Hebrews 5:4-10

5:4 And no one assumes this honor ¹  on his own initiative, ²  but only when called to it by God, ³  as in fact Aaron was. 5:5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, ⁴  who said to him, “You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,” ⁵  5:6 as also in another place God ⁶  says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” ⁷  5:7 During his earthly life ⁸  Christ ⁹  offered ¹⁰  both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion. 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. ¹¹  5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 5:10 and he was designated ¹²  by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek. ¹³ 

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¹ sn Honor refers here to the honor of the high priesthood.

² tn Grk “by himself, on his own.”

³ tn Grk “being called by God.”

⁴ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Grk “I have begotten you”; see Heb 1:5.

sn A quotation from Ps 2:7.

⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 110:4.

⁸ tn Grk “in the days of his flesh.”

⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Grk “who…having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5-6.

¹¹ sn There is a wordplay in the Greek text between the verbs “learned” (ἔμαθεν, emaqen) and “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epaqen).

¹² tn Grk “having been designated,” continuing the thought of Heb 5:9.

¹³ sn The phrase in the order of Melchizedek picks up the quotation from Ps 110:4 in Heb 5:6.