Hebrews 12

¹Therefore , since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses , let us also lay aside every weight , and sin which clings so closely , and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us ,

²looking to Jesus , the founder and perfecter of our faith , who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross , despising the shame , and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God .

³Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself , so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted .

⁴In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood .

⁵And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons ? My son , do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord , nor be weary when reproved by him .

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves , and chastises every son whom he receives .

⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure . God is treating you as sons . For what son is there whom his father does not discipline ?

⁸If you are left without discipline , in which all have participated , then you are illegitimate children and not sons .

⁹Besides this , we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live ?

¹⁰For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them , but he disciplines us for our good , that we may share his holiness .

¹¹For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant , but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it .

¹²Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees ,

¹³and make straight paths for your feet , so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed .

¹⁴Strive for peace with everyone , and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord .

¹⁵See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God ; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble , and by it many become defiled ;

¹⁶that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau , who sold his birthright for a single meal .

¹⁷For you know that afterward , when he desired to inherit the blessing , he was rejected , for he found no chance to repent , though he sought it with tears .

¹⁸For you have not come to what may be touched , a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest

¹⁹and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them .

²⁰For they could not endure the order that was given, If even a beast touches the mountain , it shall be stoned .

²¹Indeed , so terrifying was the sight that Moses said , I tremble with fear .

²²But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God , the heavenly Jerusalem , and to innumerable angels in festal gathering ,

²³and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven , and to God , the judge of all , and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect ,

²⁴and to Jesus , the mediator of a new covenant , and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel .

²⁵See that you do not refuse him who is speaking . For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth , much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven .

²⁶At that time his voice shook the earth , but now he has promised , Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens .

²⁷This phrase, Yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken —that is , things that have been made —in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain .

²⁸Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken , and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe ,

²⁹for our God is a consuming fire .