Hebrews, 12

1. With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us.

1. Therefore, 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 perseverance the race that is set before us,

2. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken his seat at the right of God's throne.

2. looking to Jesus the pioneer 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.

3. Think of the way he persevered against such opposition from sinners and then you will not lose heart and come to grief.

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

4. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of bloodshed.

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

5. Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are addressed as sons? My son, do not scorn correction from the Lord, do not resent his training,

5. And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? -- "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him.

6. for the Lord trains those he loves, and chastises every son he accepts.

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

7. Perseverance is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons. Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him?

7. It 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?

8. If you were not getting this training, as all of you are, then you would be not sons but bastards.

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

9. Besides, we have all had our human fathers who punished us, and we respected them for it; all the more readily ought we to submit to the Father of spirits, and so earn life.

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

10. Our human fathers were training us for a short life and according to their own lights; but he does it all for our own good, so that we may share his own holiness.

10. For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

11. Of course, any discipline is at the time a matter for grief, not joy; but later, in those who have undergone it, it bears fruit in peace and uprightness.

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

12. So steady all weary hands and trembling knees

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

13. and make your crooked paths straight; then the injured limb will not be maimed, it will get better instead.

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

14. Seek peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one can ever see the Lord.

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

15. Be careful that no one is deprived of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a large number.

15. See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled;

16. And be careful that there is no immoral person, or anyone worldly minded like Esau, who sold his birthright for one single meal.

16. that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

17. As you know, when he wanted to obtain the blessing afterwards, he was rejected and, though he pleaded for it with tears, he could find no way of reversing the decision.

17. For 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.

18. What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or gloom or total darkness, or a storm;

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

19. or trumpet-blast or the sound of a voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them.

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

20. They could not bear the order that was given: If even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned.

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

21. The whole scene was so terrible that Moses said, 'I am afraid and trembling.'

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

22. But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival,

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

23. with the whole Church of first-born sons, enrolled as citizens of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and to the spirits of the upright who have been made perfect;

23. and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

24. and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to purifying blood which pleads more insistently than Abel's.

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

25. Make sure that you never refuse to listen when he speaks. If the people who on earth refused to listen to a warning could not escape their punishment, how shall we possibly escape if we turn away from a voice that warns us from heaven?

25. See 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 shall we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

26. That time his voice made the earth shake, but now he has given us this promise: I am going to shake the earth once more and not only the earth but heaven as well.

26. His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven."

27. The words once more indicate the removal of what is shaken, since these are created things, so that what is not shaken remains.

27. This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28. We have been given possession of an unshakeable kingdom. Let us therefore be grateful and use our gratitude to worship God in the way that pleases him, in reverence and fear.

28. Therefore 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;

29. For our God is a consuming fire.

29. for our God is a consuming fire.