Hebrews 2 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The first warning: do not drift away 2:1–4

v. 1 — the inference from the Son's supremacy: closer attention

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to the things we have heard,independent — διὰ τοῦτο — the pastoral conclusion drawn from ch. 1

lest we drift away.purpose — μήποτε + subjunctive — the feared outcome; a nautical image, slipping off course

vv. 2–4 — the a fortiori: if the angels' word was binding, how shall we escape?

For if the message spoken through angels proved binding,conditional — protasis — the lesser case: the angel-mediated law held good

and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense,conditional — protasis continued — inexorable sanctions, μισθαποδοσία a Hebrews coinage

how shall we escapeindependent — apodosis — the a fortiori sting; a rhetorical question expecting 'we shall not'

if we neglect so great a salvation?participial — conditional participle — neglect, the antithesis of paying attention (v. 1)

which — having first begun to be spoken through the Lord —relative — the pedigree opens: qualitative ἥτις; the Lord himself the first herald, verb withheld

was confirmed to us by those who heard,relative — the relative's verb — apostolic confirmation; βεβαιόω echoes βέβαιος (v. 2)

God adding his co-testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his will.participial — genitive absolute — the divine countersignature on the human witness

Jesus crowned with glory through suffering 2:5–9

v. 5 — not to angels: the coming world

For it was not to angels that he subjected the coming world,independent — the argument turns from angels to humanity — Οὐ fronted, emphatic

of which we are speaking.relative — authorial aside — this is the homily's present subject

vv. 6–8a — Psalm 8: man lowered, crowned, all things under his feet

But someone has testified somewhere, saying:independent — the deliberately vague citation formula — God the true speaker of Scripture

'What is man,content — Ps 8:4 (LXX 8:5) — the marvel at frail humanity

that you are mindful of him,content — consecutive ὅτι — the wonder of God's covenantal remembering

or the son of man,content — Ps 8:4 — the parallel half-line, the verb carried over

that you care for him?content — consecutive ὅτι — gracious visitation, God stooping to mortals

You made him for a little while lower than the angels;content — Ps 8:5 — the lowering; βραχύ τι heard temporally, as v. 9 will exploit

you crowned him with glory and honor,content — Ps 8:5 — the coronation; the shorter text, without Ps 8:7a LXX

you put all things in subjection under his feet.'content — Ps 8:6 — total dominion; the citation closes on 'all'

vv. 8b–9 — not yet seen in general — but we do see Jesus

For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing unsubjected to him.independent — the exposition mines the word 'all' — no exception in principle

But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him.independent — the honest 'not yet' — the dominion real but not visibly consummated

But we do see Jesus, the one made for a little while lower than the angels,independent — the hinge — βλέπομεν answers ὁρῶμεν; the human name Ἰησοῦν delayed to the climax

crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death,participial — predicate participle — the crowning grounded in the passion (causal διά + acc.)

so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.purpose — ὅπως — the goal of the whole descent-and-crowning; χάριτι θεοῦ read, against the variant χωρὶς θεοῦ

The pioneer perfected through suffering 2:10–13

v. 10 — it was fitting: the pioneer perfected through sufferings

For it was fitting for him,independent — impersonal ἔπρεπεν — the cross congruous with God's character, not arbitrary

for whom all things and through whom all things exist,relative — verbless relative pair — God the goal (διά + acc.) and origin (διά + gen.) of all

in bringing many sons to glory,participial — accusative participle agreeing with the implied subject of τελειῶσαι — God leading many sons; ἀγαγόντα read of God

to perfect the pioneer of their salvation through sufferings.content — the complement of ἔπρεπεν — ἀρχηγός the trailblazer; τελειόω as vocational completion, not moral repair

vv. 11–13 — one origin, so 'brothers': three testimonies

For both the sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one;cause — verbless ground — ἐξ ἑνός: one origin in God, the basis of the kinship

for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers,independent — connective relative δι' ἣν αἰτίαν — the litotes: he gladly owns them (cf. 11:16)

saying:participial — the quotation formula — the Son himself voices the psalm

'I will proclaim your name to my brothers;content — Ps 22:22 (LXX 21:23) — 'brothers' in the Messiah's own mouth

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.'content — Ps 22:22 — the exalted one worships among his own, one of them

And again: 'I will put my trust in him.'content — Isa 8:17 — the Messiah shares his brothers' posture of settled trust

And again: 'Here am I and the childrencontent — Isa 8:18 — solidarity completed: he stands with the children

whom God has given me.'relative — the children as the Father's gift to the Son

He shared flesh and blood: the merciful high priest 2:14–18

vv. 14–15 — flesh and blood taken: death's lord disarmed, the slaves freed

Since, then, the children have shared in blood and flesh,cause — forward-leaning ἐπεί ground — 'the children' picked up verbatim from the citation; perfect κεκοινώνηκεν, their standing condition

he himself likewise partook of the same,independent — the incarnation — once-for-all aorist μετέσχεν against the children's settled perfect

so that through death he might render powerless the one holding the power of death,purpose — the paradox — by his own dying he disempowers death's lord (καταργέω: nullify, not annihilate)

that is, the devil,phrase modifier — appositional gloss — the accuser named

and might set these free,purpose — the coordinate, manward goal — ἀπαλλάσσω, a legal manumission term

all who through fear of death were subject to slavery for the whole of life.relative — ὅσοι — comprehensive; the dread of death itself the enslaving chain

vv. 16–18 — Abraham's seed grasped: the merciful and faithful high priest

For surely it is not angels that he takes hold of to help,cause — why flesh and not angelic nature — δήπου appeals to what the readers grant

but the seed of Abraham he takes hold of to help.cause — ἐπιλαμβάνεται as the rescuing grasp (Isa 41:8–9 LXX) — not 'assumes the nature of'

Therefore he was obligated to be made like his brothers in every respect,independent — ὅθεν — the necessary consequence: total likeness, sin apart (4:15)

so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God,purpose — ἀρχιερεύς — the letter's master-title sounded for the first time

to make propitiation for the sins of the people.purpose — εἰς τό + infinitive — the priest's atoning work, sins as its object

For in that he himself has suffered when tempted,cause — forward-leaning ground — ἐν ᾧ taken causally; the perfect πέπονθεν, an abiding qualification

he is able to help those who are being tempted.independent — the closing comfort — βοηθέω, running at a cry (cf. 4:16)

Analysis. Hebrews 2 falls into two great gestures — a warning and an argument — and the layout shows both hanging from very few finite verbs. In vv. 1–4 the first warning is a single a-fortiori period: the paired εἰ γὰρ protases lean forward, unanchored, on the flush-left question πῶς ἡμεῖς ἐκφευξόμεθα, and the neglected salvation's pedigree then descends step by step — begun in the Lord's own speaking, confirmed by the hearers, God co-attesting in a genitive absolute of signs, wonders, powers, and Spirit-distributions. In vv. 5–9 one participle of citation (λέγων) carries the whole of Ps 8:4–6 as a suspended column, and the chapter's hinge is the βλέπομεν that answers οὔπω ὁρῶμεν: what we do not yet see in general we do see in Jesus, whose crowning hangs on ἐστεφανωμένον 'because of the suffering of death,' and whose purpose clause (ὅπως … γεύσηται θανάτου) reaches down to 'death for everyone.' Verses 10–13 hang from the impersonal Ἔπρεπεν — the pioneer perfected through sufferings — with the three brotherhood citations (Ps 22:22; Isa 8:17, 18) strung as a catena under a single λέγων. Verses 14–18 are the incarnation period: the ἐπεὶ οὖν ground leans forward on μετέσχεν, from which the double ἵνα descends (καταργήσῃ the death-holding devil, ἀπαλλάξῃ the fear-enslaved), and the chapter lands on the first sounding of ἀρχιερεύς with its εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι. Cruxes the layout takes a side on: at v. 9 χάριτι θεοῦ ('by the grace of God') is read with the chapter data against the minority variant χωρὶς θεοῦ ('apart from God'), and βραχύ τι is heard temporally ('for a little while'); at v. 7 the shorter text is followed (some witnesses add 'and set him over the works of your hands' from Ps 8:7 LXX); ἐξ ἑνός (v. 11) is taken of one common origin in God, the ground of the kinship; ἐπιλαμβάνεται (v. 16) is rendered 'takes hold of to help' (the rescuing grasp of Isa 41:8–9 LXX), not the patristic 'assumes the nature of'; ἀγαγόντα (v. 10) is read of God, the implied subject of τελειῶσαι; and ἐν ᾧ (v. 18) is taken causally, 'in that he himself has suffered.' The forward-leaning ἐπεί (v. 14) and ἐν ᾧ (v. 18) grounds are laid out like protases — above the clause they support, without anchors.