inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Heb. 4:13)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the writer and the readers of this letter).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Hebrews 4:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 4:13:

  • Uma: “There isn’t anything that is hidden in his sight. Everything is plain and clear/exposed to him. It is to him that we must admit/confess our behavior.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There is nothing whatsoever that one can hide from God because all that he created is open/visible in his sight. And in the future all of us (incl.) have to face him confessing/saying-the-truth about all we (incl.) have done.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for God, nobody can hide from Him. He can always see anything that we are doing, and if there is anything we are doing, He is the one to check up on us.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Even whatever creature, it is not able-to-hide-from God. It’s as if they are all naked in his sight, because he knows absolutely-everything about them. And he is the one to-whom-we -answer/will-answer for all that we have done and thought.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There is really nothing that can be hidden from God. All things are clear in his sight, and he is the one to whom we will all answer for everything that we have done.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And now, concerning whatever word is in our thoughts, there is not a word which we can hide from God, thinking that he doesn’t know what our thoughts are. Because there is nothing of our thoughts closed to him, God knows all that we think. And it is God we will submit to for judgment concerning how we have walked.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Hebrews 4:13

This verse is divided into three unequal parts. The first two, beginning There is nothing and everything, balance one another. The subject being discussed is no longer the word of God, as in verse 12, but God himself. It may be more natural in translation to put the positive statement, beginning everything, first. The contrast between these first two parts of the verse is indicated in Greek by a “but” which, like the “and” at the beginning of the verse, is omitted in most modern translations.

In place of the so-called anticipatory expletive There followed by the real subject appearing in the predicate of the clause, is nothing…, most languages employ some such expression as “nothing can be hidden from God,” “nothing exists which people can hide from God,” “… can keep God from seeing,” or “… can keep God from knowing about.”

Nothing is literally “no creature,” that is, nothing which God has made. Good News Translation transfers the idea of “creature” (Revised Standard Version) to the second part.

From God could grammatically be “from it” (that is, “God’s word”), and his eyes could be “its eye,” but the context makes this practically impossible.

Everything in all creation is literally “all things.” Good News Translation keeps the weightier expression until last by expressing the idea of “creature, created thing” (so Revised Standard Version) in the second part instead of in the first.

Exposed and lies open is literally “naked and exposed.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, like King James Version, avoids speaking of God’s eyes, and therefore translates “open to (his) view.” It may be awkward in some languages to speak of everything “exposed and lying open before God’s eyes.” A more natural expression may be “he sees everything in all creation just as it really is.”

The third part of the sentence, beginning And it is to him, may mean (a) “with whom we have to do,” as in King James Version, Revised Standard Version, Phillips; (b) “to whom we must give account,” “with whom we have to reckon” (New English Bible); (c) “of whom we speak” (Zürcher Bibel); or (d) “before whom we speak.” Meaning (c) would be a very weak ending to such an emphatic sentence. Meaning (b) may fit the context best, in which case judges in verse 12 could refer to the final judgment. However, since both present and future aspects of judgment are probably included, the more general rendering of New English Bible is probably best.

It would be possible to render And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves as “And he is the one who will judge us.” But this seems to be inadequate, for the Greek text focuses upon some kind of “reckoning.” The interpretation followed in Good News Translation may be rendered in some languages as “we must explain to God all that we have done,” “we must justify to God what we have done,” or “God is the one to whom we must defend the reasons for what we have done.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .