We probably means “I, the writer” (so Moffatt, Barclay). There is no suggestion that the letter comes from a group of people, and ancient writers commonly used “we” as an equivalent of “I.”

There is much we have to say may be expressed as “I have many words that I want to say” or “I have many thoughts that I want to write.”

What is this matter The Greek is literally “about this.” Two translations are possible: (a) “about him,” that is, Melchizedek (so New English Bible), or (b) “about this,” that is, the subject of Melchizedek as an illustration of Christ’s work (Knox “of Christ as priest,” Phillips “about this high priesthood”). There is little difference in meaning. It is, however, better to make the translation specific, especially at the beginning of a section, and to avoid vague phrases such as “about this” or “about him.” Most translations choose meaning (b), which may be expressed clearly as “about Christ being a high priest like Melchizedek,” or more simply “about what I have just said” or “… have just written.”

Translations should make it clear that the teaching which is to come (beginning in chapter 7) is not hard or difficult in itself, but hard to present in such a way that the readers will understand. As Moffatt put it in his commentary, “The fault lies with you, not with the subject.” Barclay translates “it is not easy for me to put it in a way that you will understand.” Other possibilities for translating it is hard to explain to you are “it is difficult to find just the words with which I can explain this to you” or “for me to explain this to you is not at all easy.”

You are so slow to understand does not mean that the readers are in a permanent state of low intelligence. They have had time to understand, but they still do not. Indeed, there is a danger that they will fall back into a state worse than the one they were in before they became Christians (6.4-6). The Greek includes both past and present: “have become and now are slow to understand.” The readers have become less keen in their understanding of the Christian faith and are in danger of abandoning their faith completely.

Slow to understand here, and lazy in 6.12, are expressed by the same word in the Greek, and there seems to be a contradiction. We do not want you to become lazy (6.12) may mean (a) “we do not want you to become still lazier than you are,” or (b) “we do not want you to go on being lazy” or “slow to understand.” (b) is rather more likely. Knox (“listless no more”) and Moffatt (“instead of being slack”) realize the danger of translating 5.11 in such a way that it contradicts 6.12, and they therefore support (b). There seems no reason to avoid the problem, as both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version do, by translating slow to understand differently in 5.11 and 6.12. The Greek word means “dull” or “hard of hearing,” with the additional idea of being slack or inattentive, too mentally lazy to listen to what is said. Many translations, like Good News Translation, replace “hear,” used in a figurative sense, by the nonfigurative understand.

Because you are so slow to understand may be rendered as “because so much time is necessary for you to understand what is meant.” Sometimes slow to understand may be expressed better in a negative form; for example, “you do not understand at all quickly.” In some instances slow to understand is expressed idiomatically; for example, “you listen only with your outer ears” (with the implication that the thoughts never really enter the mind) or “the words pass so slowly into your hearts.”

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 .