pattern and the shadow (also Col 2.17). For model, King James Version uses “image,” which is appropriate in Mark 12.16 and Colossians 1.15, but is misleading here; the writer does not mean “the image of an original” but the original itself, the reality itself, of which the Old Testament worship is only a “shadow.”

Not a full and faithful model has a textual problem. For the Greek, “not the true form,” one early manuscript has “and the true form,” and others have different readings. Both old and modern translations choose the same text as Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version.

The expression for the real things is as general in meaning in the Greek as its equivalent is in English; all the stylistic emphasis falls on “true form.”

The phrase the real things can be almost completely obscure, especially in a literal translation in which the equivalent of things may indicate merely objects. It would appear that the real things must in some way be related to the good things to come, but in view of what has been said about what is real in the previous two chapters, the real things may relate to “that which exists in heaven.”

Is not a full and faithful model of the real things may be expressed as “does not look just like the real things.”

The good things were to come, from the point of view of the Law, but have now already come, from the point of view of the writer (see 9.11). For this reason Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s “a weak indication of what God wanted to do for men in the future” is preferable to Moffatt‘s “a mere shadow of the bliss that is to be” or Barclay‘s “no more than a shadow of the good things which are to come.” Phillips has “a dim outline of the benefits Christ would bring,” and New English Bible “the good things which were to come.” These renderings are similar to that of GECL.

It may be difficult to translate the phrase a faint outline of the good things to come. In some languages the equivalent may be “words which are difficult to understand about the things that are to come,” “only some few words about the things that are to come,” “only a picture which is difficult to see clearly, which shows those good things that are to come,” or “… those good things in the future.”

On sacrifices, see comments on 5.1; 7.27.

The passive are offered is like the English impersonal pronoun “they,” since it does not specify who does the offering; it means quite generally “people offered.” The writer is now less concerned with the High Priest than with the sacrifice. The same sacrifices are offered may be expressed in some languages as “The same sacrifices happen” or “… occur.”

The writer is more interested in Old Testament texts on worship than with what was happening in the Jerusalem Temple in his own lifetime. The writer is unlikely to have meant that sacrifices would go on being offered forever in the Temple (see 8.13; 9.8), but rather “repeatedly” or “indefinitely” (see Traduction œcuménique de la Bible; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This is true whether or not the Jerusalem Temple was still in use when Hebrews was written. On this matter scholars disagree. The New English Bible text solves this problem by taking the Greek for forever (“continually”) with make perfect, thereby translating “can never bring the worshippers to perfection for all time.” However, this translation, and the New English Bible footnote “bring to perfection the worshippers who come continually,” go against the natural flow of the Greek sentence.

It may be possible to indicate in an effective and idiomatic way the meaning of forever, year after year as “day after day, year after year, always.” Instead of are offered forever, one may use a negative expression, for example, “never cease,” and then add “day after day and year after year.”

Revised Standard Version‘s “never” is strongly emphasized. Good News Translation brings this out by turning the negative statement “it can never … make perfect…” into a rhetorical question, How can the Law … make perfect…? Translators must decide how far it is natural to follow this example in their own languages.

Instead of Revised Standard Version‘s “it [that is, the Law] can never,” many good manuscripts have “they can never,” referring to “sacrifices” or to those who offer them, leaving “the Law” without further explanation. Translations and commentators generally choose the text followed by Revised Standard Version, but one or two mention the alternative in a note.

On make perfect, see comments on 2.10.

On come to God or “draw near” (Revised Standard Version), see comments on 4.16.

It may be difficult to speak of “the Law making something perfect,” for in many languages the Law is not regarded as being an agent. However, one can often say “How can the people who come to God become perfect by following the laws which tell about these sacrifices?” or “… the laws which indicate how sacrifices are to be performed?”

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 .