Ibrani 1:3

1:3 The Son is ¹  the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, ²  and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ³ 

Ibrani 4:14

Jesus Our Compassionate High Priest

4:14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.

Ibrani 8:1

The High Priest of a Better Covenant

8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: ⁴  We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ⁵ 

Ibrani 12:2

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ⁶ 

Mazmur 68:18

68:18 You ascend on high, ⁷ 

you have taken many captives. ⁸ 

You receive tribute ⁹  from ¹⁰  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ¹¹ 

Matius 27:18

27:18 (For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) ¹² 

Markus 16:19

16:19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Efesus 1:20-22

1:20 This power ¹³  he exercised ¹⁴  in Christ when he raised him ¹⁵  from the dead and seated him ¹⁶  at his right hand in the heavenly realms ¹⁷  1:21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 1:22 And God ¹⁸  put ¹⁹  all things under Christ’s ²⁰  feet, ²¹  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ²² 

Efesus 4:8-10

4:8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured ²³  captives; he gave gifts to men.” ²⁴  4:9 Now what is the meaning of “he ascended,” except that he also descended ²⁵  to the lower regions, ²⁶  namely, the earth? ²⁷  4:10 He, the very one ²⁸  who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

Filipi 2:9-11

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

Filipi 2:1

Christian Unity and Christ’s Humility

2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, ²⁹  any affection or mercy, ³⁰ 

Pengkhotbah 3:22

3:22 So I perceived there is nothing better than for people ³¹  to enjoy their work, ³² 

because that is their ³³  reward;

for who can show them what the future holds? ³⁴ 

Wahyu 1:17-18

1:17 When ³⁵  I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but ³⁶  he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 1:18 and the one who lives! I ³⁷  was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! ³⁸ 

[1:3]  ¹ tn Grk “who being…and sustaining.” Heb 1:1-4 form one skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments to correspond to contemporary English usage, which does not allow for sentences of this length and complexity.

[1:3]  ² tn Grk “by the word of his power.”

[1:3]  ³ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.

[8:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “the main point of the things being said.”

[8:1]  ⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1; see Heb 1:3, 13.

[12:2]  ⁶ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.

[68:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

[68:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

[68:18]  ⁹ tn Or “gifts.”

[68:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “among.”

[68:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.

[27:18]  ¹² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[1:20]  ¹³ tn Grk “which” (v. 20 is a subordinate clause to v. 19).

[1:20]  ¹⁴ tn The verb “exercised” (the aorist of ἐνεργέω, energew) has its nominal cognate in “exercise” in v. 19 (ἐνέργεια, energeia).

[1:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “This power he exercised in Christ by raising him”; Grk “raising him.” The adverbial participle ἐγείρας (egeiras) could be understood as temporal (“when he raised [him]”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “he exercised” earlier in the verse, or as means (“by raising [him]”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:20]  ¹⁶ tc The majority of mss, especially the Western and Byzantine mss (D F G Ψ Ï b r Ambst), have the indicative ἐκάθισεν (ekaqisen, “he seated”) for καθίσας (kaqisa", “when he seated, by seating”). The indicative is thus coordinate with ἐνήργησεν (enhrghsen, “he exercised”) and provides an additional statement to “he exercised his power.” The participle (found in Ì^92vid א A B 0278 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 al), on the other hand, is coordinate with ἐγείρας (egeiras) and as such provides evidence of God’s power: He exercised his power by raising Christ from the dead and by seating him at his right hand. As intriguing as the indicative reading is, it is most likely an intentional alteration of the original wording, accomplished by an early “Western” scribe, which made its way in the Byzantine text.

[1:20]  ¹⁷ sn Eph 1:19-20. The point made in these verses is that the power required to live a life pleasing to God is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. For a similar thought, cf. John 15:1-11.

[1:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “subjected.”

[1:22]  ²⁰ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ²¹ sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

[1:22]  ²² tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

[4:8]  ²³ tn Grk “he led captive captivity.”

[4:8]  ²⁴ sn A quotation which is perhaps ultimately derived from Ps 68:18. However, the wording here differs from that of Ps 68 in both the Hebrew text and the LXX in a few places, the most significant of which is reading “gave gifts to” in place of “received gifts from” as in HT and LXX. It has sometimes been suggested that the author of Ephesians modified the text he was citing in order to better support what he wanted to say here. Such modifications are sometimes found in rabbinic exegesis from this and later periods, but it is also possible that the author was simply citing a variant of Ps 68 known to him but which has not survived outside its quotation here (W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ [AGJU 32], 104). Another possibility is that the words here, which strongly resemble Ps 68:19 HT and LXX (68:18 ET), are actually part of an early Christian hymn quoted by the author.

[4:9]  ²⁵ tc The majority of mss (א² B C³ Ψ Ï) read πρῶτον (prwton, “first”) here in conjunction with this verb: “he first descended.” The shorter reading, which lacks πρῶτον, should be considered original on the basis of both external and internal evidence: It has strong external support from the Alexandrian and Western texttypes (Ì⁴⁶ א* A C* D F G I^vid 082 6 33 81 1739 1881 pc); internally, the inclusion of πρῶτον is most likely an addition to clarify the sense of the passage.

[4:9]  ²⁶ tc The Western texttype (D* F G it) lacks the plural noun μέρη (merh, “regions”); the shorter reading cannot be dismissed out of hand since it is also supported by Ì⁴⁶ (which often has strong affinities, however, with the Western text). The inclusion of the word has strong external support from important, early mss as well as the majority of Byzantine cursives (א A B C D² I Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï). Certain scribes may have deleted the word, thinking it superfluous; in addition, if the shorter reading were original one would expect to see at least a little variation in clarifying additions to the text. For these reasons the inclusion of μέρη should be regarded as original.

[4:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “to the lower parts of the earth.” This phrase has been variously interpreted: (1) The traditional view understands it as a reference to the underworld (hell), where Jesus is thought to have descended in the three days between his death and resurrection. In this case, “of the earth” would be a partitive genitive. (2) A second option is to translate the phrase “of the earth” as a genitive of apposition: “to the lower parts, namely, the earth” (as in the present translation). Many recent scholars hold this view and argue that it is a reference to the incarnation. (3) A third option, which also sees the phrase “of the earth” as a genitive of apposition, is that the descent in the passage occurs after the ascent rather than before it, and refers to the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost (cf. Acts 4:11-16). Support for this latter view is found in the intertestamental and rabbinic use of Ps 68:18 (quoted in v. 8), which is consistently and solely interpreted as a reference to Moses’ ascent of Mt. Sinai to “capture” the words of the law. The probability, therefore, is that the comments here in v. 9 reflect a polemic against the interpretation of Ps 68:18 in certain circles as a reference to Moses. See W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ (AGJU 32), 46-54; 171-204.

[4:10]  ²⁸ tn The Greek text lays specific emphasis on “He” through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos). This is reflected in the English translation through the use of “the very one.”

[2:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “spiritual fellowship” if πνεύματος (pneumato") is an attributive genitive; or “fellowship brought about by the Spirit” if πνεύματος is a genitive of source or production.

[2:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “and any affection and mercy.” The Greek idea, however, is best expressed by “or” in English.

[3:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “man.”

[3:22]  ³² tn Heb “his works.”

[3:22]  ³³ tn Heb “his.”

[3:22]  ³⁴ tn Heb “what will be after him” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV) or “afterward” (cf. NJPS).

[1:17]  ³⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[1:17]  ³⁶ tn Here the Greek conjunction καί (kai) has been translated as a contrastive (“but”) due to the contrast between the two clauses.

[1:18]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:18]  ³⁸ tn Concerning “Hades” BDAG 19 s.v. ᾅδης 1 and 2 states: “Orig. proper noun, god of the nether world, ‘Hades’, then the nether world, Hades as place of the dead, Ac 2:27, 31 (Ps 15:10; Eccl 9:10; PGM 1, 179; 16, 8; Philo, Mos. 1, 195; Jos., Bell. 1, 596, Ant. 6, 332). Of Jonah’s fish ἐκ τοῦ κατωτάτου ᾅδου. In the depths, contrasted w. heaven ἕως (τοῦ) ᾅδου Mt 11:23; Lk 10:15 (PsSol 15:10; cp.; Is 14:11, 15); ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ 16:23; ἐν ῝Αιδου ApcPt Rainer. Accessible by gates (but the pl. is also used [e.g. Hom., X., Ael. Aristid. 47, 20 K.=23 p. 450 D.] when only one gate is meant), hence πύλαι ᾅδου (Il. 5, 646; Is 38:10; Wsd 16:13; 3 Macc 5:51; Pss. Sol. 16:2. – Lucian, Menipp. 6 the magicians can open τοῦ ῝Αιδου τὰς πύλας and conduct people in and out safely) Mt 16:18…locked ἔχω τὰς κλεῖς τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τοῦ ᾅδου Rv 1:18 (the genitives are either obj. [Ps.-Apollod. 3, 12, 6, 10 Aeacus, the son of Zeus holds the κλεῖς τοῦ ῝Αιδου; SEG VIII, 574, 3 (III ad) τῷ τὰς κλεῖδας ἔχοντι τῶν καθ᾿ ῝Αιδου (restored)] or possess.; in the latter case death and Hades are personif.; s. 2)…Hades personif.…w. θάνατος (cp. Is 28:15; Job 38:17…) Rv 6:8; 20:13f.”

[1:18]  sn In the OT, Hades was known as Sheol. It is the place where the unrighteous will reside (Matt 11:23; Luke 16:23; Rev 20:13-14).