Hebrews 12
1 Seeing, therefore, that there is on every side of us such a throng of witnesses, let us also lay aside everything that hinders us, and the sin that clings about us, and run with patient endurance the race that lies before us,
Wherefore, since we also have so great a cloud of witnesses lying round about us, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that lies before us,
2 our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the Leader and perfect Example of our faith, who, for the joy that lay before him, endured the cross, heedless of its shame, and now ‘has taken his seat at the right hand’ of the throne of God.
looking to Jesus the author and finisher of the faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Weigh well the example of him who had to endure such opposition from ‘men who were sinning against themselves,’ so that you should not grow weary or faint-hearted.
For consider him that endured such opposition of sinners against himself, lest you become weary and despondent in your minds.
4 You have not yet, in your struggle with sin, resisted to the death;
You have not yet resisted to blood, in your contest with sin;
5 and you have forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as God’s Children — ‘My child, think not lightly of the Lord’s discipline, Do not despond when he rebukes you;
and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as to sons: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him.
6 For it is him whom he loves that he disciplines, And he chastises every child whom he acknowledges.’
For, whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son that he receives.
7 It is for your discipline that you have to endure all this. God is dealing with you as his Children. For where is there a child whom his father does not discipline?
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons: for what son is there whose father chastens him not?
8 If you are left without that discipline, in which all children share, it shows that you are bastards, and not true Children.
But if you are without chastisement, of which all are par takers, then are you bastards, and not sons.
9 Further, when our earthly fathers disciplined us, we respected them. Shall we not, then, much rather yield submission to the Father of souls, and live?
So, then, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we reverenced them; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of our spirits, and live?
10 Our fathers disciplined us for only a short time and as seemed best to them; but God disciplines us for our true good, to enable us to share his holiness.
For they, indeed, for a few days, chastened us as they thought it good; but he chastens us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
11 No discipline is pleasant at the time; on the contrary, it is painful. But afterwards its fruit is seen in the peacefulness of a righteous life which is the lot of those who have been trained under it.
But no chastisement seems, at the time, to be a matter of joy, but of grief: yet afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it.
12 Therefore ‘lift again the down-dropped hands and straighten the weakened knees;
Wherefore, lift up the hands that hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees,
13 make straight paths for your feet,’ so that the lame limb may not be put out of joint, but rather be cured.
and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned aside; but rather let it be restored to health.
14 Try earnestly to live at peace with every one, and to attain to that purity without which no one will see the Lord.
Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord;
15 Take care that no one fails to use the loving help of God, ‘that no bitterness is allowed to take root and spring up, and cause trouble,’ and so poison the whole community.
taking care, lest any one slight the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness spring up and trouble you, and by this many be defiled;
16 Take care that no one becomes immoral, or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
lest there be any lewd person, or profane man, as Esau, who, for a single meal, sold his birthright.
17 For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to claim his father’s blessing, he was rejected — for he never found an opportunity to repair his error — though he begged for the blessing with tears.
For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no means to change his father’s mind, though he sought it earnestly with tears.
18 It is not to tangible ‘flaming fire’ that you have drawn near, nor to ‘gloom, and darkness, and storm,
For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched, and that burns with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
19 and the blast of a trumpet, and an audible voice.’ Those who heard that voice entreated that they might hear no more,
and to the sound of a trumpet, and to the utterance of words, the hearing of which utterance caused the people to entreat that the word might not be spoken to them again;
20 for they could not bear to think of the command — ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it is to be stoned to death;’
for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned:
21 and so fearful was the sight that Moses said — ‘I tremble with fear.’
and so terrible was the sight, that even Moses said, I exceedingly fear and tremble.
22 No, but it is to Mount Zion that you have drawn near, the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels,
But you have come to Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels;
23 to the festal gathering and assemblage of God’s Eldest Sons whose names are enrolled in Heaven, to God the Judge of all men, to the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection,
to the general assembly and church of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect,
24 to Jesus, the intermediary of a new Covenant, and to the Sprinkled Blood that tells of better things than the blood of Abel.
and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel.
25 Beware how you refuse to hear him who is speaking. For, if the Israelites did not escape punishment, when they refused to listen to him who taught them on earth the divine will, far worse will it be for us, if we turn away from him who is teaching us from Heaven.
See that you reject not him that speaks: for if they escaped not who rejected that earthly man who gave the oracles, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that is from heaven,
26 Then his voice shook the earth, but now his declaration is — ‘Still once more I will cause not only the earth to tremble, but also the heavens.’
whose voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I will shake not the earth only, but also the heaven.
27 And those words ‘still once more’ indicate the passing away of all that is shaken — that is, of all created things — in order that only what is unshaken may remain.
And this prophecy, Yet once more, signifies the removing of the things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that the things which can not be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, let us, who have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, be thankful, and so offer acceptable worship to God, with awe and reverence.
Wherefore, as we receive a kingdom that can not be shaken, let us have gratitude, by which we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is ‘a consuming fire.’
for our God is a consuming fire.
