Hebrews 12
The full text of Hebrews 12 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set before us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
5 And you have forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he corrects you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastens everyone he accepts as a son."
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!
10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in his holiness.
11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
13 Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought it with tears, he could find no way to change what he had done.
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm;
19 to a trumpet blast or to a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them,
20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."
21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
23 to the assembly of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from the one who warns from heaven?
26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."
27 The words "once more" indicate the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Translation notes (12)
- Hebrews 12:1a The Greek word euperistatos is rare, and its meaning is debated; it could mean 'easily entangling,' 'easily distracting,' or 'closely surrounding.'
- Hebrews 12:2a This can also be translated, 'instead of the joy set before him.' The Greek word anti can mean either 'for the sake of' or 'in place of.'
- Hebrews 12:5a The quotation is from Proverbs 3:11-12 in the wording of the Septuagint, which the author of Hebrews follows closely. The Greek term paideia (παιδεία), 'discipline', carries the broader sense of a father's formative training of a child, not merely punishment, a nuance developed through verse 11.
- Hebrews 12:9a The Greek sets tous tes sarkos hemon pateras, literally 'the fathers of our flesh', against to patri ton pneumaton, 'the Father of spirits'. The phrase 'human fathers' renders the former; the contrast opposes earthly parentage in the bodily realm to God's fatherhood over the spiritual life, echoing the title 'God of the spirits of all flesh' in Numbers 16:22 and 27:16.
- Hebrews 12:15a The phrase rhiza pikrias, 'root of bitterness', echoes Deuteronomy 29:18 in the Septuagint, where Moses warns against anyone whose heart turns from the Lord, becoming 'a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit'. The author applies that covenant warning to apostasy within the community, one member's defection spreading defilement to many.
- Hebrews 12:16a Bebelos (βέβηλος), 'godless', describes the profane or common, that which stands outside the sacred. The allusion is to Genesis 25:29-34, where Esau traded ta prototokia, 'the birthright'—the firstborn's double inheritance and place in the covenant line—to Jacob for bread and lentil stew, valuing the sacred no higher than a single meal.
- Hebrews 12:17a This can also be translated, 'he found no opportunity to repent.' The Greek text leaves open whether the 'change of mind' refers to Esau's repentance or Isaac's change of decision.
- Hebrews 12:20a The quotation condenses Exodus 19:12-13; Greek therion, 'beast', covers any animal, underscoring that the prohibition extended beyond human trespassers. Later manuscripts expand the citation with the words 'or shot with an arrow' from the Septuagint of Exodus 19:13, a reading preserved in the King James tradition but absent from the earliest witnesses.
- Hebrews 12:21a No Old Testament passage records Moses trembling at Sinai; the words ekphobos eimi, 'I am terrified', come from Deuteronomy 9:19, where Moses recalls his dread after the golden calf incident. The author applies that confession to the giving of the law and adds entromos, 'trembling', a detail perhaps drawn from Jewish tradition about the theophany.
- Hebrews 12:23a The Greek prōtotokōn (πρωτοτόκων), 'firstborn ones', is plural, describing the members of the assembly rather than Christ himself; believers share the firstborn's rights of inheritance. The participle apogegrammenōn, 'written', is a civic term for enrollment in a register of citizens, fitting the imagery of the heavenly city in the preceding verse.
- Hebrews 12:24a The Greek here uses neas (νέας), 'new' in the sense of fresh or recent, rather than kainēs, 'new in kind', the word Hebrews uses elsewhere for the new covenant (Hebrews 8:8; 9:15). The contrast with Abel recalls Genesis 4:10, where his blood cries out from the ground for vengeance; the sprinkled blood of Jesus speaks of atonement rather than accusation.
- Hebrews 12:26a The quotation follows the Septuagint of Haggai 2:6, whose phrase eti hapax, 'once more', grounds the argument developed in the next verse. The Hebrew of Haggai names the heavens before the earth, but the author reverses the order, moving from Sinai, where the earth was shaken, to the final shaking that reaches the heavens as well.
About this translation
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