I thought I would give you a little more time to attempt you own subdivision of the block of text I gave you in the previous Gem. So I decided to do my own survey of some of the standard Bible versions to see how they handled the block of text in Hebrews 8 to 10. I have looked at six well-known Bible Versions and have seen there is remarkable agreement between them as to where to divide the text but no standardisation as to the titles given to the pericope. Looking beyond these six versions at some others which stand out, the percentage of agreement for both division and title declines significantly. Here are my findings.
A Comparison Hebrews 8:1-10:18 Across Six Bible Versions – Divisions and Titles
Hebrews | 8:1-13 | 9:1-10 | 9:11-28 | 10:1-18 |
---|---|---|---|---|
KJV | Superiority of the New Covenant | Temporary Sacrifices By Levites | The Eternal Sacrifice of Christ | Christ’s Once For All Sacrifice |
NASB | A Better Ministry of a New Covenant | The Old and the New | The Eternal Sacrifice of Christ | Christ’s Once For All Sacrifice |
NIV | The High Priest of a New Covenant | Worship in the Earthy Tabernacle | The Blood of Christ | Christ’s Sacrifice Once For All |
NLT | Christ is Our High Priest | Old Rules About Worship | Christ is the Perfect Sacrifice | Christ’s Sacrifice Once For All |
MSG | A New Plan With Israel | A Visible Parable | Pointing to the Realities of Heaven | The Sacrifice of Jesus |
E-Sword | Jesus, High Priest Of a Better Covenant | The Earthly Holy Place | Redemption Through The Blood of Christ | The Sacrifice of Jesus |
These six packages of this section of Hebrews across six different ‘publications’ have standarised the division but have considerable variation between the titles given to the sections, with the exception perhaps of the last segment. However, when I looked further afield I found some very interesting things going on. The divisions of the text varied significantly and I discovered some other interesting approaches.
Jerusalem Bible
8:1-5 | The new priesthood and the new sanctuary |
8:6-13 | Christ is the mediator of a greater Covenant |
9:1-14 | Christ enters the heavenly sanctuary |
9:15-28 | Christ seals the new covenant with his blood |
10:1-10 | CHRIST’S SACRIFICE SUPERIOR TO THE SACRIFICES OF THE MOSAIC LAW The old sacrifices ineffective |
10:11-18 | The efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice |
J B Phillips Translation
8:1-13 | Christ our High Priest in Heaven is High Priest of a new agreement |
9:1-7 | The sanctuary under the old agreement |
9:8-14 | The old arrangements stood as symbols until Christ, the truth came |
9:15-22 | The death of Christ gives him power to administer the new agreement |
9:23-28 | Christ has achieved the real appearance before God for us |
10:1-4 | Sacrifices under the law were typical not final |
10:5-18 | Christ makes the old order obsolete and makes the perfect sacrifice |
Today’s English Version
8:1-13 | Jesus our high priest |
9:1-22 | Earthly and heavenly worship |
9:23-10:18 | Christ’s Sacrifice takes away sins |
I found still more variations across the versions within published Bibles of the same version where both section divisions and titles varied between versions of both the NASB and KJV Bibles. Not only that, I found a curious approach with the Living Bible, which often did not include titles for the pericope but in one Living Bible purchased in 1973, with absolutely no publishing date evident, the titles were placed at the head of each page and varied page by page as follows.
Living Bible
7:11-8:10 | Jesus our sinless priest |
8:10-9:18 | Christ, God’s better way |
9:19-10:16 | “I came to give my life” |
I think you will conclude with me that you are free to divide the sections as you wish and to title them in the way that best sums up the content from your perspective. You may well do us all a service by dividing the text and re-titling the portions in a way which is far more helpful to all of us. If you do that and share it with me, I will ask your permission to pass it on to all of my readers in the following Gem.
On the basis of the above results I feel free to relook at this passage and repackage it in the way I think will best summarise the content. If you look back at Gem 2116, you will see that is what I did with Hebrews 8:13-9:10. I combined 8:13 with the first section of the next chapter [9:1-10] but I did not give it a Title suitable for a pericope of the Bible. Rather I gave it a Gem title. In the next Gem I will include my subdivisions of the text and the titles I chose for them. In the interim you can choose for yourself the divisions you think best sum up this large block and the titles you would give to each section. Have fun! I look forward to see what the brave ones among you come up with. Come on take a risk!
To live without risk is to risk not really living.
Ian
To move forward you have to make waves and risk upsetting somebody.
Ian
Warning: You ride in this car at your own risk. The driver could vanish at any instant. (A sticker we had on the dashboard of our first car when I was first a Christian, which led to many conversations with hitch hikers.)
Ian
It was at Peniel that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. {“Twister” or “Deceiver”} became “Prince with God”. Are you willing to risk it?
Ian
When you wrestle with the text or God you walk away limping; some people have no limp because they haven’t wrestled.
Rob Bell
If your faith doesn’t include risk it’s just religion!
Rick Godwin
If I’m not taking any risks, I don’t need any faith. If I don’t need any faith, then I’m being UNfaithful!
Rick Godwin
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T. S. Eliot