See Exodus 14.16-17. A comparison of Good News Translation with Revised Standard Version will show which parts of Good News Bible are not expressed in the Greek text, but there is no doubt that they are implied.

A literal rendering of to cross the Red Sea may be misleading, since it might imply “crossing the surface of the Red Sea.” It may therefore be necessary to translate to cross the Red Sea as if on dry land as “to cross on dry land where the Red Sea had been” or “to cross on dry land through the Red Sea.”

King James Version shows how the two halves of the verse are linked in the Greek text: “which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” Most translations, especially those in common language, leave the contrast between the Egyptians and the Israelites implicit. A few insert some such conjunction as “whereas” (Knox) or “while” (Jerusalem Bible).

Tried suggests making a test or trial.

The figurative expression the water swallowed them up may need to be translated “they drowned in the water,” “the water covered them up and drowned them,” or “the water covered them over, and they died.”

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 .

The seventh item in the list is Jesus. Jesus, as in 2.9 and other places, is emphatic. On who arranged, literally “mediator” (Revised Standard Version), see 8.6 and 9.15. New renders a different word from that used in 8.8 and elsewhere, but the meaning in this context is the same.

As both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation show, the sprinkled blood is a separate item in the list, the eighth item. However, several translations show the close relation between Jesus and the sprinkled blood: Bible en français courant “Jesus, the intermediary of the new covenant, and his shed blood…” and Translator’s New Testament “and whose shed blood….” As 9.13-14 shows, the nonfigurative meaning of sprinkle is “make holy” or “purify.” Bijbel in Gewone Taal combines the last three items in the list, since they are related in meaning, even if they are separated grammatically: “Jesus, through whose mediation a new covenant is concluded, and whose shed blood speaks more powerfully than that of Abel.” As for example in 1.4 and 11.40, the Greek combines the meaning of “better” and “greater”; Moffatt has “nobler.” As in 9.13, 19, 21, sprinkled makes it necessary to keep the word blood, rather than to use some more general expression like “(violent) death” or “sacrifice.” But the blood of Old Testament sacrifices was sprinkled in order to make things ritually clean, and Phillips makes this clear by “cleansing of blood”; Jerusalem Bible “blood for purification.”

It may be difficult to speak of “coming” to the sprinkled blood. Since the sprinkled blood relates to Jesus, it is often better to render verse 24 as “You have come to Jesus, who was the means of producing the new covenant and whose blood, which was shed, promises for us that which is better than what the blood of Abel stands for” or “… represents.”

Than does the blood of Abel is literally “than Abel,” but most translations add blood, following Genesis 4.10. A few manuscripts have “than that of Abel,” implying “than Abel’s blood.” In this case the meaning would be that Abel’s blood cried for vengeance, and Christ’s blood speaks of salvation. The idea of blood speaking may be difficult to express in translation. Jerusalem Bible tries to avoid the problem by using a more specific expression, “pleads more insistently”; similarly Translator’s New Testament, “far better things to say to us than Abel’s”; more smoothly, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente has “sprinkled blood, which has a more powerful voice than that (meaning, than the voice) of Abel.”

This very brief reference to Abel’s blood may require an Old Testament reference or a marginal note to give the historical background. It is, however, quite possible to make sense of than … Abel without adding blood, since Abel was earlier presented as the first true worshiper, not as the first murder victim (see notes on 11.4). In this case the main reference would be to Abel’s sacrifice, offered in faith, though his murder, considered as a “sacrifice” of himself, would not be excluded.

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 .

This whole quotation, in its present context, is a favorable judgment given by God the Father on the total life and work of his Son. For this reason it is perhaps unnecessary to change the past tenses “loved” and “hated” into the present, as done in Good News Translation and Bible en français courant but not in other CLT’s.

In rendering You love what is right and hate what is wrong, it may be necessary to specify who is related to what is right and what is wrong; for example, “You love to see people do what is right, and you hate to see people do what is wrong” or “You love what people do which is right, and you hate what people do which is wrong.” This is probably what the verse means in its Old Testament setting. On the other hand, the relationship may be to the activity of the Son himself; therefore a possible rendering is “You love to do what is right, and you hate to do what is wrong.” This is probably what the verse means in Hebrews (compare 10.5-10).

In a number of languages it would be strange and even misleading to have a reference to God, your God in a place where God is already the speaker (see the beginning of verse 8). Therefore it may be necessary to restructure the corresponding sentence as “That is why I your God have chosen you.” It is also important to note that in some languages one cannot speak of your God in the sense of possessing God. One may, however, use a phrase such as “the God whom you worship” or “the God to whom you belong.” Note that with this shift of God, your God to “I your God” it is also necessary to introduce the first person singular in the latter part of verse 9; for example, “far greater than I have given to your companions.”

Anointing with oil is associated in the Old Testament with happiness (compare Isa 61.3), and especially with the coronation of a king. Oil is not used in this way in most cultures, and a glossary note on “anoint” may be needed as in Good News Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch brings out the meaning: “therefore has the Lord, your God, chosen you and given greater honor and joy to you than to all who belong to you.” Has given you the joy of an honor is in many languages expressed only as a type of causative expression; for example, “I have given you honor which causes you joy,” “I have caused you to have joy because of an honor,” “… by means of an honor,” or “… joy because I have honored you.”

Your companions implies sharing rather than dependence. The writer does not say who are the companions of the Son, and so the translator does not need to make it explicit at this point, but the same Greek word in Hebrews 3.14 (partners) refers to believers in Christ. Companions may be rendered as “those who are with you,” but it can also be understood in the sense of “your friends” or “your colleagues.”

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 .

Solemn promise (Good News Bible first edition vow) avoids the misunderstanding of “swear” as “curse,” but promise usually has a positive meaning, while in this context the meaning is negative. Since the expression solemn promise in English suggests something positive rather than negative, it is essential to avoid the wrong kind of connotation. It would be possible to say “I solemnly promised myself,” but in general it is usually far more satisfactory to say “I declared.”

In a number of languages the usual term for “vow” or “oath” is “to make a declaration in the presence of God” or “… with God witnessing.” However, since it is God himself who makes the vow in this context, such a normal expression cannot be employed. In some languages the concept of “vow” may be expressed as “I said with strong words” or “I declared with unchangeable words.”

The second half of the verse gives the content of the vow or promise and introduces a keyword of chapter 4, rest. Translators generally deal with the word rest in one of three ways: (a) they translate it literally, raising the problems (i) what does it mean to “enter” a “rest”? and (ii) how can one enter anyone else’s rest? (b) They replace the noun rest by a verbal expression, as early editions of Good News Bible did with come in and rest with me. This is excellent in this verse but is difficult to do consistently throughout chapter 4. (c) Good News Translation fourth edition, Jerusalem Bible, and Bijbel in Gewone Taal consistently translate land where I would have given them rest, taking rest to mean “place of rest” or “resting place.” In this way they can speak quite naturally of “entering,” and later of a resting place “remaining” in existence even when no one is yet occupying it (4.1). There is strong evidence that both the Septuagint and the Hebrew Old Testament used words for “rest” in the sense of “resting place.”

They will never enter: in Greek this has the form of a conditional sentence but the meaning of a strong negative statement, “They will certainly not enter.”

In many languages it is impossible to speak of “giving no rest to someone.” The more normal expression is a causative one; for example, “I would have caused them to rest.” In choosing a word for rest it is important to avoid the concept of “lying down.” The emphasis should be upon recuperating strength or relaxing after hardship, or finding peace and prosperity after a period of difficult trial and testing.

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 .

Revised Standard Version‘s literal translation “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience…” is misleading if read aloud, since it is usual for a son to learn obedience. Verse 5 makes it clear that “Son” here means God’s Son; that is the translation rightly chosen by Good News Translation. It is possible to link even though he was God’s Son with verse 7, especially if “fear” is understood as “fear of death”; thus “God listened to him, because of the fear which he had although he was God’s Son.” However, Good News Translation‘s interpretation is simpler and more likely to be correct.

Not all languages have the so-called “concessive clause” beginning with a conjunction such as “though” or “although.” Nevertheless, the idea of concession may be expressed by an independent statement followed by some such conjunction as “nevertheless” or “despite that fact.” For example, this verse could be rendered as “He was indeed God’s Son, but nevertheless he learned through his suffering how to be obedient” or “… despite that fact he learned by suffering to be obedient.” In some languages the concept of a concession is expressed only as a kind of adversative relationship; for example, “He was indeed God’s Son; that is true, but he did learn to be obedient by means of his suffering.”

“Learned” and “suffered” render a common play on words in Greek, where the words are similar in sound: emathen and epathen. However, this does not affect the meaning of this verse. If the play on words cannot be reproduced naturally in translation, it does not matter.

Just as call in verse 4 includes the ideas of speaking and summoning, so “obey” in Greek often combines the ideas of listening and responding to a summons or command. The verb translated to be obedient is related to the verb translated heard in verse 7, which also implies a response.

It may be necessary to make somewhat more specific the relationships between learned, sufferings, and obedient; for example, “by means of what Christ suffered he learned how to be obedient,” “… how to obey God,” or “… how to always do what God told him to do.”

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 .

The third point of contrast is between Melchizedek on the one hand, and Levi and his descendants on the other hand. The contrast may be only with the priests, but In the case of the priests is not expressed in the Greek. In the case of the priests may have to be rendered as “In the case of the priests descended from Levi”; otherwise “the priests” might also imply Melchizedek, since he is also called a priest.

Is collected: as in verse 5, there is no stress on the priest’s initiative in “collecting.”

Men who die means that the tithes are collected by “mortal men” (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Jerusalem Bible), that is to say, by “men who must die” (New English Bible). A strictly literal translation of men who die might suggest that the tithes are collected by “dying men.” It may therefore be necessary to render men who die as “men who will ultimately die” or “men who will finally die.”

The writer draws the conclusion that Melchizedek did not die from the fact that Scripture does not mention his death. New American Bible has “Scripture testifies that this man lives on.” The Greek verb is not simply “says” but “supports by its witness”; the same word is used of Abel and Enoch in 11.4-5. As for Melchizedek may be rendered as “in the case of Melchizedek” or “but in speaking about what Melchizedek did.”

If the passive construction was collected by one who lives must be rendered in an active form, it may be possible to render but as for Melchizedek the tenth was collected by one who lives as “but with regard to Melchizedek, he is the one who lives and is the one who collected the tenth.”

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 .

Revised Standard Version‘s “Now” (New English Bible “indeed”), omitted by Good News Translation, shows that the writer is taking up the argument again at the point at which he left it before the quotation from Jeremiah. The phrase which Revised Standard Version translates “Now” may also begin a comparison or contrast which is later completed by the word translated But in verse 11.

The first covenant: covenant is implied. “The first tent” is grammatically possible but is not the meaning chosen by any of the translations consulted. Most manuscripts include a word meaning “even” or “also,” which is included in Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Luther 1984, and some other translations. The UBS Greek text prints it in square brackets. If this is part of the original text, it is a way of stating what the two covenants had in common, before going on to contrast them (compare 3.2 and 8.3, Revised Standard Version). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch misleadingly translates the word for “even” as “but.” In fact, the contrast begins with man-made (see below).

In English it seems perfectly natural to speak of “a covenant having rules,” but this involves a particularly complex relationship, and in many languages a covenant cannot possess anything, much less rules. The meaning of The first covenant had rules for worship may be expressed by translating “In order to act in accordance with the first covenant, there were certain rules for ways in which people should worship God,” “In order to keep the first covenant, people had to worship God according to certain rules,” or “… according to certain ways that were necessary.” Or perhaps “The first covenant was given with rules.”

Worship, as the context shows, means not “the spiritual content of worship” (that is, “adoration”), but “liturgical forms.”

Man-made, like on earth in 8.4, means “belonging to this world,” not to heaven (8.5). Good News Translation is followed by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; Bijbel in Gewone Taal has “on earth”; like Revised Standard Version, Bible en français courant has “earthly.” This correctly suggests not only the location but the nature of the place for worship, like Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “of this world” and New English Bible “material.” Man-made or “earthly” is emphasized in the text in order to show that the writer is moving away from what the two covenants have in common to what makes them different. This is brought out by Barclay “it had a sanctuary, although a this-worldly one.” The place rather than the “maker” of the sanctuary is what matters here. There is a good note in the Good News Bible Word List on “Tent of the LORD’s presence.”

And … as well indicates that the rules for worship were closely related to the place for worship. The Greek is literally “the,” not “a” place for worship. This is because the writer could assume that his readers knew about it. However, modern readers may not, so a is correct.

Place for worship or “sanctuary,” literally “holy place,” is the entire place of worship. It is also called a tent in 8.2. It is not the same expression in the Greek as the one designating the Holy Place in verse 2 (literally “holy places”), which is the outer part of the sanctuary. The position is, however, complicated by the fact that the same word for tent is used to describe the whole building (8.2), the Holy Place (9.2), and the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place (9.3). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch solves the problem by beginning verse 2 “Two tents had been put up.” Jerusalem Bible is more precise “There was a tent which comprised two compartments.” The writer was not interested in the details of any particular sanctuary, but the details which he does give may be fitted together within a general picture of a large room divided into two parts by a curtain.

In some languages it may be strange to speak of a man-made place, since a term for place may only suggest a location rather than a construction. Because the reference in this context is to the sanctuary, it may be necessary to translate a man-made place as “a tent which was made by people.”

Instead of adding as well to the end of verse 1, it may be necessary to relate more closely the phrases a man-made place for worship and rules for worship. The resulting translation may be “rules for how to worship God and also a tent for worship which had been made by people.”

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 .

You are not pleased is expressed by a past tense in the Greek, meaning “you took no pleasure in.” Most translations keep the past tense, but Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Moffatt use the present. What in the English sentence is the complement of the verb pleased must be made the causative subject in some languages; for example, “When animals are completely burned on the altar or when sacrifices to take away sins are performed, these do not cause you to be pleased” or “… these do not make you happy.”

With animals burned whole on the altar or with sacrifices to take away sins translates only four Greek words, but the expansion is necessary to give the full meaning. The Hebrew Old Testament has the singular for “burnt offering,” which is followed by some manuscripts of the Septuagint and of Hebrews. The plural is used in Psalm 51.16. There is no difference in meaning here. The expression rendered “sin offerings” (Revised Standard Version) is literally “for sin,” but “sacrifice(s)” or something similar must be added to make the meaning clear.

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 .