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Hebrews 1.6-8
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Passage

Hebrews 1.6-8

Book: Hebrews · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

4. having become by so much better than the angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name than they. 5. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, And he shall be to me a Son?

6. And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire: 8. but of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

  1. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 10. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of thy hands: (Hebrews 1:4-10, ASV)
WEB

4. having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have. 5. For to which of the angels did he say at any time, “You are my Son. Today I have become your father?” and again, “I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?”

6. When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” 7. Of the angels he says, “Who makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire.” 8. But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.

  1. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” 10. And, “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of your hands. (Hebrews 1:4-10, WEB)
KJV

4. Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

6. And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. again: or, when he bringeth again 7. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. And of: Gr. And unto 8. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. righteousness: Gr. rightness, or, straightness

  1. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 10. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: (Hebrews 1:4-10, KJV)
YLT

4. having become so much better than the messengers, as he did inherit a more excellent name than they. 5. For to which of the messengers said He ever, 'My Son thou art, I to-day have begotten thee?' and again, 'I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to Me for a son?'

6. and when again He may bring in the first-born to the world, He saith, 'And let them bow before him, all messengers of God;' 7. and unto the messengers, indeed, He saith, 'Who is making His messengers spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire;' 8. and unto the Son: 'Thy throne, O God, [is] to the age of the age; a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy reign;

  1. thou didst love righteousness, and didst hate lawlessness; because of this did He anoint thee, God, thy God, with oil of gladness above thy partners;' 10. and, 'Thou, at the beginning, Lord, the earth didst found, and a work of thy hands are the heavens; (Hebrews 1:4-10, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the author of Hebrews, who does not give his name, and who presents each quotation as God's own speech ("he saith," 1:6-8). Early tradition linked the letter to Paul, but that was disputed already in antiquity; Origen, as quoted by Eusebius, said that who wrote it, God alone knows
  • Audience: believers, apparently of Jewish background, who had already suffered for their faith (10:32-34) and were being tempted to drift away (2:1)
  • Location: not stated. "They of Italy salute you" (13:24) links the letter to Italy, either as the place of writing or as the readers' home
  • Time period: commonly dated before AD 70. The author argues as though the Levitical sacrifices were still being offered (10:1-2), never mentions the Temple's destruction, and speaks of Timothy as recently released (13:23)

Theological reading

"And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire: but of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." Three quotations set the angels and the Son side by side.

Worship or obeisance (verse 6). The verb is proskyneo (Strong's G4352). The New World Translation renders it "do obeisance," and Witnesses rightly point out that the word can describe bowing to a human superior; the ASV uses "worshipped" for a servant bowing to a king in Matthew 18:26. The word alone does not settle the question, and the Christian case should not pretend it does. The context does. The quotation is not a general text about honouring a king. It matches the Greek Old Testament of Deuteronomy 32:43, a line missing from the traditional Hebrew text but attested in Hebrew in a Dead Sea Scroll copy of Deuteronomy (4QDeut q), where the one to be worshipped is God; the Greek of Psalm 97:7 has similar words, where the Hebrew reads "Worship him, all ye gods." The author applies to the Son a call for heaven to worship God. "Firstborn" (G4416) states rank and inheritance here, as in Psalm 89:27, "I also will make him my first-born, The highest of the kings of the earth"; it is the heir of 1:2. Whether "again" goes with "bringeth in" (a second coming) or introduces another quotation, as in the KJV margin, is debated and does not change the command.

Servants and the Son (verse 7). Of angels God says he "maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire," quoting Psalm 104:4. Angels are made and sent. Verse 14 sums it up: they are "ministering spirits."

"Thy throne, O God" (verse 8). The verse quotes Psalm 45:6, a royal wedding psalm addressed to the king. Jewish interpreters have read the Hebrew either as an address to the Davidic king as "God" in an exalted, honorific sense, or as "thy throne is God's," and some Jewish translations render it "your divine throne." The New World Translation reads Hebrews 1:8 as "God is your throne." The Christian reading takes ho theos (G2316) as a vocative, "O God": a nominative form used to address someone is common in the Greek Old Testament, the Hebrew of the psalm is most naturally direct address, and verse 10 continues with a second direct address to the Son, "Thou, Lord." Murray Harris argues for the vocative at length in Jesus as God (1992). The next verse says "God, thy God, hath anointed thee" (Psalm 45:7), which Witnesses cite as distinguishing the Son from God; Christians read it of the Son as the anointed Messiah, the same Son just addressed as God. See Jehovah's Witnesses vs the Christian God and Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.