Hebrews 12

1 So then, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off every weight and the sin that so easily hems us in, and let us run with endurance the contest set before us, [a] 2 looking away to Jesus, the Originator and Completer of the faith, who for the joy set before him endured a cross, thinking nothing of the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [b] 3 For consider the one who has endured such contradiction from sinners against themselves, so that you do not grow weary, fainting in your souls. [c]

4 You have not yet resisted to the point of blood in your struggle against sin, 5 and you have forgotten the urging that reasons with you as with sons: [d]

7 Endure for discipline. God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not discipline? [e] 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have been given a share, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh as those who disciplined us, and we respected them; will we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? [f] 10 For they disciplined us for a few days as it seemed good to them, but he for what is beneficial, so that we may share in his holiness. [g] 11 Now all discipline seems for the present not to be joy but grief; but afterward it gives back the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 So set straight the slack hands and the paralyzed knees, [h] 13 and make straight tracks for your feet, so that what is lame may not be turned out of the way but healed instead. 14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord, 15 watching that no one falls short of the favor of God, that no root of bitterness growing up causes trouble and through it many are defiled, [i] 16 that no one is sexually immoral or common, like Esau, who for a single meal gave up his own birthright. [j] 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected — for he found no place for a change of mind, though he sought it with tears. [k]

18 For you have not come to something that can be touched and that has been set on fire, and to darkness and gloom and storm, [l] 19 and to the sound of a trumpet and a voice of words, which those who heard begged that no further word be added to them; 20 for they could not bear what was ordered: “Even if an animal touches the mountain, it will be stoned.” [m] 21 And so fearful was the sight that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” [n]

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, to a heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of messengers in festival gathering, [o] 23 and to the gathering of the firstborn registered in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous ones made complete, [p] 24 and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant, and to blood of sprinkling that speaks better than Abel. [q]

25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused the one who instructed them on earth, much less will we, if we turn away from the one from the heavens — 26 whose voice shook the earth then, but who now has promised, saying, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.” [r] 27 And the words “once more” make plain the removal of the things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, so that the things that are not shaken may remain. 28 So then, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have favor, through which we may serve God in a well-pleasing way, with reverence and awe; [s] 29 for our God is also a consuming fire. [t]