Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and asin which clings so closely, and blet us run cwith endurance the race that is dset before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, awho for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising bthe shame, and cis seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Do Not Grow Weary
3 aConsider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or bfainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
a“My son, bdo not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For athe Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. aGod is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, ain which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to athe Father of spirits band live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, athat we may share his holiness. 11 aFor the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields bthe peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore alift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and amake straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint bbut rather be healed. 14 aStrive for peace with everyone, and for the bholiness cwithout which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one afails to obtain the grace of God; that no b“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is asexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that aafterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken
18 For you have not come to awhat may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and athe sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words bmade the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, a“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, aso terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to aMount Zion and to the city of the living God, bthe heavenly Jerusalem, and to cinnumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to athe assembly of the firstborn who are benrolled in heaven, and to cGod, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, athe mediator of a new covenant, and to bthe sprinkled blood cthat speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For aif they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time ahis voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, b“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates athe removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving aa kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus blet us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our aGod is a consuming fire.