[1] Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and
let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, [2] looking to
Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the
right hand of the throne of God. [3] Consider him who endured from sinners
such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or
fainthearted. [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 which addresses you as sons?-- "My son, do not regard lightly
the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him.
[6] For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son
whom he receives." [7] It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is
treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? [8] If you are left without discipline, in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. [9] Besides
this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them.
Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? [10]
For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he
disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. [11] For the
moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields
the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
[12] Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
[13] and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be
put out of joint but rather be healed. [14] Strive for peace with all men,
and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. [15] See to it
that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness"
spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled; [16] that
no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a
single meal. [17] For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit
the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he
sought it with tears. [18] For you have not come to what may be touched, a
blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, [19] and the sound of
a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers entreat that no further
messages be spoken to them. [20] For they could not endure the order that
was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." [21]
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear."
[22] But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, [23] and
to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a
judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, [24]
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood
that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel. [25] See that you do
not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they
refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape if we
reject him who warns from heaven. [26] His voice then shook the earth; but
now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but
also the heaven." [27] This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal
of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be
shaken may remain. [28] Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable
worship, with reverence and awe; [29] for our God is a consuming fire.
