The word translated About in verses 7 and 8 more commonly means “To.” About fits the context better in verse 7, where God is not speaking to the angels, but “To” is more suitable here in verse 8, because God is speaking to the Son. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes this distinction. About the Son, however, God said may therefore be rendered in a number of languages as “But God said to his Son.” Alternatively, in some languages it may be possible to find a general expression meaning “with reference to,” which may be used in both verses 7 and 8.

Verses 8-9 quote Psalm 45.6-7. The quotation is full of figures of speech. The way in which these are translated will depend largely on the culture of the people for whom the translation is being made. For example, in some areas “stool” is a better symbol of kingly power than “throne” (Revised Standard Version), and Good News Translation omits “scepter” (Revised Standard Version) because it is a sign of authority which is no longer used in many cultures. There is a close parallel between “throne” and kingdom (in the sense of “kingly power”).

There are two ways of punctuating the first line of the quotation. Good News Translation‘s Your kingdom, O God is the punctuation adopted by most translations. The alternative, “God is thy throne” (RSV footnote), is awkward, and nowhere else does the Bible use such language. At the end of the verse, as stated in the Good News Bible note, a few good Greek manuscripts have “his kingdom” instead of “your kingdom,” and this is so difficult that it is probably the correct reading. Therefore the meaning of the whole verse is probably:

To the Son, however, God said:
“Your kingdom, O God, will last forever and ever”;
and about him God said:
“He rules over his kingdom with justice.”

However, in translation it is simpler to follow early scribes in changing “his” to “your.” No change of meaning is involved, since the subject in any case is Christ. Good News Translation thus offers a good model of translation, except that, as already stated, “To” is better than About at the beginning of verse 8.

O God in English and some other languages is a little old-fashioned. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible omits O, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch first edition turned the phrase into a separate statement: “You are God, your throne remains….” However, the writer of Hebrews is not arguing, or trying to prove, that Christ is God. He assumes that Old Testament writers speak of Christ and sometimes call him “God.”

Forever and ever is an English idiom equivalent to Bijbel in Gewone Taal “in eternity”; Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “for always”; and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “for all times.”

It may seem very strange for God to address the Son as God, and such an expression may even mislead a reader to think that God is addressing some other god. Therefore it may be far better to begin the quotation as “You are God and your kingdom will last forever and ever,” “You are God and you will always reign,” or “… there will never be a time when you will not be reigning.” You rule over your people may be rendered simply as “You govern your people.”

The phrase with justice may require some expansion; for example, “Whenever you make decisions you do so justly” or “You are just in the way in which you rule your 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 .