For ye had compassion of me in my bonds. — Rather (according to the true reading of the Greek), for ye had sympathy with them that were in bonds (comp. Hebrews 13:3, “Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them”). The change of reading is very important in connection] with the question of authorship. (See the Introduction.)
And took joyfully. — Better, and accepted with joy the spoiling of your possessions. In the spirit of Matthew 5:12 (Acts 5:41; 2 Corinthians 12:10), they accepted persecution not with “patience and long suffering” only, but “with joy” (Colossians 1:11). The rendering “possessions” is necessary because a similar word (“substance” in the Authorised version) will immediately occur. In the last clause two remarkable changes in the Greek text are made necessary by the testimony of our best authorities. The words “in heaven” must certainly be removed; they are omitted in the oldest MSS., and are evidently an explanatory comment which has found its way into the text. For the reading, “in yourselves,” there is hardly any evidence whatever. The MSS. are divided between two readings, “yourselves” and “for yourselves;” the former having also the support of the Latin and Coptic versions. There is little doubt that we must read “yourselves;” and the most probable translation will now be, perceiving that ye have your own selves for a better possession and one that abideth. They had been taught the meaning of the words spoken by Jesus of the man who gains the world and loses himself (Luke 9:25), and of those who win their souls by their endurance (Luke 21:19); so in Hebrews 10:39 the writer speaks of “the gaining of the soul.” Thus trained, they could accept with joy the loss of possessions for the sake of Christ, perceiving that in Him they had received themselves as a possession, a better and a lasting possession. (It would be possible to render the clause, “knowing that ye yourselves have a better possession,” &c.; but the parallelism of Hebrews 10:39 renders it almost certain that the former view of the words is correct.)