Hebrews 12
12
God our Father
1As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses round us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. 2Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right-hand side of God's throne.
3Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up. 4For in your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed. 5#Job 5.17; Prov 3.11–12 (LXX)Have you forgotten the encouraging words which God speaks to you as his sons and daughters?
“My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you,
and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.
6Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves,
and punishes everyone he accepts as his child.”
7Endure what you suffer as being a father's punishment; your suffering shows that God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a child who was not punished by his father? 8If you are not punished, as all his children are, it means you are not real children, but bastards. 9In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live! 10Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness. 11When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.
Instructions and Warnings
12 #
Is 35.3
Lift up your tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees! 13#Prov 4.26 (LXX)Keep walking on straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be healed.
14Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it. 15#Deut 29.18 (LXX)Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. 16#Gen 25.29–34Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the elder son. 17#Gen 27.30–40Afterwards, you know, he wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned away, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he looked for it.#12.17 he looked for it; or he tried to get the blessing.
18 #
Ex 19.16–22; 20.18–21; Deut 4.11–12; 5.22–27 You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm, 19the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word, 20#Ex 19.12–13because they could not bear the order which said, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21#Deut 9.19The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling and afraid!”
22Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels. 23You have come to the joyful gathering of God's firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. 24#Gen 4.10You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel.
25 #
Ex 20.22
Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven! 26#Hag 2.6 (LXX)His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well.” 27The words “once more” plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe; 29#Deut 4.24because our God is indeed a destroying fire.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Hebrews 12
12
1Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. 4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: 5and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons,
My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord,
Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;
6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,
And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not? 8But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness. 12Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; 13and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed.
14Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord: 15looking carefully lest there be any man that falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled; 16lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright. 17For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind in his father, though he sought it diligently with tears.
18For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them; 20for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; 21and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: 22but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, 23to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel. 25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth, much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven: 26whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. 27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. 28Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: 29for our God is a consuming fire.
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