See Genesis 6.13-14. The main evidence of Noah’s faith is the building of the boat. Neither the Greek here, nor Genesis 6.13-14, states that faith … made Noah hear God’s warnings, but Good News Translation makes this explicit in dividing the sentence. The verb translated hear … warnings means “given authoritative information about” (compare 8.5). The context, with its reference to the future, requires the meaning “warn.”
A literal translation of made Noah hear God’s warnings may miss the point. It may be more satisfactory to translate “made Noah pay attention to God’s warnings” or “made Noah pay attention to what God said, when God warned him about things in the future.”
Things in the future that he could not see, literally “things not yet seen,” develops the thought of verse 1b. This phrase may be rendered as “what was going to happen, which he could not, as yet, see” or “… could not, as yet, know about,” in languages which do not use see in speaking about future events.
Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Good News Translation fourth edition replace the traditional “ark” (Revised Standard Version) by “ship” or boat, which makes the meaning clear.
He obeyed God and built a boat is clearer than Moffatt‘s “reverently constructed an ark.” The point is that Noah showed his reverence for God in a practical way, by doing what God told him; obeyed is implied. The relation between obedience and building a boat may be expressed as “he obeyed God by building a boat,” “he built a boat because he was obedient to God,” or “he did what God told him to, and built a boat.”
Saved in this context has its literal meaning of “escaped”; see comments on 1.14.
As a result (Good News Bible third edition “In this way”) is literally “By means of this,” referring either to the boat or more probably to faith; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “because he relied on God.”
The world was condemned, as expressed in the Greek and in most translations (including Good News Bible third edition), is literally “he (Noah) condemned the world,” not by words, but by what he did. The thought is similar to verse 38a. The context gives world an evil sense here, though not in 10.5. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch brings out the contrast in another way: “Because he relied on God, he cut himself off from people who rejected God.” The idea is similar to that expressed in 10.39 (see comments).
Since the condemnation of the world resulted from Noah’s behavior, not specifically what he said, it is possible to translate the world was condemned as “what Noah did showed that the world was wrong” or “… showed that the people of the world were evil.”
On received from God, literally “became heir,” see comments on 1.2 and 6.17. The writer is not thinking of “inheriting” property from someone who has died.
The righteousness that comes by faith: as in verse 4, there is some overlap between being “righteous” and being “approved by God”; righteousness is understood as a right relationship with God, based on “faith” and “obedience.” Righteousness, like “righteous,” is disappearing from common language English. Bible en français courant restructures to give “He … obtained, by means of faith, that God consider him righteous.”
The final statement in verse 7, namely, Noah received from God the righteousness that comes by faith, is more complex than it seems. In the first place, Noah’s receiving righteousness is a result of God’s declaration or consideration of him as righteous, and this may involve direct discourse. The final statement, that comes by faith, shows the manner in which Noah’s trusting God caused him to be declared righteous. Accordingly, it may be necessary to restructure the final statement of this verse; for example, “God declared that Noah was righteous because Noah trusted God” or “Because Noah trusted God, this caused God to declare, ‘Noah does what is right.’ ”
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 .