Hebrews 12
12
Follow Jesus’ Example
1We are surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. 2Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. 3Think about Jesus’ example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying.
God Is like a Father
4You are struggling against sin, but your struggles have not yet caused you to be killed. 5You have forgotten the encouraging words that call you his children:
“My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing,
and don’t stop trying when he corrects you.
6The Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as his child.”#Proverbs 3:11–12
7So hold on through your sufferings, because they are like a father’s discipline. God is treating you as children. All children are disciplined by their fathers. 8If you are never disciplined (and every child must be disciplined), you are not true children. 9We have all had fathers here on earth who disciplined us, and we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits so we will have life. 10Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us, so we can become holy as he is. 11We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful at the time, but later, after we have learned from it, we have peace, because we start living in the right way.
Be Careful How You Live
12You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again. 13Keep on the right path, so the weak will not stumble but rather be strengthened.
14Try to live in peace with all people, and try to live free from sin. Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord. 15Be careful that no one fails to receive God’s grace and begins to cause trouble among you. A person like that can ruin many of you. 16Be careful that no one takes part in sexual sin or is like Esau and never thinks about God. As the oldest son, Esau would have received everything from his father, but he sold all that for a single meal. 17You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing, but his father refused. Esau could find no way to change what he had done, even though he wanted the blessing so much that he cried.
18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire. You have not come to darkness, sadness, and storms. 19You have not come to the noise of a trumpet or to the sound of a voice like the one the people of Israel heard and begged not to hear another word. 20They did not want to hear the command: “If anything, even an animal, touches the mountain, it must be put to death with stones.” 21What they saw was so terrible that Moses said, “I am shaking with fear.”
22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands of angels gathered together with joy. 23You have come to the meeting of God’s firstborn children whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people who have been made perfect. 24You have come to Jesus, the One who brought the new agreement from God to his people, and you have come to the sprinkled blood that has a better message than the blood of Abel.
25So be careful and do not refuse to listen when God speaks. Others refused to listen to him when he warned them on earth, and they did not escape. So it will be worse for us if we refuse to listen to God who warns us from heaven. 26When he spoke before, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once again I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27The words “once again” clearly show us that everything that was made—things that can be shaken—will be destroyed. Only the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him with respect and fear, 29because our God is like a fire that burns things up.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Hebrews 12
12
The Example of Jesus’ Suffering
1 Therefore, since#*Here “since” is supplied as a component of the participle (“have”) which is understood as causal we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us#Literally “the easily ensnaring sin”, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider the one who endured such hostility by sinners against himself,#*The plural reflexive pronoun can still be translated as singular; see Louw-Nida 92.25 so that you will not grow weary in your souls and give up. 4You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your#*The words “shedding your” are not in the Greek text but are supplied for clarity blood as you#*Here “as” is supplied as a component of the temporal participle (“struggle”) struggle against sin. 5And have you completely forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons?
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
or give up when you are corrected by him.
6For the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves,
and punishes every son whom he accepts.”#A quotation from Prov 3:11–12
7Endure it for discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? 8But if you are without discipline, in which all legitimate sons#*The phrase “legitimate sons” is not in the Greek text but is implied have become participants, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9Furthermore, we have had our earthly fathers#Literally “the flesh of our fathers” who disciplined us, and we respected them. Will we not much rather subject ourselves to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a few days according to what seemed appropriate to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we can have a share in his holiness. 11Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.
A Serious Warning Against Refusing God
12Therefore strengthen your slackened hands and your weakened knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be dislocated, but rather be healed. 14Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15Take care that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no one growing up like a root of bitterness causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one be a sexually immoral or totally worldly person like Esau, who for one meal traded his own birthright. 17For you know that also afterwards, when he#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal participle (“wanted”) wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, because he did not find an occasion for repentance, although he sought it with tears.
18For you have not come to something that can be touched, and to a burning fire, and to darkness, and to gloom, and to a whirlwind, 19and to the noise of a trumpet, and to the sound of words which those who heard begged that not another word be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”#A quotation from Exod 19:12–13 21And the spectacle was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”#A quotation from Deut 9:19 22But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels, to the festal gathering 23and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood#Literally “to the blood of sprinkling” that speaks better than Abel’s does.
25Watch out that you do not refuse the one who is speaking! For if those did not escape when they#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal participle (“refused”) refused the one who warned them on earth, much less will we escape,#*Here the verb “will … escape” is an understood repetition from the previous clause if we#*Here “if” is supplied as a component of the participle (“reject”) which is understood as conditional reject the one who warns from heaven, 26whose voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, saying,
“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.”#A quotation from Hag 2:6
27Now the phrase “yet once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, namely, things that have been created, in order that the things that are not shaken may remain. 28Therefore, since we#*Here “since” is supplied as a component of the participle (“are receiving”) which is understood as causal are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence. 29For indeed our God is a consuming fire.
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