You’ll see roughly 60 English translations of Hebrews 9:27 below. I have listed them below for your examination. Here are our questions, with my brief answers:
Q: Four of these translations specify “only once” or “but once”, but does the Greek have the equivalent of a “but” or an “only”? in this verse?
A: No. Here’s BlueLetterBible’s interlinear. Note that you won’t find any “but” or “only” here. You can also double check the verse at Mounce’s Reverse Interlinear here.
Q: Isn’t this verse, even without the “only” or “but”, a rule that humans only die one time, and that a judgment follows that death?
A: Logically speaking, that’s going too far. The rule that says “It is appointed for each student to take PE once before graduation” is not the same as the rule that says, “No student shall take PE more than once.” Similarly, the rule, “It is appointed for each incumbent to be audited once during his or her term of office” is not the same as the rule, “It is appointed that no incumbent shall be audited more than once during his or her term in office.”
Many have supposed Hebrews 9:27 to be giving a rule that includes this part: “No human shall die more than once.” If that were a rule, it would have consequential implications for certain eschatological questions, such as “What happened to the boy that Elijah raised from the dead ― was he supposed to go on living until the Second Coming of Jesus?” But if Hebrews 9:27 contains no such rule, then there’s no requirement (as far as I have read in scripture) that someone could not die twice. Is this me telling you that this boy died twice? No! We are not told what did happen to him afterward. Nor are we told what must or should have happened to him afterward, except that he was to face judgment. And we can wonder at whether he faced judgment immediately after he died. Did Elijah raise him back to life so fast that there was no time for the boy’s soul to face God for judgment? And if that had happened, would that break the rule about the judgment part? Or would the rule still be true if the judgment had been delayed until, say, after he died again a second time ― or until the Second Coming? I suppose it would still be true, as long as he was (eventually) judged.
I must admit before that I was biased early on in my church life by hearing this verse discussed as if the Greek said “only once” or “but once”. This programmed me to think that I had an argument when it says “…once to die”, that I really had a point in saying, “Aha! It says once to die, and not more than that.” But I can see now that the verse didn’t make it its job to point out every detail about how death works. In other words, it says that the “once” is mandatory, but it neither implies nor demands that it could not happen more than once. Clearly, someone (such as myself), could read that into the verse, but that would be Jack’s idea, and not the writer’s idea, for the driver makes no such statement, and the context doesn’t demand such an extremely strict reading, either. I could be hard-headed about it, of course ― and many do ― but there’s no responsible way to keep insisting that more than once is disallowed.
A Preterist might have an easy time with Lazarus, and reason simply that Lazarus would have remained alive until Jesus came back to get him in 70AD. And I could not rule that out. But with the widow’s son, raised back to life by Elijah in 900 BC, roughly, would be quite old by the time of Jesus’ Second Coming, whether that happened in 70AD, as the Preterist would think, or whether it hasn’t happened yet to this day, as a Futurist would believe.
I have done much writing on the difficult mass resurrection of Matthew 27:51-53, and in many places, I have argued Hebrews 9:27 as an “only once” rule. I regret this, and will be careful to correct those arguments, wherever I can find them in print.
Here are the English verses.
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KJ21
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment,
ASV
And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;
AMP
And just as it is appointed and destined for all men to die once and after this [comes certain] judgment,
AMPC
And just as it is appointed for [all] men once to die, and after that the [certain] judgment,
BRG
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
CSB
And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—
CEB
People are destined to die once and then face judgment.
CJB
Just as human beings have to die once, but after this comes judgment,
CEV
We die only once, and then we are judged.
DARBY
And forasmuch as it is the portion of men once to die, and after this judgment;
DLNT
And just as it is destined for people to die once and after this comes the judgment,
DRA
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment:
ERV
Everyone must die once. Then they are judged.
EASY
Every person must die once. After death, God will judge each person.
EHV
And, just as it is appointed for people to die only once and after this comes the judgment,
ESV
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
ESVUK
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement,
EXB
Just as ·everyone [L people] ·must [is/are destined/appointed to] die once and ·then be judged [T after this the judgment],
GNV
And as it is appointed unto men that they shall once die, and after that cometh the judgment:
GW
People die once, and after that they are judged.
GNT
Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.
HCSB
And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—
ICB
Everyone must die once. After a person dies, he is judged.
ISV
Indeed, just as people are destined to die once and after that to be judged,
JUB
And as it is appointed unto men to die once, and after this the judgment;
KJV
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
AKJV
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
LSB
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
LEB
And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this, judgment,
TLB
And just as it is destined that men die only once, and after that comes judgment,
MSG
Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.
MEV
As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this comes the judgment,
MOUNCE
And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that to experience judgment,
NOG
People die once, and after that they are judged.
NABRE
Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment,
NASB
And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment,
NASB1995
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
NCB
And just as human beings are destined to die but once, and after that to face judgment,
NCV
Just as everyone must die once and then be judged,
NET
And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment,
NIRV
People have to die once. After that, God will judge them.
NIV
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
NIVUK
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
NKJV
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
NLV
It is in the plan that all men die once. After that, they will stand before God and be judged.
NLT
And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
NMB
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and then comes the judgment,
NRSVA
And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgement,
NRSVACE
And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgement,
NRSVCE
And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment,
NRSVUE
And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment,
NTFE
Furthermore, just as it is laid down that humans have to die once, and after that comes judgment,
OJB
And in as much as it is appointed for men to die once and after this HaMishpat [Yom HaDin],
RGT
And as much as it has been appointed to man that he shall die once (and after that comes the Judgment),
RSV
And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment,
RSVCE
And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment,
TLV
And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this judgment,
VOICE
Just as mortals are appointed to die once and then to experience a judgment,
WEB
Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
WE
People must die, and after that they will be judged.
WYC
And as it is ordained to men, once to die, but after this is the doom,
YLT
and as it is laid up to men once to die, and after this — judgment,
