The Race of Faith
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnaresus,andlet us runwith endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher ofourfaith,who for the joy that was set before Himendured the cross, despising the shame, andhas sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Discipline of God
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself,lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
# “My son, do not despise the chastening of theLord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 Forwhom theLordloves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for whatson is there whom a father does not chasten?
8 But if you are without chastening,of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who correctedus,and we paidthemrespect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection tothe Father of spirits and live?
10 For they indeed for a few days chastenedusas seemedbestto them, but He forourprofit,thatwemay be partakers of His holiness.
11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yieldsthe peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Renew Your Spiritual Vitality
12 Thereforestrengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 Pursue peace with allpeople,and holiness,without which no one will see the Lord:
15 looking carefully lest anyonefall short of the grace of God; lest anyroot of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
16 lest therebeanyfornicator or profane person like Esau,who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he wasrejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
The Glorious Company
18 For you have not come tothe mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who hearditbegged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
20 (For they could not endure what was commanded:“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.”
21 And so terrifying was the sightthatMoses said,“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
23 to the general assembly and church ofthe firstbornwhoareregistered in heaven, to Godthe Judge of all, to the spirits of just menmade perfect,
24 to Jesusthe Mediator of the new covenant, and tothe blood of sprinkling that speaks better thingsthanthatofAbel.
Hear the Heavenly Voice
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. Forif they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much moreshallwenotescapeif we turn away from Him whospeaksfrom heaven,
26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying,“Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates theremoval of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we mayserve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
29 Forour Godisa consuming fire.