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Hebrews 2:1 – Pay Much Closer Attention
“In the first verse there may be an even more vivid picture….The two key words are prosechein and pararrein. We have taken prosechein to mean to pay attention to, which is one of its commonest meanings. Pararrein is a word of many meanings. It is used of something flowing or slipping past; it can be used of a ring that has slipped off the finger; of a particle of food that has slipped down the wrong way; of a topic that has slipped into the conversation; of a point which has escaped someone in the course of an argument of some fact that has slipped out of the mind; of something that has ebbed or leaked away. It is regularly used of something which has carelessly or thoughtlessly been allowed to become lost.”
“But both these words have also a nautical sense. Prosechein can mean to moor a ship; and pararreincan be used of a ship which has been carelessly allowed to slip past a harbour or a haven because the mariner has forgotten to allow for the wind or the current or the tide. So, then, this first verse could be very vividly translated: ‘Therefore, we must the more eagerly anchor our lives to the things that we have been taught lest the ship of life drift past the harbour and be wrecked.’ It is a vivid picture of a ship drifting to destruction because the pilot sleeps.” (Barclay, Hebrews, p.21)
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