183. Cf. Phil. 3:7.

183. Cf. Phil. 3:7.

179. Gk. of vxaxouxeia9aL, a hapax legomenon. For the simple verb see v. 37.

180. Gk. npoaxatpov €XEty aµaptia5 876l.auaty (lit. "have a temporary enjoyment of sin"). Foretn6kauat5 cf. 1 Tim. 6:17; for its use here cf. the verb &no?.a4Ety in 4 Macc. 5:8, where a pious Jew is upbraided for refusing "to enjoy what is pleasant without being disgraceful" (by Gentile standards, that is). The adjective np6axatpo5 is used in Matt. 13:21 par. Mark 4:17 of converts who give up their confession as soon as persecution arises; in 2 Cor. 4:18 it is used of the transience of the visible world by contrast with the eternity of the invisible. Josephus (Ant. 2.51) makes Joseph, when tempted by Potiphar's wife, disparage "the transient (n0oxatpo5) pleasure of lust." A scholiast on Aristophanes (Clouds 360) says that "the exertions involved in the practice of virtue are preferable to the transient (np6mratpo5) pleasures of wickedness."

181. Philo says that Pharaoh's daughter was her father's only child who, though now married for a long time, was childless herself; Moses was thus heir to the throne (Life of Moses 1.13). To this idea neither the biblical narrative nor Egyptian history gives any color.

182. Gk. tov 6VEt6Laµov tov XQLotov. Cf. Ps. 89:51 (LXX 88:51f.): "Remember, 0 Lord, the insult (over&Lo.OS) of thy servants ... wherewith thy enemies have insulted (cuveib&oav), 0 Lord, wherewith they have insulted thy Anointed by way of recompense" (lit. "have insulted the recompense of thy Anointed, d)VEi6raav to &vt6LXXCEyµa tov XpLasov oou").

183. Cf. Phil. 3:7.

184. It is doubtful whether there is a veiled reference here to the belief that Jesus, so long before his incarnation, accompanied the Israelites through the wilderness (cf. p. 97 with n. 46). On the present passage see A. T. Hanson, Jesus Christ in the Old Testament (London, 1965), pp. 72-75.

185. Cf. the quotation of Hos. 11:1 in Matt. 2:15, where the implication is that the Messiah recapitulates in his own experience the experiences of his people. (But see on this J. Barr, Holy Scripture [Oxford, 1983], p. 98.)

186. Cf. Luke 9:31, where Jesus' "departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem," is, in the Greek, his i'=.~obo5.

187. Quoted in Rom. 15:3 (ol oVErbwµoi tcuv ovetKovr(ov of eni roav ear' eµe). On the significance of this quotation see C. H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures (London, 1952), pp. 57-59.

189. Gk. gtoOanobooia, here as in 10:35 (see p. 271); it is the reward that comes from God, the great µro&anobotrls (cf. v. 6).

190. Gk. anokenev, used of keeping one's attention fixed on something, as an artist keeps his fixed on the object or model which he is reproducing in painting or sculpture; cf. a$opaw, 12:2 (p. 337 with n. 33). See MM and BAGD, s.vv. anopXenw, d"paw.

191. Gk. xatektnev, a verb which may denote physical departure (cf. n. 197 below), but also heart-renunciation, as when Levi (Matthew) the tax-collector "forsook all" (xataXLniuv navra) to follow Jesus (Luke 5:28). So Philo (Life of Moses 1.149) says that Moses "abandoned the government of Egypt" (tT)v Aiyvmov xateAL rEV tlyeµoviav).

192. Ex. 2:15.

193. Cf. Ex. 2:22, where he gives his firstborn son the name Gershom ("a stranger there") in acknowledgment of his impermanent status as a sojourner in a foreign land (cf. Acts 7:29; see also p. 292, n. 82; p. 298, n. 114).

194. Perhaps a variant tradition read "Moses saw" (wayyar') instead of "Moses was afraid (wayyira'). Philo emphasizes that Ex. 2:15 (LXX) says that Moses "withdrew" (avcXtprloev) from the face of Pharaoh (although the Hebrew text says quite plainly wayyibrah, "and he fled"). "Moses does not flee (levyet) from Pharaoh, for then he would have run away (anebibpaoxrv) without returning, but `withdraws' (avaX(opei), like an athlete taking an interval to regain his breath" (Leg. A/leg. 3.14). He contrasts him with "any other who was running away (anobLbpaoxwv) from a king's relentless wrath" (Life of Moses 1.49). Josephus (Ant. 2.254-56) says nothing about Moses' killing of the Egyptian, but describes him as escaping from Egypt because of an envious plot against his life: "he left the land taking no supply of food, proudly confident of his power of endurance (xap'repia)."

188. Cf. 13:13, where they are urged to bear the "stigma" (6verbroµo5) attaching to him.

197. So Calvin (ad loc.), although he agrees that the reference could be to Moses' earlier departure, the mention of his fear in Ex. 2:14 notwithstanding; Westcott also (ad loc.) concedes the possibility that his earlier departure is meant, but concludes that "it is however more likely that the words refer to the Exodus." He compares the use of xata)Einw in Josephus, Ant. 2.318, in reference to the Exodus: "they left (xate)rtaov) Egypt in the month Xanthicus..." (but see n. 191 above). He also suggests that the perfect nenoCi1mv in v. 28 (see p. 308, n. 166) "helps to explain the historical transposition."

198. Ex. 3:1-6; cf. Acts 7:30-34.

199. The king at the time of the Exodus was not the Pharaoh from whom Moses fled earlier; that Pharaoh died while Moses was in Midian (Ex. 2:23).

200. Ex. 12:31 ff. Several other attempts at reconciling our present passage with Ex. 2:14f. have been made. A. B. Davidson (ad loc.) says: "So far as his life was concerned he feared, but in a higher region he had no fear; he took steps to save his life in faith of a time when God in accordance with His promises would interpose to redeem His people, just as in this faith he had already acted in opposition to the king." C. J. Vaughan (ad loc.) explains that "the two fears are different: the one is the fear arising from the discovery of his slaying the Egyptian, the other is the fear of Pharaoh's anger on discovering his flight." C. Spicq (ad loc.) follows H. von Soden in seeing a reference to the whole series of interviews and disputes with Pharaoh from Moses' return from Midian to the Exodus (Ex. 5:1-15:21).

201. Gk. toy yap aopatov 6t5 opwv exapteprloev. G. H. Whitaker("Hebrews xi. 27," ExT 27 [1915-16], p. 186) quotes examples from Plutarch where xaptepew, in association with a verb of seeing, means "to behold without wavering."

195. A. S. Peake, The Heroes and Martyrs of Faith (London, 1910), p. 118.

196. Peake, Heroes, pp. 120f.

202. For Moses' perseverance cf. Josephus's use of xaprepia in Ant. 2.256, quoted at the end of n. 194 (p. 312); although our author means something more than the ability to go without food!

203. Change of Names 7: "Moses' entry into the darkness (Ex. 20:21) is explained as denoting that essence which is invisible (a6pato5) and incorporeal." Elsewhere Philo, in reference to Moses' prayer that he might see the divine glory (Ex. 33:13), speaks of that purified and initiated mind which, "lifting its eyes above and beyond creation, receives a clear vision of the Uncreated" (Leg. Alleg. 3.100f.; cf. Life of Moses 1.158).

204. Life of Moses 1.88.

205. This is probably the force of the perfect tense nenoirlxev (cf. p. 308, n. 166).

206. Called here "the destroyer" (o UoOpevwv), after Ex. 12:23, LXX. In Wisdom 18:15 the agent of destruction is the "all-powerful word" (k6yo5) of God, leaping down from his throne into the doomed land, "a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of thy authentic command" (cf. p. 112). In the Exodus narrative the agent of the destruction is for the most part left out and the work is ascribed directly to Yahweh, as is also the protection of the Israelites.

207. The word translated "sprinkling" here is not the usual pavrLo 6g (cf. 12:24), but npoaXvOLS (here only in the NT), which means "pouring on." The prefix npoo- gives this word the sense of "application" which, despite the arguments of some scholars, is absent from ailtatrxXuaia (9:22; see p. 227, n. 143). The divine promise, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Ex. 12:13, 23), means "I will cross over your threshold" (from the Hebrew verb pesah used in this clause is derived the name pesah given to the feast, taken over into Greek as the loanword naaXa, "Passover," as here).

208. 1 Cor. 5:7; the same thought underlies John's passion narrative (cf., e.g., John 19:36, quoting Ex. 12:46).

209. Gk. i15 neiiav Lap6vre5 of AiyvArro►, lit. "of which [i.e., of the sea] the Egyptians making trial." They ventured upon the sea without faith and were drowned. See p. 327, n. 278 (on v. 36).

210. Gk. xatenoth1oav (as in Ex. 15:4, LXX), "were swallowed up" (aorist passive of xatanivw). A few minuscules, including 104 and 1912, have xatenovruTHrlaav. "were plunged or drowned in the sea."

211. Gk. it nopvrl, for which K * reads i1 Enrlreyoµevrl nopvrl, "she who was called the harlot" or "the so-called harlot," as though to tone down the uncompromising wording of the text. Cf. I Clem. 12:1. See p. 318, n. 228.

212. Gk. toil anrLOrjoaow, for which p46 reads toi5 aarotrloaaw (cf. 3:18 for the same variant).

213. That is, in a friendly manner. "Peace" may refer to the customary greeting Shalom ("Peace be upon you" or "Peace be upon this house"), which was honored in action as well as in word (cf. Luke 10:5f.).

214. Heb. yam sup(Ex. 13:18, etc.), used of the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, in this instance of a northern extension of the Gulf of Suez. The LXX renders it it ipuOEiu Oalaaoa ("the Red Sea").

215. Ex. 14:21.

216. Philo exaggerates the miracle by telling how the seabed between the two walls of water "dried up and became a broad highway capable of carrying a host of people" (Life of Moses 1.177).

217. Cf. Isa. 51:9-11.

222. Cf. Ex. 14:25.

225. According to the original text of the now incompletely preserved Assumption of Moses (early 1st cent. A.D.), the final reward of Moses' fidelity was that his body was taken to heaven after his death (there is an allusion to this in Jude 9; cf. Clement of Alexandria, Comments on Jude; also Strom. 6.15.132; Origen, First Principles 3.2.1).

218. Cf. Isa. 35:6b, 7; 40:3-5; 44:27; Jer. 23:7f.

219. 1 Cor. 10: If.

220. Cf. Ex. 14:14: "Yahweh will fight for you, and you have only to be still."

221. Cf. Ex. 15:1: "The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

223. Cf. Ex. 14:15: "Tell the people of Israel to go forward."

224. Cf. 3:7-11 (pp. 95-99).

226. The Egyptian of Acts 21:38 promised his followers that the walls of Jerusalem would fall before them at his word (Josephus,Ant. 20.169-71; cf. War 2.261-63).

227. The excavations made under the direction of J. Garstang from 1929 onward, which were once thought to relate to Joshua's Jericho (cf. J. Garstang, The Story of Jericho [London, 1940]), relate rather to earlier settlements on the site. The destruction of Late Bronze Age Jericho is very difficult to date archaeologically, owing to the considerable erosion of the site during the four centuries which elapsed before the foundation of Iron Age Jericho (1 Kings 16:34); but it cannot be fixed before the second half of the fourteenth century B.C. Cf. K. M. Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho (London, 1957); K. M. Kenyon and others in Encyclopaedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, ed. M. Avi-Yonah, II (London, 1976), pp. 55075 (s.v. "Jericho").

228. Heb. z6nah (Josh. 2:1), i.e., a secular harlot, not a temple prostitute (gedesah). Attempts were made in antiquity to give her a more respectable calling (cf. p. 315, n. 211); thus Josephus (Ant. 5.7ff.) makes her the keeper of an inn (xataywyrov), as does also the Targum of Jonathan at Josh. 2:1 (Aram. pundegIta, a loanword from Gk. navSoxeurgLa, "innkeeper"). Rashi in his commentary makes her a seller of food. Cf. D. J. Wiseman, "Rahab of Jericho," Tyndale House Bulletin 14 (Cambridge, June 1964), pp. 8-11.

231. Her house was on the city wall (Josh. 2:15), so their egress from Jericho was comparable to Paul's from Damascus (Acts 9:25; 2 Cor. 11:33).

230. According to TB Megillah 14b she married into another illustrious house, becoming the wife of Joshua and the ancestress of eight priests who were also prophets, including Jeremiah and Huldah. (How descendants of the Ephraimite Joshua and the Canaanite Rahab could be priests in Israel is quite a problem.)

229. `PaXo in Matt. 1:5 as against `Pain here and in Jas. 2:25, but the X of PaX60 represents more accurately the h of Heb. rahab.

232. So also Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 111; Irenaeus, Heresies 4.20.12, and many another since their day.

233. Gk..enLWVEL µe yap bilqyovµevov 6 xp6vo5. For the bearing of the masculine participle birlyo1 vov on the authorship of the epistle see p. 18, n. 77.

234. Before "prophets" (np"gsmv) a few minuscules (e.g., 69, 1288) with the Peshitta and Harclean Syriac and several other eastern versions add "other" (a) a v).

235. Gk. Paa11<eia5, for which p46 reads PaoLXeic ("kings").

236. Gk. i6uvaua9rlaav, for which XC with many later witnesses and the TR have the compound ivE6vva ua9gaav (cf. Rom. 4:20). Cf. p. 324, n. 262.

239. Gk. ingio8rlaav (so p' 1241 1984 syrPesh al). p13 A 1739 and many other Greek witnesses with the Latin and Armenian versions and the TR read inp%aOgaav inetpao9gaav ("they were sawn in two, they were tempted"); X L P 048 33 81 326 2495 a! read in(e)rpuoOgaav inpio8gaav. These latter readings probably represent a false dittography and the original reading isinpia9gaav alone (cf. Calvin, ad loc.; G. Zuntz, Text, pp. 47f.). A variant spelling ofinpioOgaav, the itacistic inprjo9gaav, appears in the minuscule 1923 and is implied in the Bohairic rendering ("they were burned"), as though it were aorist passive of niturprl u and not of npit;w (cf. p. 328, n. 290). See B. M. Metzger, Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, pp. 674f.

240. Gk. iv, for which several ancient witnesses have eni (p13. 46 K A P 33 etc.); the two prepositions were easily confused in uncial writing.

237. Gk. yuvaixrc (nom.), which is certainly the required form here (so X2 D2 T byz TR against p13 X * A D* 33 1912 pc, which exhibit the accusative yvvaixa5, impossible in this context).

238. Gk. hvµnaviotqaav, for which D* has the classical compound anetvµnavia"aav. The martyrs here referred to were stretched on a frame, as skin is stretched on a drum (tvµnavov), and beaten to death (see p. 325).

241. Gk. xai Ti err key(u; (cf. Ti bet xAauo a.eyety; Josephus, Ant. 20.257). The following turn of phrase, "for the time will fail me if I tell ..." (ExLAaoptt µe yap btrlyoi;tevov 6 xpovo5), has no lack of parallels in the classical orators and in Philo (cf. Spicq, ad loc.).

242. David was a prophet (Acts 2:30; cf. 2 Sam. 23:2), but he was not reckoned in the prophetic "succession," still less was he a member of any prophetic guild.

243. The Peshitta of 1 Sam. 12:11 replaces "Jerubbaal" by his more familiar name "Gideon"; hence it lists the four as Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samson. But its insertion of Deborah between Gideon and Barak shows that we are dealing with a targum of the original and not with the kind of translation which could be used for textual criticism.

244. Judg. 7:19-25.

245. Judg. 4:8.

246. Cf. esp. Judg. 14:4.

247. Cf. 2 Sam. 12:13; 24:10-14.

248. In Isa. 55:3f. "the sure mercies of David" are bound up with the sending of "a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples," who must be identified both with the Davidic king of Isa. 1 1:1-10 and with the Servant of Yahweh of Isa. 42:1-4 (cf. Acts 13:34).

250. In the title of a book by W. W. Fereday, Samuel: God's Emergency Man (Kilmarnock, 1945).

251. Cf. 1 Sam. 10:5, 10f.; 19:20.

249. 1 Sam. 7:3-16.

252. The verb xaiaywvigoµat, "subdue," is used by Josephus of David's subduing the Philistines, xaraywvtocL*vw I1al,atarrivov5 (Ant. 7.53).

253. In vv. 33, 39 Sra niotewc is a variation on the recurrent niotrL of this chapter (cf. xata niotw in vv. 7, 13).

254. Gk. inetvxov enayyextoov, as in 6:15 (see p. 153 with n. 76). Whether the verb is enttvyx&vw, as here, or ),ao&vw, as in v. 13 (see p. 297, n. 109), or &vabiXoµat, as in v. 17, or xoµil;oµat, as in v. 39, it is the context that must determine whether the receiving of the promise itself is meant, or the experiencing of its fulfilment, or both.

255. Cf. the references to this incident in 1 Macc. 2:60 (where Mattathias on his deathbed reminds his sons how "Daniel because of his innocence was delivered from the mouth of the lions"); 4 Macc. 16:3, 21; 18:13 (in the martyrology of the seven brothers and their mother).

256. Cf. 1 Macc. 2:59; 4 Macc. 13:9; 16:3; 18:12. In 4 Macc. 16:21f. the mother reminds her seven sons how Daniel and his three companions "endured ($neµetvav) for God's sake" and exhorts them: "You also, then, having the same faith toward God, be not embittered."

257. Cf. the nvpwoL5 of 1 Pet. 4:12.

262. Gk. gvbuvapw(EioaL, the same verb as here (gbuvapwOqaav) with the prefix iv (both forms are found elsewhere in the NT). See p. 319, n. 236.

263. He describes Esther as exposing herself to danger on her people's behalf because she was "perfect in faith" (t) tr? ui xat& niatw).

264. Gk. gyEvg"aav LOXupot iv rzoXepw, napEpoka5 N),.rvav &XXotpiwv. (The Gentile foes are repeatedly called &Uotpeot in 1 Maccabees.)

265. Gk. Eis tt)v napeµ$o).T V t6v &Uo4n.cuv, using naQEgOk? in the sense of "camp" (cf. Heb. 13:11, 13), whereas here our author uses it in the sense of "army," a sense which it bears very frequently in 1 Maccabees.

266. Cf. 2 Chron. 20:15.

267. Cf. Josh. 23:10; Deut. 32:30; also Lev. 26:8.

258. 1 Kings 19:2-18.

259. 2 Kings 6:31-7:2.

260. Jer. 36:19, 26.

261. Judg. 6:15.

270. Gk. Iva xpeitrovos avavraaews tvxwoiv. See T. E. Pollard, "Martyrdom and Resurrection in the New Testament," BJRL 55 (1972-73), pp. 240-51.

271. Gk. ano.vrptuatg (which normally means "redemption," as in 9:15). For the more general sense of "deliverance" cf. Dan. 4:32, LXX (4:36, EVV), where Nebuchadnezzar tells how, after his madness, "the time of my deliverance (anokirtt wutg) came." "But even here the deliverance not accepted resolves itself into a ransom refused, the price of recantation, and in Daniel, as with Ahab [I Kings 21:27-29], reformation is viewed as the price of the prolongation of Nebuchadnezzar's tenure of power" (E. K. Simpson, Words Worth Weighing in the Greek New Testament [London, 1946], p. 8, n. 1). Cf. p. 214, n. 84 (on the uncompounded k-&Watg in Heb. 9:12).

272. Gk. tvluravi~w (cf. p. 319, n. 238).

273. Cf. 2 Macc. 6:19, 28, where Eleazar goes willingly and unhesitatingly to the rack (tw. wvov) rather than taste unlawful food. In 4 Maccabees it is on the wheel (tpoxog) that Eleazar and the seven young men are tortured, in a manner reminiscent of the medieval penalty of breaking on the wheel (4 Macc. 5:32; 8:13; 9:12, 17, 19, 20; 10:7; 11:10, 17; 15:22).

268. 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:17-37.

269. Gk. it avaotaaetu5.

274. 2 Macc. 7:1-41; 4 Macc. 8:1-17:24.

275. Gk. npo µaptvpmv µeyLotoL is types. Gregory of Nazianzus defended their enrollment among Christian martyrs on the ground that "if they suffered so courageously before the coming of Christ, their achievement would have been so much greater still, if they had lived after him and had his death for their example" (Oration 15: Panegyric on the Maccabees 1). On the Christian commemoration and elaboration of their martyrdom see M. Simon, "Les saints d'Israel dans la devotion de 1'eglise ancienne," RHPR 34 (1954), pp. 98-127; B. M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York, 1957), pp. 147-50. See p. 334, n. 11.

276. This is the main point of the passage entitled "The Praise of the Elders" (Sir. 44:149:16). Cf. p. 278.

277. Mark 12:26f. and parallels.

278. Gk. ne-ipav ela$ov (cf. netQav ),,aP6vre5 in v. 29, p. 315, n. 209).

279. The same word as is used here for "mocking" (i"CELyµos) appears in 2 Macc. 7:7 ("they brought forward the second [brother] for their sport"); the cognate verb eµnaii;u) is similarly used in 2 Macc. 7:10. The word used here for "scourging" (µaoTt;), with its derivative verb µnoiryocu, appears repeatedly in the martyrologies of Eleazar and the seven brothers in both 2 and 4 Maccabees.

285. Tertullian, Scorpion Antidote 8; Jerome, Against Jovinian 2.37; cf. C. C. Torrey (ed.), Lives of the Prophets (Philadelphia, 1946), pp. 21, 35; H.-J. Schoeps, "Die jiidischen Prophetenmorde," Aus fruhchristlicher Zeit (Tubingen, 1950), pp. 126-43.

280. Gk. etepot.

281. Jer. 20:2.

282. Jer. 20:7-10.

283. Jer. 37:15.

284. Jer. 38:6-13.

286. Matt. 23:37; Luke 11:49ff.; 13:33f.; cf. Acts 7:52.

287. Luke 11:51 (called in Matt. 23:35 "Zechariah son of Barachiah"; cf. Zech. 1:1; Josephus, War 4.335-43). In the Protevangel of James 23:1-24:4 he is confused with Zechariah the father of John the Baptist. Cf. p. 361, n. 178.

288. Cf. also TB Yebamoth 49b; Sanhedrin 103b; Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 120; Tertullian, On Patience 14; Torrey, Lives, pp. 20, 34.

289. Cf. D. Flusser, "The Apocryphal Book of Ascensio Isaiae and the Dead Sea Sect," IEJ 3 (1953), pp. 30-47. The work is introduced and translated in J. H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, II (Garden City, NY, 1985), pp. 143-76.

290. Our author's reference is scarcely to the solitary LXX instance of npi~m in Amos 1:3. On the text here see p. 319, n. 239. If the itacistic spelling of eneia9 iaav as enprlo91aav were taken as the aorist passive of ninprl u and rendered "they were burned," we might think of the incident in 2 Macc. 6:11, where some pious Jews who had gathered in caves to observe the sabbath day secretly were betrayed to the Seleucid authorities and "were all burned together (ouve4Xoyia9rlaav), because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of their regard for that most holy day" (conceivably a variant account of the incident of 1 Macc. 2:2938, mentioned on p. 329). Even if this incident is not in our author's mind, it is nevertheless true that while some through faith "quenched the force of fire" (v. 34), others through faith endured death by fire.

291. This may have been the "mantle" which Elisha inherited (2 Kings 2:13f.). Gregory of Nazianzus speaks of it as "Elisha's fair inheritance, the sheepskin mantle, accompanied by the spirit of Elijah" (Panegyric on Basil 74). A "hairy mantle" appears to have been the recognized uniform of the prophets (Zech. 12:4); we may compare John the Baptist's garment of camel's hair (Mark 1:6). But such raiment was voluntarily worn by the prophets; our author here is describing instances of privation and harsh necessity.

292. Cf. 1 Macc. 2:28; 2 Macc. 5:27; 6:11; 10:6 ("they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals").

293. But, in the words of Wisdom 3:5, "God tested them and found them worthy of himself."

294. Ps. 44:22 (LXX 43:23); cf. Rom. 8:36.

295. Gk. xai oinot nhvre5 (cf. oinot navrs5 in v. 13). p46 1739 with the Sahidic Coptic omit oinot (so Clement of Alexandria and Augustine). G. Zuntz expresses the view that while oinot is necessary in v. 13 after ane0avov, it is intolerable in v. 39 after xai. He adds that a full stop before the present clause "ruins the context"; the clause continues straight on from the preceding ones: "and although they all had won their record because of their faith ..." (Text, p. 34).

296. Gk. ON ixoµiaavro tt)v inayyehiav. A I with a few minuscules and the Sahidic Coptic read the plural tag enayyrAiag (after v. 13).

297. Gk. paptupiioevre5, "having had their names entered on the record" (cf. NEB: "These also, one and all, are commemorated for their faith").

298. Gk. tot, 9eot, ... TL npo0XEVaµevou. As used thus, npoPXinw is best translated "provide" ("God had made some better provision with us in view"). MM compare its use in the active voice in a sepulchral inscription where a man, knowing how prone one's heirs are to forgetfulness, provides (npoPXinav) a tomb for himself and his family (G. Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus conlecta [Berlin, 1878], 326). Cf. J. Moffatt (ICC, ad loc.): "God in his good providence reserved the messianic te)<eiwor5 of Jesus Christ until we could share it."

299. 7:19, 22; 8:6; 9:23; 10:34; 11:35. In all these (and other) passages the comparative adjective used is xpeittwv, as here.

300. C. Wesley (1707-88).

1. Gk. totyapouv. Although none of the three component elements of this word can stand at the head of a Greek sentence, this compound itself does so stand in classical Greek, as also in both its NT occurrences (cf. 1 Thess. 4:8).

2. Gk. evmepiarato5 (see p. 336 with nn. 28, 29). Against this, the reading of all other authorities, p46 has evmegiamaotos, to be understood here in its transitive sense "easily distracting" (cf. BAGD; F. W. Beare, "The Text of the Epistle to the Hebrews in p46," JBL 63 [1944], pp. 390f.), which, says G. Zuntz, "suits the context of Hebrews supremely, or even uniquely, well: as 6yxo5 is liable to hamper the Christian athlete, thus sin is liable to divert him from his goal. The meanings which can be attached to the rival reading are so far inferior to this as to make it justifiable, nay necessary, to regard the reading of p46 as original" (The Text of the Epistles [London, 1953], p. 28). Cf. NEB mg., "the sin which all too readily distracts us."

3. Or "endured a cross"; the majority of witnesses have anarthrous araupov here (tov is prefixed, however, by pt3 pa6 D* with the Sahidic Coptic and Armenian versions).

4. Gk. tov ... imoµe * vrIxota (p13 p46 D* omit tov, the sense then being "one who has endured"). Paul never uses irmoµevw of Jesus' endurance.

5. Gk. etg eavrov (a*r6v, ai'nov): so A P D° K L with the bulk of later MSS and the TR. The ARV mg. renders "against themselves" [cf. eauroig in 6:6], which the ERV places in the text; this reading, Gk. Fig eavrovg (ainovg, avrovg), has ancient and weighty attestation, being exhibited by pl 3 p46 K D* 256 1288 1319 1739 2127 and several early versions. (The aberrant in uobis found in d can be ignored.) "The singular is the only imaginable reading that fits the context, yet there is no ancient evidence for it. It looks like a correct conjecture. The plural is established as being the oldest recoverable reading by the consensus of all the ancient witnesses and of most versions. The attempts at making sense of it only prove its absurdity. It would, then, have to be put down as one more instance of that `primitive corruption' which Westcott and Hort recognized in this epistle" (G. Zuntz, Text, p. 120). Westcott found in the phrase "sinners against themselves" an echo of Num. 16:38 (17:3 in the MT and the LXX); but the LXX rendering of the phrase, tduv aµaptw)wv tourwv eV tai5 yroxalc ainwv, would scarcely have suggested to our author the locution twv aM1Qtwl.o)v el; eavroi. Besides, the phrase ri; eavrov5 or eic eaurov is placed here in the attributive position and therefore is to be taken closely with avn?oyiav. That being so, rig eavrov yields the only tolerable sense in the context, as is recognized by the RSV and (presumably, though not expressly) by the NEB. Riggenbach does not exaggerate when he describes the plural reading as "very strongly attested, but absolutely meaningless" (ad loc., ZK, p. 391). See B. M. Metzger, Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London/New York, 1971), p. 675.

6. Gk. ex m6gVor (present middle or passive participle), for which pl' p46 D* 1739 read the perfect participle exXEXu evot, which F. W. Beare ("Hebrews in p46," p. 395) and G. Zuntz (Text, p. 118) incline to prefer.

8. The word (Gk. paptvg) is capable of this sense, which it probably bears, e.g., in 1 Tim. 6:12, "thou ... didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses" (evw3Lov noXA v ltaptupwv). In Heb. 10:28 (cf. p. 260, n. 127) both senses of "witness" are implied: the "two or three witnesses" testify to what they have personally seen or heard. In 4 Macc. 17:1116, where the sufferings of the martyrs under Antiochus are described in agonistic terms, the verb used of the spectators is 9ewpew, not µaptvpew (in 16:16 the SLaµaptvQia is borne by the martyrs themselves).

9. Cf. Irenaeus, Heresies 4.35.10: "For since they [the prophets] themselves were members of Christ, it was as such that each of them delivered his prophecy. Many as they were, they all prefigured One; their message referred to One."

7. Gk. vepog, as in Herodotus 8.109, ve4o5 toaoino avO th t uv ("so great a host of men").

10. Origen, Exhortation to Martyrdom 5, 22. Cf. Protevangel of James 23:3 (see p. 328, n. 287), where Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, says, "I am a martyr for God" (µagru5 Etµ6 tov 9EOV).

11. "Martyrs and Martyrdom," BJRL 39 (1956-57), pp. 463-84. He traces the introduction of the idea of suffering into the meaning of µaptvs and its cognates back to the Jewish traditions about the persecution of the prophets, who were "witnesses" in the twofold sense that they testified to what they saw and heard when they "stood in the council of Yahweh" (Jer. 23:18, 22). Cf. C. C. Torrey (ed.), Lives of the Prophets (Philadelphia, 1946); H.-J. Schoeps, Aus fruhchristlicher Zeit (Tubingen, 1950), pp. 126-43. The glorification of martyrs is first found in Hellenistic Judaism, according to A. Schlatter, DerMartyrer in denAnfangen derKirche (Gutersloh, 1915), pp. 13ff. A. Ehrhardt, "Judaeo-Christians in Egypt," SE 3 = TU 88 (1964), pp. 36082, finds a close connection between µaptupiw and naaXw in early Christian and Hellenistic thought. See also N. Brox, Zeuge and Martyrer (Munich, 1961); W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Oxford, 1965); W. Horbury and B. McNeil (eds.), Suffering and Martyrdom in the New Testament (Cambridge, 1981).

12. Heb. he'idu, LXX bLEµaptvpavro.

13. Gk. toy npoxEiµEvov ilµiv ay6va. Cf. Herodotus 9.60 ((iywvo5 µey%otov npoxrLµivov); Plato, Laches 182a (o aywv npoxrLtar); 4 Mace. 15:2 (buoiv npoXELµiv(0v); Philo, Agriculture 112 (npote0ivra aywa); Epictetus 3.25 (6 ayiuv npoxErtaL), Testament of 40 Martyrs 1, etc.

14. The word there and here is vnoltovi . See n. 21 below.

15. Cf. Luke 13:24 (aywvi~ea9e); but especially the Pauline instances of this language (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Gal. 2:2; Eph. 6:10-17; Phil. 1:30; 2:16; 3:14; 4:3; Col. 1:29; 2:1; 4:12; 1 Thess. 2:2; 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 2:3ff.; 4:7; cf. Acts 20:24). While our author here uses aytuv in the sense of "race" (as the context indicates), Paul uses it in the more general sense of "contest"; when he means "race," he says biioµo5 (2 Tim. 4:7; cf. Acts 13:25; 20:24) or Ota`Urov (1 Cor. 9:24).

16. Cf. the examples quoted in n. 13 above and others in Moffatt and Spicq, ad loc. Such language is common in Christian martyrology; cf. 1 Clem. 5:2ff. (of Peter and Paul and other victims of the Neronian persecution); Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 5, praef. 4; 50.19 (of Blandina and other victims of the persecution in the Rhone valley in A.D.177); see further G. W. H. Lampe (ed.), A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford, 1961-68), s.vv. &ywv and derivatives, &91vew and derivatives.

19. avqywvi~ero (17:14); cf. Heb. 12:4.

20.9eoaefrLa, which "crowned her own athletes" (17:15).

21. vnoµovrj (17:12), a word which occurs 11 times in 4 Maccabees, while the verb vxokvw in a similar context occurs 15 times.

22.6 Se xoaµog xai o uuv &vOpwnwv Pio5 eecthQrt (17:14).

23. i191„etei yap tote i) aped) ... b xi1th ouoa to vixo5 iV a$9apara, iv i wp roAuxpoviw (17:12).

24. 2 Tim. 2:5.

25. Cf. 1 Cor. 9:25.

26. The word here used is oyxoc, which does not otherwise appear in the Greek Bible. It was used in Greek metaphorically in the sense of "pride," in addition to its literal sense; and in that sense the Sahidic Coptic version renders it here, but wrongly; the athletic terminology demands the sense "weight" or "impediment." The compound vnepoyxog in 2 Pet. 2:18 and Jude 16, perhaps echoing Dan. 11:36 (Theod.), means "overweening."

17. aywvi~oµar (4 Macc. 17:13); Eleazar npo1ywvit;ero.

18. 6y6v (11:20; 13:15; 15:29; 16:16; 17:11).

28. From the use of the verb aEptiotaµat in the sense of standing around and gaping at: "nepiotaros is, from classical times onwards, a synonym for nepiPXEnto; ('noted,' `famous'). Consequently 6nepiatato5 (ov) is he, or that, which is `surrounded by many,' primarily in admiration. This in fact is the only notion of our adjective for which evidence independent of Hebrews can be adduced" (G. Zuntz, Text, pp. 25f.).

29. Words Worth Weighing in the Greek New Testament (London, 1946), pp. 26f. He further instances Polybius, 9 tPoµevoc vno T% neQLotao€wc (2.48), where "he appears to be envisaging this image of a clogging encumbrance," and anepiotaTOL 6aorCuvaL (6.44), for which the rendering "unshackled laissez-faire" is suggested; Epictetus (4.1.159), who describes Diogenes as anepiotato5 ("unencumbered"); Diodorus Siculus, who "represents a throttling or stifling environment as o i vtyiic nepioraoL5" (3.51).

30. See p. 332, n. 2. Cf. aneQLanaotw5 in 1 Cor. 7:35 with the passive sense "undistractedly."

27. RSV "sin which clings so closely"; NEB (less accurately) "every sin to which we cling."

31. Gk. eig 9Eov a0p6vrEg.

34. Cf. Rev. 3:14, where Jesus speaks in the role of "the Amen, the faithful and true witness."

35. Especially where, as here, the substantives which govern "faith" in the genitive case themselves have the article: toy T% niotew5 O tXTlyov xai tr? i.u itjv.

36. For apXrlyog seep. 77, n. 50; p. 80, n. 60. In Acts of Thomas 39 Jesus is the "true and undefeated athlete (&0XnTrlg)."

32. Gk. hEXQL 9avatou. Cf. µeXQLS a'iµato5 in v. 4 below (p. 342 with nn. 62-64).

33. Gk. amopwvr c eis ' Ihaovv. Cf. 11:26, anopinw (p. 312, n. 190).

37. Jude 5 (see p. 97 with n. 46).

38. 1 Cor. 10:3f. (see p. 97).

41. Gk. i t LEwev otaup6v aiaXvvr15 xataqQovgaa5. Christ is thus the supreme example of vnoµovii as well as of niotn5. The martyrs under Antiochus are repeatedly said to have "despised" their sufferings for the sake of the law of God: thus "the seven brothers despised their pains even unto death" (tcuv thXQL 9av6tou 316vouv vnepe41p6vtloav, 4 Macc. 13:1; cf. 6:9; 8:28; 14:1, 11; 16:2). Cf. p. 337, n. 32; p. 342, n. 63.

42. Cf. Cicero, Pro Rabirio 5: "Let the very mention of the cross be far removed not only from a Roman citizen's body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears." Cf. Origen, Commentary on Matthew 27:22ff., L.T., mors turpissima crucis ("the utterly vile death of the cross"). See M. Hengel, Crucifixion, E.T. (London, 1977).

39. Matt. 27:43, echoing Ps. 22:8.

40. Mark 15:30, 32.

43. Cf. 2:10; 5:8f.

44. Cf. 1:3; 8:1 (p. 180 with n. 2); 10:12. Here the tense is perfect (xrxaOLxEv), indicate ing that he is still there; in the three other references it is aorist (ex68LoEV).

46. Cf. John 17:24: "Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory...."

47. Cf. 6:20 (p. 155).

48. In 4 Macc. 17:18 the martyrs under Antiochus "now stand beside the divine throne and lead a blessed life" (cf. Rev. 7:9, 15).

49. Cf. Luke 22:29f.

50. C. Wesley. See W. G. Johnsson, "The Pilgrimage Motif in the Book of Hebrews," JBL 97 (1978), pp. 239-51.

51. Gk. 8va)„oyioao9e (the only NT instance of this verb); it conveys the idea of comparison as well as considering, and thus goes beyond natavorlaate of 3:1.

52. See p. 332, n. 5.

53. W. R. Inge, Things New and Old (London, 1933), p. 14.

54. Gk. &vraywvri;oµevol, for which p13 p46 with 69 and a few other authorities have the simple verb &ywvl~oµevor. The agonistic language is continued, although it is warfare with sin rather than a race to be run that is now envisaged.

55. Gk. ovnw. D* L and a few minuscules, with the Armenian and Coptic versions, add Yap ("for").

56. The following words are quoted from Prov. 3:11f., LXX (A-text).

57. Gk. vie sou. D* 69 81 and some other minuscules with Clement, Augustine, and the Latin version of Origen omit you, in harmony with the LXX.

58. Gk. etc naLbEiav 6noµnvete, where (as far as the form is concerned) the verb may be either present indicative or present imperative. D reads the aorist imperative iecoµeivate (which is unambiguous) and makes it the first word in the sentence, for it attaches the phrase etc nar&kav to the preceding quotation (so as to yield the sense: "and chastises every son whom he receives for discipline"). For etc, 35 241 and the majority of later minuscules, with the TR, read et ("if'), whence AV/KJV "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons." (This reading is probably influenced by the following conditional sentence in v. 8.)

59. Gk. ov Roby µfibbov.... After nobv pt3 p46 D* 1739 add hi, probably to balance the preceding Ov. "Proto-Alexandrian" reading though it is, this & is unacceptable (cf. G. Zuntz, Text, p. 189).

60. For nvn thtwv ("of spirits") the minuscule 440 reads nvEt ITLX(AV ("of spiritual beings"), while 88 and a few others read natipwv (as though the sense were "the Father of [our] fathers").

61. Gk. naoa be natbeia ... O$ boxei Xapfig etvat.... For be (om D* 048 104 pc) K * P 33 1739 1881 pc read µhv, probably in anticipation of lthv in the following phrase np65 Ov to napov ("for the time being"). Cf. Zuntz, Text, p. 190.

62. Cf. Phil. 2:8, where he is said to have maintained his obedience to God giXpt 9av6ttov ("unto death"); cf. other instances of this phrase listed in n. 63 below alongside µhXptg a4 aro5 here; also iXpt 9avarov, Rev. 2:10; 12:11.

63. Spoken of Eleazar in 4 Macc. 6:30, µeXpt ttuv tov 8avatov Paaavwv avreovrl ... bta toy voµov (with which cf. (Wrtxareorrlte, "you have ... resisted," here; cf. also 4 Macc. 17:14, p. 335 with n. 19, for &vraywvt~oµevot, "striving against," here). Cf. µEXpt 8avatov in 4 Mace. 13:1 (quoted p. 338, n. 41); 17:10 (quoted p. 337 with n. 32); similarly 4 Mace. 5:37; 6:21; 7:8, 16; 13:27; 15:10; 16:1; 17:7; also 2 Macc. 13:14, yevvaitus &ytavioaoOat J.EXpt 8avatou nepi voµov ... ("to contend nobly unto death for the laws ...").

64. The phrase OXQLS a`4ato5 is used of mortal combat in Heliodorus,Aethiopica 8.8. Some commentators take the phrase in Heb. 12:4 as referring not to the yielding up of life in martyrdom but to engaging in a conflict which involves the risk of wounds (cf. J. Behm in TDNT, I, p. 173, s.v. alµa). In the light of 11:35-38 actual martyrdom seems much more probable. See also Riggenbach, ad loc. (ZK, p. 393).

65. See pp. 21, 268.

66. In the second half of Prov. 3:12 the LXX deviates from the MT, which reads: "Even as a father the son in whom he delights." The deviation is very slight: it consists in reading uke'db ("even as a father") as weyak'lb ("and inflicts pain on") or the like. The LXX may well repre sent the original sense (cf. Midrash Tehillim on Ps. 94, in a reference to Prov. 3:12). On the general idea cf. R. Bultmann, TDNT, III, p. 647 with n. 13 (s.v. xavXaoµat).

67. A classical parallel to "you are bastards, and not sons" (&pa v60oL xai oriX viol eoie) is supplied by Aristophanes, Birds 1650-52, v6oo5 yap ei xo$ yvr uto5 ... 6)v ye l evr1S yvvarxo5 ("for you are illegitimate and no trueborn son, since your mother is a foreign woman"), where, however, the v6oo5 is the child of a mixed marriage which was not recognized as legal in Athens of the fifth century B.C.

68. Philo, Preliminary Studies 175.

69. Gk. eipgvrx65 (see p. 346 with n. 86, on v. 11). Solomon (Heb. selomoh) is from the same root as 0l6m, "peace" (see p. 159, n. 16); but it is unlikely that our author intends any allusion here to the etymology of Solomon's name.

70. Philo, Preliminary Studies 177.

71. Gk. nar8eia5, i15 µeioXoL yeyovaoLv 31avre5 (v. 8), echoing navra viov in the quotation from Proverbs in v. 6.

72. See pp. 130f. with nn. 65-69.

73. Lit. "we had the fathers of our flesh as our discipliners or correctors (aarbevraS)"; naLSevrr1g occurs in one other place in the NT, in Rom. 2:20: "a corrector of the foolish."

74. Gk. xata to boxoiiv aitoic (v. 10); NEB "according to their lights." The argument from earthly fathers to the heavenly Father appears repeatedly in the teaching of Jesus (cf. Matt. 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13); in this connection G. K. Chesterton speaks of his "furious use of a fortiori argument" (quoted by H. J. Cadbury, The Peril of Modernizing Jesus [London, 1962], p. 58). Cf. p. 45, n. 6; p. 68, n. 4.

75. Cf. I Cor. 10:13; with the testing is given the power to endure it.

76. Gk. aytotric (in the NT also at 2 Cor. 1:12); commoner NT words for this concept are aytaoµ65 (cf. v. 14) and ayttuavvrl.

79. Cf. 1 Thess. 5:23; Rom. 8:18, 21, 30; Col. 3:4.

80. Gk. t4 natpi tiuv nvevµatwv. The margin of the ERV/ARV rightly translates T6 )v as "our."

81. Cf. also 2 Macc. 3:24, "the Sovereign of spirits and of all authority" (6 T6 )V nvevµat(uv xai aaar15 e~ouaia5 buv&ott1S).

77. Cf. 9:13; 10:10, 14, 29.

78. Cf. v. 14 (pp. 348f.).

82. Cf. also Lam. 3:19-39. Several further parallels, biblical and extrabiblical, are mentioned by Moffatt, ICC, ad loc.

83. Cf. 2 Pet. 2:9a.

84. TB Sanhedrin 101 a. Aqiba argued from Prov. 25:1 that Hezekiah must have taught his young son Manasseh the proverbs of Solomon, but added that it was not this instruction which brought him to repentance but his affliction recorded in 2 Chron. 33:11 ff. A different emphasis from Aqiba's is found in the words of the righteous martyr in Leviticus Rabba 32 (on Lev. 24:10) and Mekhilta on Ex. 20:6, "These wounds have endeared me to my Father in heaven" (based on a misinterpretation of Zech. 13:6).

85. "God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world" (C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain [London, 1940], p. 81). A harrowing personal experience later forced Lewis to recognize the inadequacy of this argument, as he acknowledged inA Grief Observed (London, 1961).

88. Cf. Isa. 35:3.

89. The weight of early Greek witnesses (p46 K * P 33 etc.) favors the present imperative noteite, for which A D with the majority of later MSS and the TR have the aorist noL>jaate. Prov. 4:26 (LXX) has the present imperative, but in the singular (noieL). The aorist noujvate may be due to assimilation with the tense of avop&uaate ("lift up") in v. 12; on the other hand, it could be argued that the aorist is stylistically better (cf. G. Zuntz, Text, p. 64).

90. Prov. 4:26, LXX. With the inferior reading aouoate the clause makes a perfect hexameter: xai tpoXLaS 6g6&g nouwczrr toi5 noaiv vlunv (in such a careful stylist as our author this might be regarded as an argument against nouiaate).

91. Cf. Ps. 34:14 = LXX 33:15 (quoted in 1 Pet. 3:11).

86. Cf. p. 343; eiprlvtxos is used in both places.

87. Cf. Ps. 131:2.

92. Gk. µr1 tLs 6ii;a .nrxpias auto 4,uo10oa evoXXfi, the last word of which seems to have risen by metathesis from iv Xok i ("in gall") in Deut. 29:18 (LXX), µ~ sr5 eotiy ev vaiv 6ita (A F add mxpiac) avw 4vouoa ev XoA?1 xai mxpia. p46 perhaps read iv Xokv here for ivoXXp. For ivoX)rew cf. Luke 16:18. See pp. 349f. with nn. 105-8.

93. Gk. &' a*rj1 µtavOwoty no?Joi. For &' avtr15 (p46 A H K P 048 33 al), as in 11:4; 12:11, X D Y byz read && taint15. Before no?Xoi X A 048 al prefix oi. The anarthrous reading is found in p46 D HIP 1739 byz TR (whence AV/KJV "and thereby many be defiled"). Seep. 349 with n. 104. G. Zuntz regards the anarthrous reading as preferable (Text, pp. 53f.).

94. Gk. iotr, a classical form (cf. Eph. 5:5; Jas. 1:19), for which the NT usually has the Hellenistic olbate (cf. the use of the classical i.aaaiv and not the Hellenistic o'ibaoty in Acts 26:4).

95. The LXX reads ioXuoarB Xriic; avetkvat xai yovata naQaXEk va, "Be strong, ye relaxed hands and palsied knees"; the quotation here approximates more closely to the Hebrew construction. For the form napetµeva5 used by our author in place of LXX avrI4i vat cf. Sir. 25:23, XE QES napetµevat Wit yovata naQQ4v hva ... ("Drooping hands and weak knees are caused by the wife who does not make her husband happy").

96. Heb. palles (AV/KJV "ponder"; ERV/ARV "make level"; RSV "take heed to").

97. The Greek word here used for "path" (tpoxLa) is found nowhere else in the NT, and in the LXX is confined to Proverbs (and Ezek. 27:19 in a different sense). Etymologically it means "wheel-track"; but that is not its meaning in the Greek Bible.

98. Gk. exrpanp, second aorist passive subjunctive of Exrpenw, lit. "turn out" or "turn away." The sense of "dislocation" is attested in Hippocrates and other medical writers.

99. Moffatt (ICC, ad loc.) points out a similar train of thought in Test. Simeon 5:2f.: "Make your hearts good before the Lord, and your ways straight before men, and you will find grace before the Lord and men. Beware, therefore, of fornication, for fornication is mother of all evils, separating from God, and bringing near to Beliar."

100. See also p. 346, n. 91.

101. Gk. aytaog6g, here only in this epistle (other NT occurrences are Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:15; 1 Pet. 1:2). See p. 344, n. 76.

102. Cf. Rev. 22:4. Philo regards the vision of God as the goal of the contemplative life; thus, commenting on the change of Jacob's name to Israel (which he interprets as "he who sees God," as though its etymology were Heb. 'I ro'eh 'El), he says: "The task of him who sees God is not to leave the holy contest uncrowned, but to carry off the prizes of victory. And what garland composed of fairer flowers or more suited to its purpose could be woven for the victorious soul than that which will enable him to behold the Existent One with clear vision? Glorious indeed is the prize held out to the athlete-soul, that it should be blessed with eyes to apprehend clearly the One who alone is worthy to behold or to be beheld" (On the Change of Names 81f.).

104. Gk. no>„)<oi orol no)J.oi (on the text seep. 347, n. 93). With of no?boi maybe compared Heb. ha-rabbim, "the many," used in the Qumran literature to denote the general membership of the community; but no closer contact can be inferred from such a comparison. Cf. also to n).r19o5 in Acts 4:32, etc., and of n?Leiove5 in 2 Cor. 2:6.

105. NEB "no bitter, noxious weed."

106. Cf. Lam. 3:19, LXX, nrxpia xai Xo?rl µou µvrlOOrjaetar ("my wormwood and gall will be remembered"); Acts 8:23, etc Xolrly mxpia5 ("in the gall of bitterness").

103. Gk. votepwv ("falling short of').

107. 1QH 4.14. The words of Deut. 29:19, "1 shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart," are quoted in 1QS 2.13f. with reference to the violator of the Qumran covenant; cf. p. 188 with n. 48.

108. Cf. p. 99, with n. 60 (the "evil root" of 4 Ezra mentioned there is relevant to the present context too).

109. Judg. 2:17, etc.

110. Gk. feorllos ("profane"), applied in the LXX to Zedekiah because of his breach of oath to the king of Babylon (Ezek. 21:25).

111. In Jub. 25:1 Rebekah complains that all the deeds of Esau's two Canaanite wives "are fornication and lust"; in v. 8 Jacob tells her that Esau has often urged him to marry a sister of his Canaanite wives, but that he has always refused, "for with regard to lust and fornication Abraham niy father gave me many commandments" (v. 7).

112. Leg. Alleg. 3.2.

113. Questions and Answers on Genesis 4.201.

114. Cf. Genesis Rabba 70d, 72a; Exodus Rabba 116a.

115. Delitzsch (ad loc.) says that if our author had meant to designate Esau as &Prlkos only, and not n6pvo5, he would have written µrl n5 nopvos'i t) feprl)ro5. But since he leaves the subjunctive of the verb "to be" to be understood, we cannot be sure where he would have placed it if he had expressed it. Westcott (ad loc.) is more probably right in referring PiPrlaog only of the two words to Esau; cf. E. Elliot, "Esau," ExT 29 (1917-18), pp. 44f.

116. 11:20f. (p. 305).

117. This proverbial phrase occurs in the Pilgrimage of Perfection (1526), in the headings to Gen. 25 in the Bibles of 1537, 1539, and 1560, and in the last paragraph of the AV/KJV translators' address to the reader. The termination -eto in the aorist dnebeto, "sold" (classical aniboto), illustrates the Hellenistic tendency for the w-conjugation to encroach on the gt-conjugation.

118. Gk. anE6OXLµaa9!1.

119. Although Esau's weeping (Gen. 27:38b, MT) is omitted from the best authenticated LXX text, his "exceedingly great and bitter cry" (v. 34) would give adequate ground for our author's statement about his tears.

120. Gk. airzr jv, which might refer to µetavoia5 ("repentance"), as the NEB takes it ("he found no way open for second thoughts, although he strove, to the point of tears, to find one"), but more probably to E$Xoyiav ("blessing"), in the light of Gen. 27:34, 38. Cf. R. T. Watkins, "The New English Bible and the Translation of Hebrews xii. 17," ExT 73 (1961-62), pp. 29f.; he suggests a slight modification of the NEB wording: "you know that although he wanted afterwards [µerenELia, here only in the NT] to claim the blessing, he was rejected; though he begged for it to the point of tears, he found no way open for second thoughts." The ARV mg. and the ERV indicate that what Esau sought was the blessing by printing the clause "for he found no place of repentance" as a parenthesis.

121. One commentator on Hebrews, G. H. Lang, was led by this mention of the Esau incident to his distinctive interpretation that the "rest" which may be forfeited in 3:11-4:11, like the "blessing" or "grace of God" of which some may fall short here, is the millennial reign of the resurrected saints with Christ (cf. his Firstborn Sons: their Rights and Risks [London, 1936], p. 217 et passim). See p. 107 with n. 21.

122. There is no word corresponding to "mountain" in the best-attested Greek text at this point (oQEt appears here in D 'P byz vgcl syrnct) but it is to be understood here from v. 22 (Fawv oQEL). As far as the construction goes, the absence of opEt makes possible the rendering of the ARV mg., "a palpable and kindled fire" (ijn a vw xat xexautevq) avpi), which is preferred by Westcott; but the idea of a fire which could be "handled" is strange; the contrast is between the material mountain of Sinai which could indeed be touched (since the people were forbidden to touch it) and the spiritual and heavenly hill of Zion.

123. Gk. yn a$w thvw. The verb "kaow is not used in the LXX to render Heb. toga' ("touch") in Ex. 19:12 (where the LXX uses airroµai and 0tyy6vw); its verbal adjective yn atn>1ro5 is used, however, in Ex. 10:21, of the "darkness which may be felt." In our author's mind the darkness of the ninth plague of Egypt may have been associated with the "thick darkness" of Sinai. E. C. Selwyn ("On VTI $ vw in Heb. 12:18," JTS 12 [1911], pp. 133f.) offers the conjectural emendation tre0e>VaAm thvw, "calcined" (cf. Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus 363); he refers to A. P. Stanley's description of "the vast heaps, as of calcined mountains," of "what seemed to be the ruins, the cinders, of mountains calcined to ashes" (Sinai and Palestine [London, 1887], pp. 21, 71), and suggests that the author of Hebrews may have visited the site of Sinai. This emendation is quite unnecessary (and indeed improbable), as is also that offered by E. N. Bennett ("Hebrews XII.18," Classical Review 6 [1892], p. 263) of inyrL veve$withvw ("a beclouded height") in place of yiqla4w*vw-an emendation which, he says, "would fit in exactly with the Old Testament accounts, which represent the summit as burnt with fire, while lower down it was enveloped in a dense cloud." On,pr1,%a$6w here see E. Norden, Agnostos Theos (Leipzig, 1912), p. 15.

124. Gk. yvo4xu xai ~o$w xai 9ue)J.n. In Deut. 4:11 the LXX uses the three words ax6to5 yv6$o5 9ue)Xa for the dark storm-cloud in which God was enshrouded on Sinai (cf. Ex. 10:22; 20:21). It may be under the influence of this passage that several authorities here read axotet (p46 T) or axotw (M2 D2 4 1739 byz) for t;64co (K * A C D* P an. (Only here in the NT does yvo$og or 0i kka occur; for t;64os cf. Jude 6, 13; 2 Pet. 2:4, 17.)

125. Gk. ft q). The LXX (Ex. 19:16, 19; 20:18) has Ovil (or 4xovai) ti15 oa)anyyog, but the verb iiXew appears in Ex. 19:16, "the voice of the trumpet sounded thxrt) loud." The substantive Rog is probably used here by our author rather than "vq since ovrj is used in the following phrase for the voice of God on Sinai (as in the LXX of Ex. 19:5, 13, 16, etc.).

127. Ex. 19:13. A few MSS, followed by the TR, complete the quotation by adding fl Po?ibr xatatot;eu9ijaetar ("or thrust through with a dart," AV/KJV).

130. Gk. µvptaoLv &yye)rwv ("myriads of angels"), for which D* reads µvpiwv &yiwv &yyik(ov ("ten thousand holy angels"); cf. Deut. 33:2; Jude 14.

131. Gk. navrlyvper, which should probably be taken closely with the preceding phrase as a circumstantial dative ("myriads of angels in festal array"). This construction is favored by those MSS which indicate punctuation, and by the Latin and Syriac versions. Moffatt deduces from citations in Ambrose, Augustine, Rufinus's Latin translation of Origen, and from the Bohairic Coptic version, that there was a variant reading navgyuprtovrwv (so F. Blass). See H. Seesemann, TDNT, V, p. 772 (s.v. navilyupt5)•

132. Gk. duroyeypaW'vwv e'v oupavois. The Byzantine text has the order ev ovpavoic &noyeypa*vwv, which is shown by 0228 to go back to the end of the fourth century (G. Zuntz, Text, p. 160).

134. Gk. TETOX w$ vwv, for which D* and Hilary read the curious variant TEOERXLO*VWV ("founded").

135. Gk. xpeirrov, for which pa6 33 and a few other MSS, followed by the TR, read xpeirrova ("better things," AV/KJV).

136. Gk. naps tov "Ape k, "in comparison with Abel," a compendious construction for "in comparison with Abel's." But p46 L and some other MSS read naps to "ApeA, "in comparison with that of Abel," a reading preferred by C.-H. Hunzinger, TDNT, VI, pp. 981f. (s.vv. pavtiiw, 6avnoµo5).

126. Gk. naQnTr aavro µil npoote9gvat airoi5 k6yov. The negative particle µtj is idiomatic, but not essential to the sense; it is lacking in X * P and a few other MSS.

128. Deut. 9:19. See p. 354, n. 140.

129. Gk. evrpo toy (X D* exrpoµo5 ).

133. Gk. nvevµaot, for which D* and the Sixtine Vulgate read the singular nvevllatL.

137. 10:19-22.

139. A. H. McNeile explains the injunction to kill the trespassing beast from a distance in that to touch it would involve transgressing the barrier (The Book of Exodus, WC [London, 19311, p. 112).

140. Gk. ex4opo5 r1u xai evrpoµo5. Cf. 1 Macc. 13:2, "the people were trembling and fearful" (ivrpoµoS xai eµ4opos).

138. On the theophany at Sinai see B. S. Childs, Exodus, OTL (London, 1974), pp. 34084.

141. See pp. 96ff.

144. Gk. toinou5 & xa)&Ei np0011Ainou5 ano tov npoae),jl,vOevaL xr)r. The perfect tense here as in our Hebrews passage is significant, denoting a permanent status resulting from the conversion event.

145. 2 Sam. 5:6-9.

142. Gk. npooEXT1? v9ate, nporn ino5.

143. Special Laws 1.51.

146. Cf. Rev. 14:1, where "Mount Zion" on which the Lamb stands with the hundred and forty-four thousand is the heavenly Zion, since they sing their new song "before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders" (v. 3). But G. W. Buchanan infers that it was to the neighborhood of the earthly Zion that the people addressed in Hebrews had come: it is here called "the heavenly Jerusalem" as an affirmation of "its divine origin" (To the Hebrews, AB [Garden City, NY, 1972], p. 222).

147. Cf. 1 Chron. 28:11-19, where the plan of the temple given by David to Solomon is made clear "by the writing from the hand of Yahweh concerning it."

148. Heb. ke `ir sehubberah lah, vocalized as ke `ir sahdberah lah. Cf. Targum and Midrash Tehillim on Ps. 122:3.

149. The manner in which Paul introduces the figure suggests that it was no novelty to him, nor yet, perhaps, to his readers. Cf. p. 293, n. 85.

150.2 Baruch 4:2-6 (cf. 32:2-4). According to TB Hagigah 12b, Rabbi Meir (c. A.D.150) said that of the seven heavens, the fourth is called Zebul, "in which are Jerusalem and the temple, and an altar is built, at which Michael the great prince stands and offers sacrifice, as it is said: `I have surely built thee a house of habitation, a place for thee to dwell in for ever' [1 Kings 8:13]. And how do we know that it [zebulJ is called heaven? Because it is written: `Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory' [Isa. 63:15]."

151. Cf. Rev. 3:12; 4 Ezra 7:26; 8:52 (quoted above, p. 110); 13:36; 1 Enoch 90:29; Test. Dan 5:12, for the New Jerusalem of the future. The Qumran texts include several fragments of a New Jerusalem apocalypse-an Aramaic work based mainly on Ezek. 40-48. The fragments from Caves 1, 2, and 5 have been published (1Q 32, 2Q 24, and 50 15); see DJD, I (Oxford, 1955), pp. 134f.; III, Texte (Oxford, 1962), pp. 84-89, 184-93. Just how the Qumran community envisaged the New Jerusalem cannot be satisfactorily determined until the fragments from Caves 4 and 11 are published. The Cave 2 fragments at least seem to describe a literal city with material temple and animal sacrifices (like the purified city and temple of 1QM 2); but all this may have been given a spiritual meaning. Cf. M. Baillet, DJD, III, Texte, p. 85: "It must moreover be remembered that for the sect the temple is susceptible of identification with the community (cf. 10S viii. 5-9; ix. 5-6) and that it is a replica of heaven: see Revue Biblique lxiii, 1956, p. 394." For the new temple cf. Tob. 13:16-18 (perhaps based on Isa. 54:1 if.). See J. Strugnell, "The angelic liturgy at Qumran," VT Supplement 7 (Leiden, 1960), p. 320; B. Gartner, The Temple and the Community in Qumran and the New Testament, SNTSM 1 (Cambridge, 1965).

153. Cf. 3:6 (pp. 93f.). Since in the OT God dwells in Zion (Ps. 87:1; Isa. 18:7; 31:9; Amos 1:2; Mic. 4:7f.) and "with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit" (Isa. 57:15; cf. 66:If.), the identification of the spiritual abode of God with the community of his people is not farfetched. See further E. Lohse, TDNT, VII, pp. 282-87 (s.v. Y-Lva); G. Fohrer and E. Lohse, TDNT, VII, pp. 292-338 (s. v. XUilV); Ps.-Cyprian, De montibus Sina et Sion; Strack-Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, III (Munich, 1926), p. 796; K. L. Schmidt, "Jerusalem als Urbild and Abbild," Eranos Jahrbuch 18 (1950), pp. 207-48; J. C. De Young, Jerusalem in the New Testament (Kampen, 1960); T. C. Vriezen, Jahwe en zijn Stad (Amsterdam, 1962); J. Schreiner, Sion-Jerusalem: Jahwes Konigssitz (Munich, 1963); N. W. Porteous, "Jerusalem-Zion: The Growth of a Symbol," in Living the Mystery (Oxford, 1967), pp. 93-111; S. Talmon, "The Biblical Concept of Jerusalem," Journal of Ecumenical Studies 8 (1971), pp. 300-316; B. C. Ollenburger, Zion, the City of the Great King: A Theological Symbol of the Jerusalem Cult (Sheffield, 1987).

154. For the construction and punctuation see p. 353, n. 131.

152. See p. 293, n. 85 (on 11:10).

155. Cf. 1 Enoch 40:1; Rev. 5:11 (see also Heb. 2:2, p. 67 with n. 3).

156. 10S 11.8f. Cf. 1QSa 2.8f.; 10M 7.6; also J. Strugnell, "The angelic liturgy at Qumran," pp. 318-45. Important NT parallels are 1 Cor. 11:10; Eph. 3:10.

159. Cf. Rev. 19:10; 22:9, where the interpreting angel refuses homage from John because he is his fellow-servant.

160. So Spicq, ad loc.; he compares Ps. 89:7 (LXX 88:6), where the angels are the Pou?,il ayiwv (Heb. s6d gedosim), and Clement's Extracts of Theodotus 27:3f., where the highest angels are called npmioxrtoTot, "first-created" (quoted by E. Kasemann, The Wandering People of God, E.T. [Minneapolis, 1984], p. 50, n. 89).

161. Hermas, Shepherd, Vision 3.4.1.

162. Cf. Westcott, ad loc.; Windisch, ad loc.

164. Cf. Calvin, ad loc.: "The description firstborn is not given here to the children of God indiscriminately, as Scripture sometimes does, but he gives this distinction to honour particularly the patriarchs and the other prominent men of the old Church" (W. B. Johnston's translation).

157. 1:14 (pp. 64f.).

158. 2:16 (p. 87).

163. Cf. Acts 13:48 (Acts, NICNT [Grand Rapids, 21988], p. 267, n. 111); Phil. 4:3.

165. Cf. Westcott, ad loc.: "Christian believers in Christ, alike living and dead, are united in the Body of Christ." So in the eschatological conflict envisaged by the Qumran community "not only will the angels fight side by side with the earthly `holy people' ([IQM] xii, 7-8), but also the `elect of the holy people,' i.e. former earth-dwellers now in heaven, will fight side by side with the angels" (Y. Yadin, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness [Oxford, 1962], pp. 241f.).

166. Cf. 1:6, where Jesus is the npwtoroxog (as against the plural npunotoxoL here); 2:13ff.; Rom. 8:29; Cot. 1:15, 18; Rev. 1:5.

167. The birthright in v. 16 is npunoroxta, lit. "right of the firstborn."

169. The suggestion that God is here designated as the "vindicator" or "avenger" of his people against their enemies (so Delitzsch, Riggenbach, ad loc.) may be admitted, if we also bear in mind the recurrent emphasis throughout this epistle that even his people (or indeed, especially his people) will incur his judgment if they rebel against him or despise his saving message. See also Moffatt, Spicq, ad loc., and cf. 9:27; 13:4.

170. Gk. ij?`9es. Ruth did not merely live in Israel as a resident alien but as a religious proselyte, as witness her words to Naomi: "your God [shall be] my God" (Ruth 1:16; the Targum makes Naomi tell her in detail all that becoming a proselyte involves).

171. In 1 Enoch 22:9 (cf. 41:8) a place of refreshment in the realm of the dead is reserved for "the spirits of the righteous" (ta nveusata tcw &xai(Ov). Cf. also Hermas, Shepherd, Mandate 11.1.15, for the phrase nvevµaca Stxaiwv, where, however, living people of God in a Christian congregation are meant.

168. Gk. XQLtp 0t4 ndvrwv, but the word order may have only stylistic significance.

174. Cf. the Westminster Shorter Catechism, Answer to Question 37: "The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection."

175. Cf. Ex. 19:4.

176. Here bta9rlx% vea5 as against bta&rjxi5 xatvfj in 9:15. The conventional distinction between xatv6g ("new in character") and veo5 ("new in respect of time") cannot be universally pressed; cf. the xatv65 avOpwaog of Eph. 4:24 as against the veoc dvOQo os of Col. 3:10 (Moffatt points out that the new Jerusalem of Test. Dan 5:12 is via, whereas elsewhere it is xatvrl).

177. On the two different words for "sprinkling" used here and in 11:28 see p. 314, n. 207.

172. Gk. µtoOaaobotrls, with which Spicq correlates xptt>15 in this verse.

173. Gk. Sixaiwv & VuXal iv XeLQL 0eov.

178. Cf. 11:4 (pp. 283f.). In 1 Enoch 22:6f. Enoch asks Raphael whose spirit it is "whose voice goes forth and makes suit to heaven"; Raphael answers: "This is the spirit which went forth from Abel, whom his brother Cain slew; he makes his suit against him till his seed is destroyed from the face of the earth, and annihilated from among the seed of men." So, in TB Sanhedrin 96b, the blood of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada (2 Chron. 24:21; cf. p. 328) cried from the ground for vengeance and would not be appeased until the blood of many Jews was shed by Nebuzaradan, thus atoning for his murder.

179. Gk. p)i rtr, as in 3:12.

180. Gk. El yap exEivot ovx el i4vyov, with ovx instead of pij since emphasis is laid on the fact that they did not escape. For i~iwyov (cf., 2:3, ex4EVi 6µE9a) a few authorities (Kc D K L M 'P etc.) have the uncompounded e4vyov.

181. Gk. fn't yfK xapatrrpaµevor tov Xptlatit ovra, where ern yfc, while it modifies Xprp►atigovra, is thrown back to the beginning of the phrase for emphasis in contrast with the following ax' oupavOv. The manuscript tradition shows variations in the word order.

182. Gk. aeiaw (LXX avoaeia(o, "I will shake together"), for which a few authorities (D K L P etc.) read the present aeiw (probably under the influence of the similar oracle in Hag. 2:21).

183. Hag. 2:6, LXX.

184. Gk. to bi, introducing a quoted phrase, as in Eph. 4:9.

185. Gk.trly thy aaXeuogevwv ltetaOEoty (K * A C 33 and a few authorities); tqv is omitted by p46 D* 1739, whose reading is preferred by G. Zuntz (Text, pp. 117f.). L P and the bulk of later manuscripts read tutu oaaeuogevwv tilt' ger69eaty.

186. Gk. eXwµev (p46c A D etc., with the Syriac Peshitta and Coptic versions, 3 Vg. MSS, and the TR), for which p46' K P 33 69 and the bulk of later MSS, with the Latin and Harclean Syriac versions, read eXoµev, "we have." This variation between the indicative and subjunctive is a common textual phenomenon, the pronunciation of the two forms being practically identical, and a decision must be reached mainly on the ground of context, which here unquestionably demands eXwgev. There is a well-known instance of the same variation in Rom. 5:1.

187. Gk. eXwgEv Xapty (RSV "let us be grateful"; NEB "let us therefore give thanks to God"). This is the regular force of Gk. Xapty eXw (like Lat. gratiam habeo).

188. Either aorist subjunctive katpevowµev with p46 or, more probably, present subjunctive 1`,atpruw t v with A D L 33, the Latin versions, and the TR (the present indicative katpevotwv, in x 'P and the bulk of later MSS, is a further example of the common phenomenon mentioned in n. 186 above).

189. Gk. 6apiotw5, "acceptably," here only in the NT.

190. Gk. µeta evXaPeias xai &ou5, with p46 K A D* and a few other MSS, and the Syriac Peshitta and Armenian versions. Variant readings are µeta e1Xapeiac xai aiboic (M P 1739 etc., with the Latin and, apparently, Harclean Syriac versions) and µera aibovs xai 6Aafeia5 (K L with the majority of later MSS and the TR, whence AV/KJV "with reverence and godly fear"). For evlapela cf. 5:7 (p. 129 with n. 61). This is the only NT instance of b&oc, "fear."

191. Gk. xat yap 6 He6s r`lgwv afp xataval,.iaxov, from Deut. 4:24, LXX: ott xvptos 6 Hens oou nup xatavakiaxov Eotiv ("for the Lord your God is a consuming fire").

192. Gk. napaLteoµaL, not used in the Greek version of the Exodus narrative here referred to. Windisch (HNT, p. 113) thinks our author does represent the Israelites' napaittlar5 as wicked. For napaLteo uu cf. New Docs., III (1978), § 54.

193. Gk. toy xprlµatiovra (cf. the passive uses of the same verb in 8:5; 11:7, where God is the speaker). Moffatt (ICC, ad loc.) argues that the one "that warned them on earth" is Moses, since in the Pentateuchal narrative God is repeatedly said to have spoken to Israel from heaven (Ex. 20:22; Deut. 4:36); he translates toy xprlµatii;ovra as "their instructor" (comparing Acts 7:38, where Moses "received living oracles to give unto us"). But while the Sinaitic revelation was given from heaven, it was an earthly revelation in comparison with the revelation given in the gospel.

194. Heb. zeh Sinai (cf. Judg. 5:5), perhaps a divine title: "He of Sinai." See A. R. Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel (Cardiff, 1955), p. 71 with n. 1: A. Weiser, Die Psalmen, ATD (Gottingen, 21955), p. 326; A. A. Anderson, Psalms, NCBC (London, 1972), p. 487. As a comparison with the parallel in Judg. 5:4f. suggests, the three italicized occurrences of God reflect an earlier Yahweh-a regular feature of the "Elohistic Psalter" (Pss. 42-83).

196. Cf. p. 109, n. 28.

197. Cf. the similar oracle in Hag. 2:21f. In A. T. Hanson's view "the most satisfactory interpretation of Hebrews 12.22-7 is to assume that Christ is thought of as the speaker all through" (Jesus Christ in the Old Testament [London, 1965], p. 80; he discusses the whole context on pp. 75-82).

198. Cf. Rev. 6:12ff.; 16:18ff.; 2 Pet. 3:10; 1 Enoch 60:1; 2 Baruch 32:1; 59:3. There is no need to suppose that this language was suggested to our author by some recent earthquake, like that at Antioch in A.D. 115 (so W. L. Duliere, "Les cherubins du troisieme Temple a Antioche," Zeitschrift fiirReligions- and Geistesgeschichte 13 [1961], pp. 201-19).

199. The term "kingdom" may have been suggested to our author because in the oracle of Hag. 2:21f., a companion to that quoted in v. 26, God promises to "overthrow the throne of kingdoms" and "destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations"-although in both clauses the LXX says "kings" ((aatke(Ov) and not "kingdoms" (PaaLXeuuv). The phrase PaatXeiav nagakaavw is a common one for receiving (or succeeding to) a kingdom (cf. Dan. 5:31, LXX and Theod.); in Dan. 7:18 (LXX and Theod.) it is used of the receiving of the kingdom by the saints of the Most High (and for the sense we may compare Luke 12:32; 22:29, although different verbs are used with Paat)eia there). As in Dan. 7:27 the kingdom which the saints receive is "an everlasting kingdom," so here it is unshakable, aaa4vro5, an adjective used by Philo to describe the laws of Moses (Life of Moses 2.14). Our author thus shows himself conversant with the primitive gospel vocabulary, although for the most part he communicates the saving truth in a new idiom. The present participle napaka4avovre; suggests that the people of Christ have not finally entered into their royal heritage with him, although it is already theirs by promise.

200. "The shaking of these created things (city nenotrlµevwv) means their removal " (NEB). On the force of jLU&0E1Ls here see A. Ehrhardt, The Beginning (Manchester, 1968), pp. 9f.

201. 1:10-12 (pp. 61-63).

202. The world, according to Philo, is indestructible, not per se, but by the will of its Creator. "The world has come to be, and its coming to be is the beginning of its dissolution, even if by the providence of its Maker it is rendered immortal; and there was once a time when it was not" (Decalogue 58). The authenticity of On the Eternity of the World, a treatise ascribed to Philo in which the world appears to be treated as uncreated and inherently indestructible, is suspect.

203. Cf. 13:15f. (pp. 383f.).

204. See p. 362, n. 191. Cf. 10:27, 31 (p. 260, n. 125; p. 265, n. 154).

205. Cf. 1 Cor. 3:13-15.

206. Isa. 4:4; 10:17; cf. also Isa. 30:33.

207. G. A. Smith, The Book of Isaiah, I (London, 21927), pp. 350f.

208. 1. Watts (1674-1748).

1. See pp. 3, 25.

2. Cf. W. Wrede, Das literarische Ratsel des Hebraerbriefs (Gottingen, 1906). Such arguments have been based, inter alia, on the presence of several Pauline words in Heb. 13 which do not appear in Heb. 1-12. C. R. Williams ("A Word-Study of Hebrews XIII,"JBL 30 [1911], pp. 129-36) counts 25 such words, but points out that the chapter also contains several words which are not Pauline, or are used in a different sense from that which Paul gives them. G. W. Buchanan argues that ch. 13 is no part of the homiletical midrash of chs. 1-12: it was composed for a different constituency and by a different author-perhaps "to give a homily the appearance of a letter to allow its admission into the canon" (To the Hebrews, AB [Garden City, N.Y., 1972], p. 268). A. Q. Morton has concluded, on the basis of literary statistics, that "the last chapter of Hebrews is Pauline" (British Weekly, March 18, 1965). Cf. also C. Spicq, "L'authenticite du chapitre xiii de l'Epitre aux Hebreux," Coniectanea Neotestamentica 11 (1948), pp. 226-36.

3. Cf. G. A. Simcox, "Heb. xiii; 2 Tim. iv," ExT 10 (1898-99), pp. 430ff. F. J. Badcock suggested that vv. 23-25 were Paul's postscript to a letter which was substantially the work of Barnabas (The Pauline Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews in their Historical Setting [London, 1939], pp. 199f.); cf. p. 16, n. 63. The Pauline authorship of vv. 22-25 was favored also by G. Estius (1631) and others cited by A. Vanhoye, THE 14 (Berlin, 1985), p. 496 (s.v. "Hebraerbrief '). G. W. Buchanan describes vv. 22-25 as "a `Pauline' postscript"-imitatively rather than authentically Pauline (To the Hebrews, pp. 242, 267).

4. E. D. Jones ("The Authorship of Hebrews xiii,"ExT46 [1934-35], pp. 562-67) argues that this chapter was the end of Paul's "severe letter" to Corinth. He points out that a Corinthian destination and Pauline authorship for Heb. 13:23-25 were defended by T. W. L. Davies (Pauline Readjustments [London, 1927]), who, however, went on to argue that, since this section is integral to the whole epistle, the whole epistle was written by Paul to the Corinthians, and is, in fact, the "previous letter" referred to in 1 Cor. 5:9! A reply to E. D. Jones's argument by R. V. G. Tasker ("The Integrity of the Epistle to the Hebrews," ExT 47 [1935-36], pp. 136-38) is a good defense of the integrity of ch. 13 with the rest of the epistle.

5. Gk. ika06v rives ~evioavte5 &yye?ouc, an excellent classical idiom.

6. Since the verb is left to be understood (cf. the literal Rheims rendering, "Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled"), it may be understood as indicative (so AV/KJV "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled"), in which case we should have a defense of holy matrimony as against an insistence on the superiority of celibacy; or as imperative (as in the RSV, etc.), in which case we have an admonition to safeguard the sanctity of marriage against adulterous encroachments and the like. The latter is the more probable construction, both because of the following clause ("for God will judge fornicators and adulterers") and because the parallel construction at the beginning of v. 5 ((I$t),.apyupo5 6 tp6no5) implies the imperative mood, "Let your way of life be free from the love of money" (the indicative, "Your way of life is free from the love of money," would be inappropriate). For this sense oftpono5 see NewDocs., III (1978), § 101.

7. Gk. apxoi voL cols nagovaty, probably an imperatival use of the participle, common in such lists of ethical admonitions (cf. Colossians-Philemon-Ephesians, NICNT [Grand Rapids, 1984], p. 155, n. 134, on Col. 3:13; and see D. Daube, "Appended Note: Participle and Imperative in I Peter," in E. G. Selwyn, The First Epistle of St. Peter [London, 1946], pp. 46788; N. Turner, MHT, III [Edinburgh, 1963], p. 343, with bibliography in n. 1). For the plural &QXOiWVor, p46 0121b 1739 read the singular &pxoi vos (a reading present also in manuscripts used by Augustine) -probably by mechanical conformity to tp6no5 (the plural is an elegant "sense construction"). See G. Zuntz, The Text of the Epistles (London, 1953), p. 42. E. K. Simpson ("Vettius Valens and the New Testament," EQ 2 [1930], p. 392) points out an example of the phrase in Vettius Valens, Anthologiarum Libri (ed. W. Kroll), 220.25: &pxoirvrat toi5 nagovaty, and suggests that the construction in our present passage, which he regards as anacoluthic, is due to the fact that the expression was proverbial (which is confirmed by its occurrences elsewhere).

8. With the words introducing the quotation, avr65 yap e1Q?1xev ("he himself has said") cf. Acts 20:35, ait6g EInev (Lat. ipse dixit). The quotation is from Josh. 1:5, where there is an echo of Deut. 31:6, 8. The Greek (o$ µrj ae &v6 ovb' ov Rr or iyxata),un(o) does not correspond exactly to any surviving LXX text, but precisely the same form of the quotation appears in Philo (Confusion of Tongues 166). P. Katz, referring also to Philo, On Dreams, 1.3,179-81, concludes that Philo and our author quote a variant LXX reading of Gen. 28:15, expanded from Deut. 31:6, 8 ("OU µ>j or av(A ot1S' o$ µrl or eyxatalinw [Hebr 13,5]: The Biblical Source of the Quotation," Biblica 33 [1952], pp. 523-25; cf. his "The Quotations from Deuteronomy in Hebrews," ZNW 49 [1958], pp. 221-23).

9. Gk. iuarE 9aepof vta5 f aa5 ?YEty p46 'P 1739 omit fog ("this is hardly more than a scribal slip," says Zuntz, Text, p. 42).

10. Ps. 118 [LXX 117]:6. Before "I will not fear" (ov $oprI@rjaoµat) p46 A D with the majority of later MSS and the TR insert "and" (xai); so the AV/KJV, which also subordinates the following clause to "I will not fear." The construction of "What can man do to me?" as an independent question (RSV, NEB, etc.) is much preferable.

11. Cf. Colossians-Philemon Ephesians, NICNT, pp. 137-75.0. Michel, however, sees evidence of topical arrangements in the injunctions of vv. 1-6; he discerns four pairs: (i) brotherly love and hospitality (vv. 1, 2); (ii) care for prisoners and others in trouble (v. 3); (iii) honor of wedlock and avoidance of unchastity (v. 4); (iv) avoidance of covetousness and cultivation of contentment (vv. 5, 6), and concludes that this chapter is no mere postscript but a section which has its distinctive contribution to make to the structure of the complete epistle. Future commentators on Hebrews, he suggests, should pay more attention to the artistic form of the epistle than has generally been paid in the past (Der Brief an die Hebrder, MK [Gottingen, 1949], pp. 328f.). A. Vanhoye ("La question litteraire de Hebreux xiii.1-6," NTS 23 [1976-77], pp. 121-39) similarly treats this paragraph as a well-composed unit; he argues further that it is the middle unit of three in 12:14-13:21, a subdivision placed between two more important ones (12:14-29 and 13:7-21).

12. Gk. ~L)vabe7l4ia, as here.

13. As in the story of Philemon and Baucis (cf. Acts, NICNT, p. 274).

14. According to Resh Laqish (TB Sota 10a) it was to refresh weary travelers that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beer-sheba (Gen. 21:33). Some rabbis elaborated the story by saying that he planted a whole orchard, others that he erected an inn. He called there on the name of "Yahweh, the Everlasting God" ('El `Olam), it was added, in order that all who passed that way might name his name.

15. Cf. Matt. 25:35f.; Rom. 12:13; 1 Pet. 4:9, etc.

18. Gen. 18:1-8. At the wedding of the son of Rabban Gamaliel II, the bridegroom's father poured wine for the guests, some of whom thought it unfitting that they should be waited upon thus by so distinguished a scholar. They remembered, however, that Abraham, a greater man than Gamaliel, had waited upon others. "Ah!" said someone, "but these were ministering angels." "Yes," was the reply, "but Abraham did not know that; to him they looked like Arabs" (TB Qiddushin 32b). Cf. Josephus, Ant. 1.196 ("he thought they were strangers"); Philo, Abraham 107-13.

19. To be understood, no doubt, as the "angel of the LORD" (mal'ak Yahweh), the executive agent or personification of God's relation of grace to his people.

16. Lucian, The Death of Peregrinus 11-13.

17. Didache 11:4-6.

20. Gen. 19:1-22.

21. Judg. 6:11-21.

22. Judg. 13:3-20.

23. Tob. 3:17; 5:4-16.

24. Cf. 10:32-34 (p. 270).

25. Cf. 1 Tim. 5:3-16.

26. The Death of Peregrinus 12. Lucian possibly models his account on the behavior of Christians at various places where Ignatius broke his journey (c. A.D.115) on the way from Syrian Antioch to the amphitheater in Rome (although that was some years before Lucian's.birth).

28. The Epistle to Diognetus (6:7) speaks of Christians as "confined in the world as in a prison" as the soul is imprisoned in the body, but that is hardly the thought here; the prefix ovvin ouv&beµevoL implies some form of sharing in the lot of those who were actually in prison.

30. This "interpretation ...-beautiful as the thought is-is inadmissible" (B. F. Westcott, ad loc.).

31. One of G. W. Buchanan's arguments against ascribing ch. 13 to the author of Hebrews is that, whereas ch. 13 approves of marriage, the homily of chs. 1-12 was addressed (as he believes) to celibates (To the Hebrews, pp. 231, 267).

27. See p. 270 with n. 185.

29. Gk. xaxouxo1 vot, as in 11:37. Cf. also p. 310, n. 179.

32. Gk. µOLxeia.

33. Gk. nopveia (cf. 12:16, pp. 350f.). On the whole question see D. S. Bailey, Sexual Relation in Christian Thought (New York, 1959); O. A. Piper, The Biblical View of Sex and Marriage (New York, 1960).

34. Cf. Acts, NICNT, p. 299 with n. 78.

35. Cf. Col. 3:5f.; 1 Cor. 6:9f.; I Thess. 4:3-6.

36. Cf. 1 Thess. 4:6, "that no man ... wrong (nkeovexreiv) his brother in the matter"referring no doubt to conceiving a sinful desire and committing a trespass against another man's family circle, by illicit relations with one of his womenfolk.

37. Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13. Cf. Dante, Purgatorio 19.73, where the avaricious (including Pope Adrian V) cry out, "My soul cleaves to the dust," adhaesitpauimento anima mea (Ps. 119 [LXX, Vg. 118]:25), like Bunyan's man with the muck-rake. Cf. also Milton (ParadiseLost 1.679-84):

(Milton's reference to heaven's "pavement" may have been suggested by Lat. pauimentum in Ps. 119 [Vg. 118]:25.)

38. Gk a1LX6pyUQOS

39. Gk. lraapyvpia.

40. Gk. avrapxe&a. Cf. Phil. 4:11, "I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content (ain6Px1qS)."

41. Gk. of rlyovµevot. Here the present participle may have imperfect force.

42. The same persons are probably referred to in 2:3, where the gospel "was delivered to us with assurance by those who heard him." "Does not ... the aorist eXaxrlaav ["spoke"] in v. 7 refer to the original proclamation of the word of God to the hearers?" (R. V. G. Tasker, "Integrity," p. 138).

43. So Tasker, loc. cit. ("whose leaders have already suffered martyrdom"); Moffatt, ad loc. ("They had laid down their lives as martyrs"). Moffatt compares "the issue (xxaat5) of their life" with Wisdom 2:17, where the wicked say of the righteous person, whom they propose to persecute and kill, "let us test what will happen at the end of his life (t& iv Ex$aart aitov)."

45. Cf. Rev. 1:17 (also 2:8; 22:13), where the glorified Christ says, "I am the first and the last." A purely verbal near-coincidence appears in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, ed. E. A. W. Budge (London, 1913), I, p. 177, where the deceased who has been assimilated to Osiris says, "I am yesterday, today and tomorrow" ('nk sf dw' bk'). For an exposition of the theme see F. V. Filson, Yesterday: A Study of Hebrews in the Light of Chapter 13, SBT 2.4 (London, 1967).

44. Cf. Isa. 41:4; 44:6.

46. Gk. µi1 napqepeo8e. For naga$epeo9e ("be carried along") K L etc. with the Coptic versions and the TR read XEQL0ipea9E ("be carried about," AV/KJV), perhaps under the influence of Eph. 4:14 ("carried about with every wind of doctrine").

47. Lit. "those who walk [in them]"-Gk. of neQLnatoirvtES (p46 K * A D*), for which XC K L with the majority of MSS and the TR read of nepmat~aavre5.

48. Gk. ei; ov mayeiv oix eXouoty Eiovouav. D* 0121b (and John of Damascus) omit i'=,touoiav. The omission is a scribal slip, but as it happens the remaining words give reasonably good sense: "whereof they cannot eat" (for eXw with infinitive cf. 6:13). See G. Zuntz, Text, p. 140, n. 3.

49. Gk. nepi aµaptia5 (cf. p. 241, n. 42, on 10:6).

50. Gk. et w tr1S nv).r15. For nvlvr1S p46 P read napetoAfig ("camp"), under the influence of v. 13; 436 and the Syriac Peshitta read no? aw , "city" (a reading possibly implied by Tertullian, Reply to the Jews 14: "One of the goats, begirt with scarlet, amid cursing and universal spitting, and tearing and piercing, was ejected by the people into perdition outside the city [extra ciuitatem]").

51. Gk. i o tr1S napeook , from Lev. 16:27, LXX. (Cf. Acts 28:16, v.1.).

52. Gk. ovv, omitted (by haplography, according to Zuntz, Text, p. 192) by p46 K * D* P P and the Peshitta.

53. From Hos. 14:2, LXX; cf. p. 383, n. 90.

54. Gk. bLSaXaIS norxLXars xai i evaLs.

56. Gk. XapLc. In view of the force of this word in 12:28, it may be permissible to include here the idea of gratitude-gratitude in response to the grace of God.

57. Cf. the outline of the Colossian "heresy" in Colossians-Philemon-Ephesians, NICNT, pp. 17-26. T. W. Manson, because of the similarity between that "heresy" and the "strange teachings" implied here, suggested tentatively that this epistle might have been addressed to Christians in the Lycus valley when the heresy was in a less developed state than it had attained by the time Paul wrote Colossians (Studies in the Gospels and Epistles [Manchester, 1962], pp. 242-58).

58. Cf. the evidence that Roman Judaism (the matrix of Roman Christianity) had nonconformist affinities (pp. 8, 141f.).

59. Cf. 1 Tim. 4:3-5.

60. Gk. ci ota, plural in both places. Although these are the only two places where the word occurs in this epistle, it is used in the singular (3&µa) or plural &wwta) repeatedly in the NT in the most general sense of food(s); cf. Matt. 14:15; Mark 7:19; Luke 3:11; 9:13; John 4:34; Rom. 14:15, 20; 1 Cor. 3:2; 6:13; 8:8, 13; 10:3; 1 Tim. 4:3.

55. Col. 2:16, 21-23; cf. Colossians-Philemon-Ephesians, NICNT, pp. 113f., 126-29.

63. Not only the priests, but all who participate in the "tabernacle" worship. The awlvi here is surely the tabernacle in the wilderness, or, by extension, every phase of the earthly sanctuary which that tabernacle constituted in wilderness days. Windisch and Moffatt (ad loc.) take of to axrlvrl )vatp6ovre5 to mean the worshipers under the new order, in which case the axrlvrj must be the heavenly tabernacle: "we have an altar," our author would then say, "but it is not one from which we can derive material food; it is a figurative altar in the heavenly sanctuary which is the locus of our worship." But the reference to the Levitical sin offering which follows immediately makes it almost certain that the axrlvrj is the material tabernacle. J. M. Creed was disposed to follow Windisch and Moffatt here ("Hebrews xiii. 10," ExT 50 [1938-391, pp. 1315); but see J. P. Wilson ("The Interpretation of Hebrews xiii. 10," ibid., pp. 380f.).

64. "Our great sin-offering, consumed in one sense outside the gate, is given to us as our food. The Christian, therefore, who can partake of Christ, offered for his sins, is admitted to a privilege unknown under the old Covenant" (B. F. Westcott, ad loc.). "In reality the only food that matters is the spiritual food of the sacrifice offered upon that altar to which, while they remain in the Mosaic stage, they have no access" (C. F. D. Moule,JTS n.s. 1 [1950], p. 38, in the course of an article "Sanctuary and Sacrifice in the Church of the New Testament," pp. 29-41. See also C. F. D. Moule, "The Sacrifice of the People of God," in Essays in New Testament Interpretation (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 287-97.

65. R. Anderson, The Buddha of Christendom (London, 1899), p. 302. It is unlikely that our author refers to the heavenly mercy-seat-a view proposed by A. S. Peake (CentB, ad loc.) and approved by J. P. Wilson (loc. cit.)-for the mercy seat is never called a 9varaotilpLov. In the spiritual antitype certainly both altar and mercy seat can be used by metonymy for the sacrifice of Christ, but this is not the same as saying that the mercy seat is specifically intended here.

61. So also with the sin offerings of Ex. 29:14; Lev. 4:12; 8:17; 9:11.

62. Cf. Lev. 10:16-20.

66. R. Anderson, Buddha, pp. 301-4; The Hebrews Epistle (London, 1911), pp. 119-25; W. H. Spencer, "Hebrews xiii. 10," ExT 50 (1938-39), p. 284. The latter appeals to A. C. Downer, The Principle of Interpretation of the Epistle of the Hebrews (London, 1928).

67. Cf. C. F. D. Moule, "Sanctuary and Sacrifice," p. 37. In this article Heb. 13:10 is interpreted as part of a Christian apologetic answering the charge that Christians had neither priesthood nor altar, neither sacrifice nor sanctuary.

70. Cf. Col. 2:20-23, with Colossians-Philemon-Ephesians, NICNT, pp. 123-29.

68. Quoted by T. Carlyle, Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, introduction.

69. Irenaeus, Heresies 4.17f.

71. Cf. O. Holtzmann, "Der Hebraerbrief and das Abendmahl," ZNW 10 (1909), pp. 25160; J. Moffatt, ICC, ad loc., for the view that our author is engaging in a polemic against a rising "sacramentarianism" which interpreted the Eucharist as an "eating" of the body of Christ. "When 9uataom lQtov is identified with the Lord's table, it becomes possible to hear ... an early protest against the realistic sacramental view of the Lord's supper which sought to base its efficacy on conceptions of communion popular among the pagan mysteries" (J. Moffatt, Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament [Edinburgh, 31918], pp. 454f.). But it is not until a much later date that we find the Lord's Table spoken of as an altar-once doubtfully in Irenaeus (Heresies 4.18.6), once or twice in Tertullian (On Prayer 19; Exhortation to Chastity 10), and then regularly from Cyprian onward. Cf. Westcott's "Additional Note ... on the History of the Word 9uotaorgQtov," in his Hebrews, pp. 455-63; J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians (London, 61881), p. 265, n. 2.

72. Cf. K. G. Kuhn, "The Lord's Supper and the Communal Meal at Qumran," The Scrolls and the New Testament, ed. K. Stendahl (London, 1958), pp. 65-93; M. Black, The Scrolls and Christian Origins (London, 1961), pp. 102-15.

73. The Thirty-Nine Articles, Article XXVIII ("Of the Lord's Supper").

74. Cf. John 6:48-58, with the interpretative principle in vv. 63f. Apart from the records of the institution, it is noteworthy how infrequently the Eucharist is mentioned in the NT-much less frequently than baptism.

75. Cf. John 19:20, "the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city"-but therefore outside it.

76. Num. 19:3 (cf. pp. 215f. with n. 88).

77. Gk. ixaOsv, "suffered." Cf. for the absolute use of this verb in reference to the death of Christ Luke 22:15; 24:46; Acts 1:3; 17:3; 1 Pet. 2:21; also Heb. 9:26 above.

78. Cf. 10:10, 14, and (especially) 29.

79. Ex. 33:7, LXX. Philo (Giants 53f.) characteristically interprets this to mean the abandonment "of all created things and of the inmost veil and wrapping of mere opinion" so as to come to God with the mind unimpeded; Moses, in other words, "set up his judgment where it could not be deflected," outside the whole array of physical things, and then only began to worship God aright.

80. The bodies of Nadab and Abihu were carried outside the camp after they were burned as a result of offering "unholy fire" (Lev. 10:4f.); the blasphemer was stoned to death outside the camp (Lev. 24:14, 23); Miriam had to spend the seven days of her leprosy "shut up outside the camp" (Num. 12:14f.). The scapegoat (although the precise phrase is not used in connection with it) was taken as far outside the camp as possible, laden with the sins of the people (Lev. 16:20-22; see p. 207).

81. This aspect of the exhortation is well brought out by H. Koester, "Outside the Camp: Hebrews 13:9-14,"HTR 55 (1962), pp. 299-315. He points out, inter alia, that, whereas the man who burned the carcasses of the animals sacrificed on the Day of Atonement was permitted to come back into the camp after the due washing of his body and clothes (Lev. 16:28), the recipients of the epistle are commanded to stay outside the camp.

82. See S. Applebaum, "The Legal Status of the Jewish Communities in the Diaspora," in The Jewish People in the First Century, ed. S. Safrai and M. Stern, I (Assen, 1974), p. 460.

86. Cf. p. 293, n. 85; pp. 356f., nn. 148-51.

83. Cf. 11:26 (p. 312 with n. 188).

84. Cf. W. Manson, The Epistle to the Hebrews (London, 1951), p. 151.

85. J. R. Lowell (1819-91).

87. With avqepwµev 9vaiav atveaews here, cf. Lev. 7:2, LXX (MT, EVV 7:12): eav µev nepi aiveaewg npoa4epp avr>jv, xai npoaoiaer eni tfjS 9vaia5 rfj5 aiveaew5 &provS ex aeµrSa~ewS ... ("If he offers it [the peace offering] for praise, then he shall bring for the sacrifice of praise loaves of fine flour ..."). Our author's argument practically amounts to saying that, for Christians, their sin offering is also their peace offering-something which was impossible under the old order.

88. Cf. 1 Pet. 2:9, where Christians, as "a royal priesthood" (cf. Ex. 19:6), "declare the wonderful deeds" of their Savior God (cf. Isa. 43:21).

89. Ps. 50:12-15 (LXX 49:12-15). Cf. Ps. 141:2 (LXX 140:2) for the sacrificial value of prayer and heart-worship.

90. MT parim ~eparaiu; LXX xapnov XE0,iWV *6v (whence our author derived xapnov Xet? wv here) implies a different division of the Hebrew words, peri mWepatiiu, "fruit from our lips." It is a disputed question which interpretation should be regarded as representing the prophet's meaning; the RSV ("the fruit of our lips") follows the LXX, but MT "bullocks" is appropriate to the sacrificial context.

91. 1QS 9.4f.; see also p. 193 and the reference to 4QFlorilegium 1.6, p. 229, n. 153. Cf. 1QH 1.28: "Thou hast determined the fruit of the lips before ever they were." Cf. M. Mansoor, "Thanksgiving Hymns and Massoretic Text," RQ 3 (1961-62), no. 11, pp. 391f.

92. Cf. Philo, Noah's Planting 126-35 (on the primacy of praise); Special Laws 1.26772 (where he expounds the spiritual significance of the red heifer ceremony); Migration of Abraham 89-93 (where he criticizes the view that the literal observance of ceremonial laws may be abandoned if their spiritual lessons are learned and practiced). Cf. pp. 209f., n. 63.

93. On "the sacrifice of praise" A. Snell says: "If any one wants to find here a reference to our Eucharist, he may be right in doing so" (New and Living Way [London, 1959], p. 161). Contrariwise J. A. Bengel says here in his succinct way: Nil de missa, "This has nothing to do with the Mass" (Gnomon, ad loc.). The sacrifice of praise always accompanies the Eucharist, but is not restricted to it.

94. Gk. evnoiia (here only in the NT; cf. et noLilaaL, Mark 14:7); see New Docs., III (1978), § 38. Cf. Philo, On Flight and Finding 18f., for the sacrificial quality of "the virtues and the modes of action that are in accordance with them" (by way of a remarkable exegesis of Ex. 8:26, "we will sacrifice the abominations of Egypt to the Lord our God").

95. Cf. Hermas, Shepherd, Similitude 1.8-11, where the true wealth which believers are urged to acquire consists of "afflicted souls"-i.e., they should "go to the help of widows and orphans."

98. Gk. $mixw, here only in the NT; in the LXX only in 4 Macc. 6:35.

99. Gk. 6; ?oyov 8no&6oovre5. D* reads w5 Aoyov ano&uoovrat nepi vµwv ("because they will render an account concerning you"). Cf. p. 114, n. 58.

100. Lit. "this would be unprofitable (8XvxLtEAe5) for you." Gk. axvortrXr1S is a classical word, not found elsewhere in the Greek Bible.

96. For this conception of a living house or household cf. Heb. 3:6 (pp. 93-95).

97. Your 1)yovµevor, as in vv. 7, 24.

101. Gk. aypvnvew, "keep watch," has the etymological sense of chasing away sleep.

102. Gk. orev6iovre5, "groaning." Moffatt (ICC, ad loc.) quotes Sir Edward Denny's lines:

104. D and Chrysostom read an intrusive %ai ("also"), as though to say, "Pray for them, and pray for us (me) too."

105. Gk. nes9oµe8a, changed to the singular neLOoµaL ("I am persuaded") in a few minuscules (256, etc.) and to the perfect nenotOaµev in Nc CC D IP et al. For nei0oµar 6TL Cf. Rom. 8:38; 2 Tim. 1:5, 12 (where, however, the perfect ne tELoµm is used in this way); see New Docs., IV (1979), § 15 (where nei0oµM OIL is quoted from P. Oxy. Helsinki 47b).

106. Gk. nepLooom xoc , as in 2:1.

107. That the plural is purely literary (cf. 5:11; 6:9, 11) is suggested by the immediate transition to the singular in v. 19. But see p. 19 with n. 81.

108. Cf. p. 209, n. 62 (on 9:9).

109. D* T 33 etc., with some Latin authorities and the Syriac Peshitta, add "Christ" (a characteristic Western expansion).

110. Gk. iv navri aya&u, to which C, with the majority of later MSS, the Syriac Peshitta, and the TR, adds EeYw (cf. AV/KJV "in every good work"), while A adds eeyw xai loyw (probably under the influence of 2 Thess. 2:17, "in every good work and word").

111. Gk. noui v, to which the unintelligible ain4u is prefixed by K * A C 33 etc., aino by p46 and ain65 by 1912 (cf. d, ipso faciente). Hort argued that ain65 was the original reading, avrcu being a corruption of it; it is much more probable that we have to do with a dittography of the preceding aino6 (in to 9eArlµa aitov, "his will"). Cf. G. Zuntz, Text, p. 62.

112. Gk. iv f iv, attested by p46 X D K 0121b and the majority of MSS, with the Peshitta; A and some other MSS, with the Latin versions and the TR, read iv vµty ("in you").

113. Gk. rig tong atcuvag tdv aiwv ov. p46 D H and some other authorities omit T6 V aiwvwv, and this shorter reading may be original, since the tendency was always to expand such doxologies (cf. Zuntz, Text, pp. 120ff.).

114. A prayer-form characteristic of the Western Church, from Lat. collecta oratio ("a gathered-together prayer")

115. Cf. Rom. 15:33; 16:20; 1 Thess. 5:23.

116. "The Old Testament in Hebrews," in Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation, ed. W. Klassen and G. F. Snyder (New York, 1962), p. 58.

117. For other NT applications of aoL4r V to Jesus cf. Mark 14:27 (quotation of Zech. 13:7); John 10:11, 14, 16 (echoing Ezek. 34, where Yahweh speaks of "my servant David," i.e., the coming Messiah, as the true shepherd of his own people Israel); 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4 ((!pxLnoiinlv). The ideal of the shepherd-king goes back to the beginnings of Greek literature, and appears earlier still in the literature of other Near Eastern peoples. (See F. F. Bruce, This Is That: The New Testament Development of Some Old Testament Themes [Exeter/Grand Rapids, 1968], pp. 100114.) Philo depicts God as the supreme Shepherd (cf. Ps. 23:1), who entrusts his flock, the universe, to the shepherd care of the Logos, his firstborn Son (Agriculture 51; Change of Names 115f.).

118. See pp. 33, 87f.

119. Cf. p. 219, n. 109. The preposition Ev ("by") here is instrumental, used in much the same sense as bta in 9:12 (see pp. 213f.). The choice of ev in this place may be due to the influence of Zech. 9:11 (LXX), Iv a`iµatL btathjxr1S ("by the blood of the covenant").

120. Gk. xaiapri m, "put into a proper condition" or "make complete."

121. Gk. aviXeo8e (imperative), for which D* 'P 33 and a few other authorities read aviXeotlar (infinitive, dependent on nagaxaX6, "I exhort").

122. Gk. yrwihoxere, in form indicative or imperative; the imperative (represented above by "you should know") is required by the sense here.

123. Gk. ill0v ("our") is omitted by K2 D2 K P rY byz and the TR, but even so it is understood (cf. the italicized "our" in the AV/KJV); it is expressed in p46 X* A C D* I al and the early versions.

124. Gk. ?<6yo5 Hapax? rjareu . See p. 25.

125. Gk. bra kaXiwv iniotrLXa spiv, "I have sent you a letter [inroti?<Aw being the verb corresponding to the substantive inroro)rj, "epistle," "letter"] by means of a few (words)." The aorist is probably epistolary.

126. G. A. Simcox, however, distinguishes the "word of exhortation" (chs. 1-12) from the "few words" (13:1-19); seep. 367, n. 3. R. Anderson similarly takes the "few words" to refer to ch. 13, written as a covering letter to accompany the treatise (The Hebrews Epistle, p. 12). But the identity of the "word of exhortation" with the few "words" is implied by the structure of this sentence. "The writer surely means ... that he has refrained from developing his great theme at undue length, as he was writing a `word of exhortation' and not a merely academic treatise" (R. V. G. Tasker, "Integrity," p. 138).

127. The verb is ano?e?.vµ'vov (perfect passive participle of anoiv(o). It is used, e.g., in Acts 13:3 of the action of the Antiochene church in "releasing" Paul and Barnabas for a more extended apostolic ministry. E. D. Jones ("Authorship," p. 566) argues that the meaning here is that Timothy has already set out from the place where the writer is to go to Corinth via Macedonia (in the light of his theory mentioned on p. 368, n. 4); but "it must be confessed that the more obvious meaning of the word is `released', and that the sentence refers to some otherwise unknown imprisonment of Timothy" (R. V. G. Tasker, "Integrity," p. 138). J. D. Legg ("Our Brother Timothy,"EQ 40 [1968], pp. 220-23) has suggested that Timothy was the author of Hebrews, but that since he had been under restraint for a time this reference to his recent release was added by a friend of his, equally well known to the recipients.

128. Various suggestions have been made by commentators in harmony with their general views on the provenience and destination of the epistle. Thus A. Nairne hazards "the guess that both the author and Timothy may have been brought to Italy by the peril of their master S. Paul-that S. Paul has perished in Nero's persecution, that Timothy has been imprisoned, and that the freedom of both Timothy and the author is now assured" (The Epistle of Priesthood [Edinburgh, 1913], p. 432). W. F. Howard similarly suggests that Timothy, having been summoned to Rome by Paul (2 Tim. 4:9-13), was compromised by his association with the apostle and imprisoned, but was now at liberty again. He then goes on to argue that the community addressed must have been one, outside Italy, where Timothy was well known, and where he "would be a useful helper in the struggle to win back the waverers to their Christian loyalty before the fatal die was cast. Ephesus seems the most likely place" ("The Epistle to the Hebrews,"Interpretation 5 [1951], pp. 80-91). Contrariwise, J. A. Robertson thought it most likely that "the letter was written from Ephesus, since Timothy is mentioned as a colleague" (The Hidden Romance of the New Testament [London, 1920], p. 180). But all that we can infer from this reference to an imprisonment of Timothy of which we have no other information is that probably the readers and certainly "the writer stood in some relationship to the Pauline world-mission circle" (W. Manson, The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 169).

129. p46 omits "all" (navruS).

130. For "with you all" (µsra navrwv vpwv) D* reads "with all the saints" (µeta navrwv tmv ayi(ov). "Amen" is absent from p46 X * 133 and the Sahidic and Armenian versions; it is probably a liturgical addition. Various scribal subscriptions appear in later MSS: that in the AV ("Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy"), an obvious inference from vv. 23f., is found in K 460 etc. and the TR; H P et al. have "Written from Italy"; A has "Written from Rome"; 1911 has "Written from Athens."

131. Gk. aanal;ovrar vµa5 of ano %' Ita? ia5, lit. "they from Italy greet you." G. W. Buchanan thinks that "the location may have been fabricated to give the letter the appearance of originality" (To the Hebrews, p. 243)-why, it is difficult to see.

132. Moffatt (ICC, ad loc.) quotes from Oxyrhynchus Papyri, I (London, 1898), 81, 11. 5f., t6 v an' ' Ol upvyxwv in a context where it must mean "the inhabitants of Oxyrhynchus." Cf. also A. Deissmann, "Die griechische Titelatur des Triumvirn Marcus Antonius," Hermes 33 (1898), p. 344; Light from theAncient East, E.T. (London, 1927), pp. 173, 200f. J. A. T. Robinson's comments on the passage (Redating the New Testament [London, 1976], pp. 206f.) are most satisfactory: when the Roman destination is assumed, "a good deal else falls into place."

134. In the NT epistles "grace" (xapr5), whether at the beginning or at the end of a let

133. The Epistle of Priesthood, p. 433.

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