This detailed Bible research infographic examines Hebrews 1:10 and translations that introduce the words “to the Son.” It compares the Greek wording of Hebrews 1:10 with the NLT and Weymouth translations and traces the quotation back to Psalm 102:25–27, where the prayer is addressed to Yahweh. It also considers the surrounding argument of Hebrews 1 and asks how the author applies this Old Testament passage within a chapter concerning the Son.
QUICK FACTS: HEBREWS 1:10
DID GOD REALLY SAY TO THE SON: “IN THE BEGINNING, LORD, YOU LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH”?
Hebrews 1:10 is often presented as powerful evidence that Jesus created the heavens and the earth.
Some translations make that interpretation especially explicit.
The New Living Translation introduces Hebrews 1:10 with:
“He also says to the Son…”
and then continues:
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.”
The Weymouth New Testament is even more explicit in its introductory wording:
“It is also of His Son that God says…”
If we read these translations without examining the Greek, it certainly appears that God is directly telling Jesus:
“YOU CREATED THE EARTH AND THE HEAVENS.”
But there is an extremely important fact readers need to know:
THE WORD “SON” DOES NOT APPEAR IN HEBREWS 1:10.
Neither does:
“JESUS.”
So where did “to the Son” come from?
Let's investigate.
WHAT DOES HEBREWS 1:10 ACTUALLY SAY?
A more literal rendering begins:
“And: ‘You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are works of Your hands.’”
The Greek begins:
καί· Σὺ κατ’ ἀρχάς, Κύριε…
Meaning:
καί — and
σύ — you
κατ’ ἀρχάς — in the beginning
Κύριε — Lord
There is no:
Ἰησοῦς — JESUS
and there is no:
υἱός — SON
in Hebrews 1:10.
Therefore, translations that introduce the verse with:
“HE ALSO SAYS TO THE SON”
are making the connection explicit as an interpretive addition based on how they understand the surrounding argument in Hebrews 1.
That distinction is important.
BUT WE MUST ALSO BE CAREFUL
There is another side to this that we should not hide.
Although the Greek of verse 10 itself does not contain the words “to the Son,” Hebrews 1 is comparing the Son with the angels, and verses 8–9 explicitly begin:
“But unto the Son…”
Then verse 10 continues:
“AND…”
So Trinitarian interpreters argue that the quotation beginning in verse 10 continues God's address concerning the Son.
That interpretation cannot simply be dismissed by pointing out that the word “Son” is absent from verse 10.
The real question is deeper:
WHO IS BEING ADDRESSED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGE THAT HEBREWS 1:10 QUOTES?
And this is where Psalm 102 becomes extremely important.
HEBREWS 1:10 IS A QUOTATION FROM PSALM 102
Hebrews 1:10–12 draws from Psalm 102:25–27.
Psalm 102:25 says:
“Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.”
Who is the “You” in the original Psalm?
We don't have to guess.
Look at the heading and opening prayer:
PSALM 102 — A PRAYER TO YAHWEH
The Psalm begins:
“Yahweh, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before You.”
The person praying is addressing:
YAHWEH.
Continue through the Psalm and the identity remains explicit.
Psalm 102:12 addresses:
“You, Yahweh…”
Later:
“So the nations will fear the name of Yahweh…”
And:
“For Yahweh has built up Zion…”
Therefore, in its original Old Testament context, Psalm 102 is unmistakably a prayer addressed to:
YAHWEH.
WHO CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH IN PSALM 102?
The Psalm eventually declares:
“Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.”
The person addressed throughout the prayer is:
YAHWEH.
This agrees perfectly with another extremely explicit statement in Isaiah:
“Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: ‘I am Yahweh, who makes all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, spreading out the earth—who was with Me?’”
— Isaiah 44:24
Notice the force of the statement:
YAHWEH MADE ALL THINGS.
HE STRETCHED OUT THE HEAVENS BY HIMSELF.
That creates an important interpretive question if Hebrews 1:10 is understood as directly identifying Jesus as the creator described in Psalm 102.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HEBREWS 1?
Hebrews 1 is not simply a collection of isolated statements.
The author is building an argument concerning God's Son.
Hebrews begins:
“God, having spoken long ago to our fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…”
— Hebrews 1:1–2, BLB
Notice immediately:
GOD
and:
HIS SON.
The Son is God's appointed heir:
“…whom He appointed heir of all things…”
God is the one appointing.
Jesus is the Son whom God appoints.
The chapter then uses a series of Old Testament quotations to establish the Son's superiority over the angels.
Therefore, we need to distinguish two questions:
1. Who was Psalm 102 originally addressing?
The answer is unquestionably:
YAHWEH.
2. How is the author of Hebrews applying Psalm 102:25–27 within his argument about the Son?
That is the disputed interpretive question.
And that is the question that deserves serious investigation.
THE NLT GOES BEYOND THE WORDING OF VERSE 10
This is why the NLT should be used carefully here.
It reads:
“HE ALSO SAYS TO THE SON…”
But those words are not literally present in Hebrews 1:10.
The Greek has simply:
“AND…”
followed by:
“YOU, LORD…”
The NLT translators have therefore made their interpretation of the connection explicit in the English text.
That does not prove their interpretation is necessarily wrong.
But readers should know:
PAUL—OR MORE PRECISELY, THE AUTHOR OF HEBREWS—DID NOT WRITE THE WORDS “TO THE SON” IN VERSE 10.
And another correction is important: the author of Hebrews never identifies himself in the book, so we should not state as a fact that Paul wrote Hebrews.
DOES “LORD” AUTOMATICALLY MEAN JESUS?
No.
The Greek word:
Κύριε — KYRIE — LORD
does not by itself identify Jesus.
Kyrios is used in different ways depending upon context.
More importantly, Hebrews 1:10 is quoting a Greek Old Testament passage where κύριος (Lord) represents the God addressed in Psalm 102:
YAHWEH.
Therefore, simply seeing:
“LORD”
in Hebrews 1:10 does not, by itself, prove that the original Psalm was speaking about Jesus.
The original context must be considered.
BUT WHY WOULD HEBREWS APPLY A YAHWEH TEXT IN A PASSAGE ABOUT THE SON?
This is the strongest question raised by the traditional interpretation, and it deserves a serious answer rather than being ignored.
Trinitarian scholars argue that the author deliberately applies Psalm 102's language about Yahweh to the Son, thereby placing the Son within the identity and works of Israel's God.
That is a substantial argument.
A non-Trinitarian interpretation must therefore explain why a Yahweh text appears at this point in Hebrews 1 without simply saying:
“THE WORD SON ISN'T IN VERSE 10, CASE CLOSED.”
It isn't case closed.
The grammar, quotation structure, Septuagint wording and argument of Hebrews 1 all need to be examined.
That makes Hebrews 1:10 a far more interesting passage than some popular arguments on either side acknowledge.
WHAT CAN WE ESTABLISH WITH CERTAINTY?
There are several facts that do not depend upon our theological position.
FACT 1
Hebrews 1:10 does not literally contain the name “Jesus.”
FACT 2
Hebrews 1:10 does not literally contain the word “Son.”
FACT 3
The NLT's:
“HE ALSO SAYS TO THE SON”
is therefore an interpretive expansion.
FACT 4
Hebrews 1:10–12 quotes Psalm 102:25–27.
FACT 5
Psalm 102 explicitly addresses:
YAHWEH.
FACT 6
Psalm 102 attributes the laying of the earth's foundation and the heavens to Yahweh.
FACT 7
The difficult question is therefore not merely what one English translation says.
It is:
WHY DOES HEBREWS USE THIS YAHWEH PASSAGE IN ITS ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE SON?
That is the real textual and contextual question.
WE SHOULD NOT ALTER THE QUESTION BEFORE ANSWERING IT
If a Bible prints:
“He also says to the Son…”
many readers will naturally assume those words are directly present in the Greek manuscript.
They aren't.
That interpretation may ultimately be defended from the surrounding context, but it should first be identified as an interpretation.
The more literal wording allows readers to see the actual textual problem:
“And: ‘You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth…’”
Then we can go back to Psalm 102 and ask:
WHO WAS ORIGINALLY BEING ADDRESSED?
The answer is clear:
YAHWEH.
Then we can ask the second question:
HOW IS HEBREWS USING THAT PASSAGE IN RELATION TO THE SON?
That is where the real debate begins.
FINAL CONCLUSION
Does Hebrews 1:10 literally say:
“GOD SAYS TO THE SON, ‘YOU CREATED THE EARTH’”?
NO — NOT IN THOSE WORDS.
The Greek text of verse 10 does not contain:
“JESUS”
or:
“THE SON.”
The words “He also says to the Son” in translations such as the NLT are an interpretive addition intended to make explicit how those translators understand the connection with the preceding verses.
Hebrews 1:10 actually begins:
“AND: YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING…”
And the words that follow come from Psalm 102, where the person being addressed is explicitly:
YAHWEH.
But we should not overstate the evidence in the opposite direction either.
Because Hebrews 1 is unquestionably discussing the Son, the serious question remains why the author places this quotation here and whether he intends to apply Psalm 102's language directly to the Son.
So rather than allowing an English translation to answer the question for us:
CHECK THE GREEK.
READ PSALM 102 IN FULL.
EXAMINE THE CONTEXT OF HEBREWS 1.
AND THEN DECIDE WHAT THE AUTHOR IS ACTUALLY TEACHING.
That is the Berean approach—and it produces a much stronger investigation than simply beginning with the words an English translator has added.
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com
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