Hebrews 1:5-6

The Son Is Superior to Angels

1:5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says,I will be his father and he will be my son.” 1:6 But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!


tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Grk “I have begotten you.”

sn A quotation from Ps 2:7.

tn Grk “And again,” quoting another OT passage.

tn The words “he says” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to make a complete English sentence. In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but English does not normally employ such long and complex sentences.

tn Grk “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me.”

sn A quotation from 2 Sam 7:14 (cf. 1 Chr 17:13).

tn Or “And again when he brings.” The translation adopted in the text looks forward to Christ’s second coming to earth. Some take “again” to introduce the quotation (as in 1:5) and understand this as Christ’s first coming, but this view does not fit well with Heb 2:7. Others understand it as his exaltation/ascension to heaven, but this takes the phrase “into the world” in an unlikely way.

sn A quotation combining themes from Deut 32:43 and Ps 97:7.