Hebrews 1:6

6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”[a]

Hebrews 1:6 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
English Standard Version (ESV)
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
New Living Translation (NLT)
6 And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said, “Let all of God’s angels worship him.”
The Message Bible (MSG)
6 When he presents his honored Son to the world, he says, "All angels must worship him."
American Standard Version (ASV)
6 And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
6 When God was about to send his firstborn Son into the world, he said, "All of God's angels must worship him."
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
6 When He again brings His firstborn into the world, He says, And all God's angels must worship Him.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
6 God's first and only Son is over all things. When God brings him into the world, he says, "Let all of God's angels worship him." (Deuteronomy 32:43)

Hebrews 1:6 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 1:6

And again, when he bringeth the first begotten into the
world;
&c.] By "the first begotten" is meant Christ. This is a name given him in the Old Testament, and is what the Hebrews were acquainted with, and therefore the apostle uses it; it is in ( Psalms 89:27 ) from whence it seems to be taken here, and which the ancient Jews F21 acknowledge is to be understood of the Messiah; who, as the Son of God, is the only begotten of the Father, and was begotten from eternity, as before declared, and before any creature had a being, and therefore called the firstborn of every creature, ( Colossians 1:15 ) and is sometimes styled the first begotten from the dead; he rose the first in time, and is the first in causality and dignity: and he may be called the firstborn, with respect to the saints, who are of the same nature with him, and are partakers of the divine nature, and are adopted into the family of God, though they are not in the same class of sonship with him; and the bringing of him into the world may refer to his second coming, for this seems agreeable from the natural order of the words, which may be rendered, "when he shall bring again" that is, a second time, and from ( Psalms 97:1-12 ) from whence the following words are cited; and from the glory he shall then have from the angels, who will come with him, and minister to him; and not to his resurrection from the dead, when he was exalted above angels, principalities, and powers; though, as we read the words, they seem to regard his first coming in to this habitable world, at his incarnation and birth, when he was attended with angels, and worshipped by them, according to the order of God the Father, as follows:

he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him;
these words are cited from ( Psalms 97:7 ) where the angels are called Elohim, gods. So Aben Ezra on the place observes, that there are some (meaning their doctors) who say, that "all the gods are the angels"; and Kimchi says, that the words are not imperative, but are in the past tense, instead of the future,

all the angels have worshipped him;
that is, they shall worship him; as they have done, so they will do. According to our version, they are called upon to worship God's firstborn, his only begotten Son, with a religious worship and adoration, even all of them, not one excepted; which shows, that Christ, as the first begotten, is the Lord God, for he only is to be served and worshipped; and that if angels are to worship him, men ought; and that angels are not to be worshipped, and that Christ is preferable to them; and the whole sets forth the excellency and dignity of his person. Philo the Jew F23 often calls the Logos, or Word of God, his first begotten.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Shemot Rabba, sect. 19. fol. 104. 4.
F23 De Agricultura, p. 195. De Confus. Ling. p. 329, 341. Somniis, p. 597.

Hebrews 1:6 In-Context

4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father” ? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ?
6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

Cross References 3

  • 1. John 3:16; S Colossians 1:18
  • 2. Hebrews 10:5
  • 3. Deuteronomy 32:43 (LXX and DSS); Psalms 97:7

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Deut. 32:43 (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint)
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.