Translation and Commentary on Hebrews 1:6-7
Translation
6 And again when he brought the first born into the world, [a] he said:
“And let all God’s angels prostrate themselves before him.” [b]
7 And unto the angels he said:
“He is the one who made his angels spirits
and his liturgical servants [c] a flame of fire. [d]
Commentary
[a] οικουμενην the inhabited earth, the world (BAGD, 561).
[b] Paraphrased from Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX, καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ θεοῦ. And let all God’s sons prostrate themselves before him (author’s translation). υἱοὶ refers conceptually in this context to angels. The NA27, Textus Receptus 1550, and the Byzantine Text all reflect this paraphrastic explanation of υἱοὶ.
[c] λειτουργοὺς (λειτουργός) in this literature, λειτουργός is always used with sacral connotations (BAGD, 471). Hebrews 8:2 in speaking of Jesus’ high priestly office describes him as τῶν ἁγίων λειτουργὸς a minister of holy things/places (ESV) or as the KJV and NRSV put it a minister of the sanctuary.
[d] πυρὸς φλόγα is another parallelism conflating two aspects (flame and fire) into one idea (flame of fire, fiery flame). It is a parallelism that is not merely the preference of the writer of Hebrews but that looks back to significant events in Redemptive History; namely, the burning bush in which the angel of the Lord spoke to Moses. αὐτῷ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐν φλογὶ πυρὸς ἐκ τοῦ βάτου (Exodus 3:2 LXX).
