ISV - Hebrews - 12

12:1  We Must Look Off to JesusTherefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and throwing off everything that hinders us and especially the sin that so easily entanglesOther mss. read distracts us, let us keep running with endurance the race set before us,

12:2  looking off to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith, who, in view ofOr instead the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

12:3  The Father Disciplines UsThink about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not become tired and give up.

12:4  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding yourThe Gk. lacks the point of shedding your blood.

12:5  You have forgotten the encouragement that is addressed to you as sons: “My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's disciplineor give up when you are corrected by him.

12:6  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,and he punishesOr whips every son he accepts.”Prov 3:11-12

12:7  What you endure is for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline?

12:8  Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not his sons.

12:9  Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who used to discipline us, and we respected them for it. We should even more submit to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn't we?

12:10  For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but he does it for our good, so that we may share in his holiness.

12:11  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

12:12  Live As God's PeopleTherefore, strengthen your tired arms and your weak knees,

12:13  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not become worse but rather be healed.

12:14  Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

12:15  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled.

12:16  No one should be immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

12:17  For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he could not find any opportunity to repent, even though he begged for it with tears.

12:18  For you have not come to somethingOther mss. read to a mountain that can be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, to gloom,

12:19  to a trumpet's blast, or to a voice that made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.

12:20  For they could not endure the command that was given: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”Exod 19:12-13

12:21  Indeed, the sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”Deut 9:19

12:22  Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to tens of thousands of angels joyfully gathered together,

12:23  to the assemblyOr church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to a judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect,

12:24  to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than Abel's.

12:25  See to it that you do not ignore the one who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they ignored the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escapeThe Gk. lacks escape if we turn away from the one who is from heaven!

12:26  At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.”Exod 19:18

12:27  The expression “once more” signifies the removal of what can be shaken, that is, what he has made, so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

12:28  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and worship God in reverence and fear in a way that pleases him.

12:29  For our God is an all-consuming fire.