Hebrews 2

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Warning to Pay Attention

2 Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ²For if the message declared through angels proved valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty,^(A) ³how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was confirmed for us by those who heard him,^(B) ⁴while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.^(C)

Exaltation through Abasement

⁵Now God^[a] did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels.^(D) ⁶But someone has testified somewhere,

“What are humans that you are mindful of them^[b]
    or mortals that you care for them?^[c]^(E)
⁷You have made them for a little while lower^[d] than the angels;
    you have crowned them with glory and honor,^[e]
⁸    subjecting all things under their feet.”

Now in subjecting all things to them, God^[f] left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,^(F) ⁹but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower^[g] than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God^[h] he might taste death for everyone.^(G)

¹⁰It was fitting that God,^[i] for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.^(H) ¹¹For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.^[j] For this reason Jesus^[k] is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,^(I) ¹²saying,

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”^(J)

¹³And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”^(K)

¹⁴Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,^(L) ¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.^(M) ¹⁶For it is clear that he did not come to help angels but the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.^(N) ¹⁸Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.^(O)

Footnotes

2.5 Gk he
2.6 Gk What is man that you are mindful of him?
2.6 Gk or the son of man that you care for him? In the Hebrew of Psalm 8.4–6 both man and son of man refer to all humankind
2.7 Or them only a little lower
2.7 Other ancient authorities add and set them over the works of your hands
2.8 Gk he
2.9 Or who was made a little lower
2.9 Other ancient authorities read apart from God
2.10 Gk he
2.11 Gk are all of one
2.11 Gk he

Hebrews 2

The Message

2 ^1-4It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.

The Salvation Pioneer

^5-9God didn’t put angels in charge of this business of salvation that we’re dealing with here. It says in Scripture,

What is man and woman that you bother with them;
    why take a second look their way?
You made them not quite as high as angels,
    bright with Eden’s dawn light;
Then you put them in charge
    of your entire handcrafted world.

When God put them in charge of everything, nothing was excluded. But we don’t see it yet, don’t see everything under human jurisdiction. What we do see is Jesus, made “not quite as high as angels,” and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory “bright with Eden’s dawn light.” In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced death in every person’s place.

^10-13It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, saying,

I’ll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know
about you;
I’ll join them in worship and praise to you.

Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says,

Even I live by placing my trust in God.

And yet again,

I’m here with the children God gave me.

^14-15Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.

^16-18It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

The Message (MSG)

Hebrews 2 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition