Hebrews 12
1 For that reason, since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of people who gave evidence of their trust in God, let's get rid of everything that holds us back, the seductive sins that trip us up, and let's keep on running the race placed before us.
Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 We should keep on looking to Jesus, the one who begins and completes our trust in God. Because of the joy ahead of him Jesus endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God's throne.
looking to Jesus, the founder and completer of the faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Think about Jesus who endured such hostility from sinful people so you don't grow tired and become discouraged.
For consider him who has endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you may not become tired and give up.
4 Your resistance so far hasn't cost you blood as you fight against sin.
You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your struggle against sin;
5 Have you forgotten God's appeal to you when he reasons with you as his children? He says, “My child, don't treat the Lord's discipline lightly, and don't give up when he corrects you either.
and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with sons, "My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart when you are corrected by him.
6 The Lord disciplines everyone he loves, and he punishes everyone he welcomes as his child.”
For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and punishes every son he accepts."
7 Be patient as you experience God's discipline because he is treating you as his children. What child doesn't experience a father's discipline?
If you are enduring discipline, God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 If you are not disciplined, (which everyone has experienced), then you are illegitimate and not true children.
But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not sons.
9 For if we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we even more be subject to the discipline of our spiritual Father which leads to life?
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we paid them respect. Should we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 They disciplined us for a short while as they thought appropriate, but God does so for our benefit in order that we can share his holy character.
For they indeed, for a few days, disciplined us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
11 When it happens, all discipline seems painful and not something to be happy about. But later on it produces peace in those who have been trained in this way so that they do what is good and right.
All discipline seems for the moment painful, not joyful; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
12 So strengthen your feeble hands, and your weak knees!
Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
13 Make straight paths to walk on, so that those who are crippled won't lose their way, but will be healed.
and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 Do your best to live in peace with everybody, and look for holiness—if you don't have this you won't see the Lord.
Pursue peace with everyone, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord,
15 Make sure that none of you lack God's grace, in case some cause of bitterness arises to give trouble and end up corrupting many of you.
looking carefully lest there be anyone who falls short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by it many become defiled;
16 Make sure there's nobody who is sexually immoral, or irreligious, like Esau was. He sold his birthright for a single meal.
that there be no sexually immoral or profane person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for one meal.
17 You remember that even when he wanted to receive the blessing later on he was refused. Even though he really tried, and cried hard, Esau couldn't change what he had done.
For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
18 You haven't arrived at a physical mountain that can be touched, that burned with fire, to a stormy place of black darkness,
For you have not come to something that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and darkness, gloom, and storm,
19 where the sound of a trumpet and a voice speaking was heard—and those who heard the voice begged never to hear it speak to them again.
the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,
20 For they couldn't take what they were told to do, such as, “Even if a farm animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”
for they could not stand that which was commanded, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned;"
21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses himself said, “I'm so scared I'm shaking!”
and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, "I am terrified and trembling."
22 But you have arrived at Mount Zion, the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands and thousands of angels.
But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,
23 You have come to the church of the firstborn whose names are written down in heaven, to God, the judge of everyone, and to those good people whose lives are complete.
to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect,
24 You have come to Jesus, who shares with us the new agreed relationship, to the sprinkled blood that means more than that of Abel.
to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
25 Make sure you don't reject the one who is speaking! If they didn't escape when they rejected God on earth, it is even more certain that we won't escape if we turn away from God who warns us from heaven!
See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
26 Back then God's voice shook the earth, but his promise is now: “One more time I'm going to shake not only the earth, but heaven too.”
whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens."
27 This expression, “one more time,” indicates that all creation that is shaken is removed so that everything that is not shaken may remain.
This phrase, "Yet once more," signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.
28 Since we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have a gracious attitude, so we can serve God in a way that pleases him, with reverence and respect.
So since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, through which we may offer service pleasing to God, with reverence and awe,
29 For “our God is a fire that consumes.”
for our God is a consuming fire.
