Chapter 12

Jesus, the Example

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also alay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us brun with cendurance the race that is set before us,

2 1fixing our eyes on Jesus, the 2aauthor and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him bendured the cross, cdespising the shame, and has dsat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 For aconsider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary 1band lose heart.

A Father’s Discipline

4 aYou have not yet resisted 1bto the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“aMy son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

Nor bfaint when you are reproved by Him;

6 aFor those bwhom the Lord loves He disciplines,

And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you endure; aGod deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

8 But if you are without discipline, aof which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9 Furthermore, we had 1earthly fathers to discipline us, and we arespected them; shall we not much rather be subject to bthe Father of 2spirits, and clive?

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

11 All discipline afor the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the bpeaceful fruit of righteousness.

12 Therefore, 1astrengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,

13 and amake straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather bbe healed.

14 aPursue peace with all men, and the bsanctification without which no one will csee the Lord.

15 See to it that no one acomes short of the grace of God; that no broot of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be cdefiled;

16 that there be no aimmoral or bgodless person like Esau, cwho sold his own birthright for a single meal.

17 For you know that even afterwards, awhen he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

Contrast of Sinai and Zion

18 aFor you have not come to ba mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,

19 and to the ablast of a trumpet and the bsound of words which sound was such that those who heard cbegged that no further word be spoken to them.

20 For they could not bear the command, “aIf even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.”

21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “aI am full of fear and trembling.”

22 But ayou have come to Mount Zion and to bthe city of cthe living God, dthe heavenly Jerusalem, and to emyriads of 1angels,

23 to the general assembly and achurch of the firstborn who bare enrolled in heaven, and to God, cthe Judge of all, and to the dspirits of the righteous made perfect,

24 and to Jesus, the amediator of a new covenant, and to the bsprinkled blood, which speaks better than cthe blood of Abel.

The Unshaken Kingdom

25 aSee to it that you do not refuse Him who is bspeaking. For cif those did not escape when they drefused him who ewarned them on earth, 1much less will we escape who turn away from Him who ewarns from heaven.

26 And aHis voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “bYet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”

27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes athe removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we receive a akingdom which cannot be shaken, let us 1show gratitude, by which we may boffer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

29 for aour God is a consuming fire.