^5:1For every high priest is taken from among the people¹ and appointed² to represent them before God,³ to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. ^5:2He is able to deal compassionately with those who are ignorant and erring, since he also is subject to weakness, ^5:3and for this reason he is obligated to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. ^5:4And no one assumes this honor⁴ on his own initiative,⁵ but only when called to it by God,⁶ as in fact Aaron was. ^5:5So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God,⁷ who said to him, “You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,”⁸^5:6as also in another place God⁹ says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”¹⁰^5:7During his earthly life¹¹ Christ¹² offered¹³ both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion. ^5:8Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered.¹⁴^5:9And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, ^5:10and he was designated¹⁵ by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.¹⁶

The Need to Move on to Maturity

^5:11On this topic we have much to say¹⁷ and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish¹⁸ in hearing. ^5:12For though you should in fact be teachers by this time,¹⁹ you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances.²⁰ You have gone back to needing²¹ milk, not²² solid food. ^5:13For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. ^5:14But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

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Footnotes

1 Grk “from among men,” but since the point in context is shared humanity (rather than shared maleness), the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anthrōpōn) has been translated “people.”
2 Grk “who is taken from among people is appointed.”
3 Grk “appointed on behalf of people in reference to things relating to God.”
4 Honor refers here to the honor of the high priesthood.
5 Grk “by himself, on his own.”
6 Grk “being called by God.”
7 Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 Grk “I have begotten you”; see Heb 1:5. A quotation from Ps 2:7.
9 Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 A quotation from Ps 110:4.
11 Grk “in the days of his flesh.”
12 Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 Grk “who … having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5–6.
14 There is a wordplay in the Greek text between the verbs “learned” (ἔμαθεν, emathen) and “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epathen).
15 Grk “having been designated,” continuing the thought of Heb 5:9.
16 The phrase in the order of Melchizedek picks up the quotation from Ps 110:4 in Heb 5:6.
17 Grk “concerning which the message for us is great.”
18 Or “dull.”
19 Grk “because of the time.”
20 Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”
21 Grk “you have come to have a need for.”
22 Most texts, including some early and important ones (א2 A B* D Ψ 0122 0278 1881 𝔐 sy Cl), have καί (kai, “and”) immediately preceding οὐ (ou, “not”), but other equally significant witnesses (𝔓46 א* B2 C 33 81 1739 lat Or Did) lack the conjunction. As it was a natural tendency for scribes to add a coordinating conjunction, the καί appears to be a motivated reading. On balance, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. has καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.