This verse, like verse 8, points both backward and forward. This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to understand, and therefore difficult to translate. Two contrasts are involved, one of which is expressed and the other only implied. The expressed contrast is between the Jewish place of worship (Jewish is not explicit in the Greek) and our altar. The implied contrast, which has not always been noticed, is between the rules about foods and the Christian sacrifices of praise to God (verse 15) and doing good (verse 16). The writer is thinking particularly of the rule mentioned in verses 10-11, that the Old Testament priests are not allowed to eat the sacrifice for sins.

It is in this setting that the question “Does this verse refer to the Lord’s Supper?” may be answered. The view of most Roman Catholics until recent years was that it did, and Knox‘s translation reflects this: “We have an altar of our own, and it is not those who carry out the worship of the tabernacle that are qualified to eat its sacrifices” (implying “but Christians do so in the Mass”). More recently, scholars of various churches have come to agree that our altar is “not the table used for the Eucharist, but either the cross on which Christ was sacrificed, or Christ himself through whom we offer the sacrifice of prayer to God” (Jerusalem Bible note; similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

How is this to be made clear in translation? In the clause, literally, “We have an altar” (Revised Standard Version), Biblia Dios Habla Hoy replaces “altar” by “sacrifice” and so points more clearly to verses 15-16, “We have a different sacrifice, from which the priests of the old sanctuary have no right to eat,” but even this could be misunderstood to refer to the Lord’s Supper. Good News Translation adds the sacrifice on, in order to avoid the idea of eating the altar itself. More important, the sentence is restructured so that our altar is deliberately given a less emphatic place than it has in the Greek text. This also makes a better link between The priests as the grammatical subject of verse 10, and the Jewish High Priest as the subject of verse 11. Jewish, as always in Hebrews, is implied; see comment on 10.1. Priests also fits the context better than Moffatt‘s “worshippers,” which is another possible meaning of the Greek.

In the Jewish place of worship may be expressed as “in the Jewish Temple.” But to speak about the priest having no right to eat any of the sacrifice on our altar may wrongly suggest that Christians made sacrifices on altars. It is only after the reader comes to verse 15 that he realizes that the sacrifice is one of praise to God. It may therefore be necessary to introduce a marginal note referring the reader to verse 15. It may be possible to anticipate part of the content of verse 15 by translating this verse “The priests who serve in the Jewish place of worship have no right to share in any of the sacrifice of praise which we offer on our altar” or “… in our place of worship.”

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 .