Hebrews 12

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.