Hebrews 12
12
The Chastening of the Lord
1Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us 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 finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5#Job 5.17; Prov 3.11,12. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Warning against Rejecting God's Grace
12 #
Isa 35.3. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13#Prov 4.26. and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15#Deut 29.18. looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16#Gen 25.29-34. lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17#Gen 27.30-40. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
18 #
Exod 19.16-22; 20.18-21; Deut 4.11,12; 5.22-27. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20#Exod 19.12,13. (for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:#12.20 or thrust through with a dart not found in best early manuscripts. 21#Deut 9.19. and so terrible was the sight, 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 an innumerable company of angels, 23to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24#Gen 4.10. and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25 #
Exod 20.19. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26#Hag 2.6. whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29#Deut 4.24. for our God is a consuming fire.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
Hebrews 12
12
Follow Jesus’ Example
1So we have many people of faith around us. Their 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 we should remove the sin that so easily catches us. 2Let us look only to Jesus. He is the one who began our faith, and he makes our faith perfect. Jesus suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing. He did this 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. He held on patiently while sinful men were doing evil things against him. Look at Jesus’ example so that you will 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 his encouraging words for his sons:
“My son, don’t think the Lord’s discipline of you is worth nothing.
And don’t stop trying when the Lord corrects you.
6The Lord corrects those he loves.
And he punishes everyone he accepts as his child.” Proverbs 3:11-12
7So accept your sufferings as if they were a father’s punishment. God does these things to you as a father punishing his sons. All sons are punished by their fathers. 8If you are never punished (and every son must be punished), you are not true children and not really sons. 9We have all had fathers here on earth who punished us. And we respected our fathers. So it is even more important that we accept punishment from the Father of our spirits. If we do this, we will have life. 10Our fathers on earth punished us for a short time. They punished us the way they thought was best. But God punishes us to help us, so that we can become holy as he is. 11We do not enjoy punishment. Being punished is painful at the time. But later, after we have learned from being punished, 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 lives free from sin. If anyone’s life is not holy, he will never see the Lord. 15Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. A person like that can ruin all of you. 16Be careful that no one takes part in sexual sin. And be careful that no person is unholy like Esau. He sold all his rights as the oldest son for a single meal. 17You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing. He wanted this blessing so much that he cried. But his father refused to give him the blessing, because Esau could find no way to change what he had done.
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. When the people of Israel heard the voice, they begged not to have 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.”# Quotation from Exodus 19:12–13. 21What they saw was so terrible that Moses said, “I am shaking with fear.”# Quotation from Deuteronomy 9:19.
22But you have not come to that kind of place. The new place you have come to is Mount Zion.# Another name for Jerusalem, here meaning the spiritual city of God’s people. You have come 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# The first son born in a Jewish family was given the most important place in the family and received special blessings. All of God’s children are like that. children. Their names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all people. And you have come 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. You have come to the sprinkled blood# The blood of Jesus’ death. that has a better message than the blood of Abel.# The son of Adam and Eve, who was killed by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:8).
25So be careful and do not refuse to listen when God speaks. They refused to listen to him when he warned them on earth. And they did not escape. Now God is warning us from heaven. So it will be worse for us if we refuse to listen to him. 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.”# Quotation from Haggai 2:6, 21. 27The words “once again” clearly show us that everything that was made will be destroyed. These are the things that can be shaken. And 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. So let us worship him with respect and fear, 29because our God is like a fire that burns things up.
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