| 1 | Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off
and
throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to
and
entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance
and
steady
and
active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, |
| 2 | Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader
and
the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising
and
ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. |
| 3 | Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition
and
bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary
or
exhausted, losing heart
and
relaxing
and
fainting in your minds. |
| 4 | You have not yet struggled
and
fought agonizingly against sin,
nor
have you yet resisted
and
withstood to the point of pouring out your [own] blood. |
| 5 | And have you [completely] forgotten the divine word of appeal
and
encouragement in which you are reasoned with
and
addressed as sons? My son, do not think lightly
or
scorn to submit to the correction
and
discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage
and
give up
and
faint when you are reproved
or
corrected by Him; |
| 6 | For the Lord corrects
and
disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts
and
welcomes to His heart
and
cherishes. |
| 7 | You must submit to
and
endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train
and
correct
and
discipline? |
| 8 | Now if you are exempt from correction
and
left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring
and
not true sons [at all]. |
| 9 | Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them]
and
respected [them for training us]. Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so [truly] live? |
| 10 | For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time
and
chastised us as seemed proper
and
good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness. |
| 11 | For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous
and
painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness—in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God]. |
| 12 | So then, brace up
and
reinvigorate
and
set right your slackened
and
weakened
and
drooping hands and strengthen your feeble
and
palsied
and
tottering knees, |
| 13 | And cut through
and
make firm
and
plain
and
smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame
and
halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured. |
| 14 | Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration
and
holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord. |
| 15 | Exercise foresight
and
be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from
and
fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble
and
bitter torment, and the many become contaminated
and
defiled by it— |
| 16 | That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless and sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. |
| 17 | For you understand that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance [what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], although he sought for it carefully with [bitter] tears. |
| 18 | For you have not come [as did the Israelites in the wilderness] to a [material] mountain that can be touched, [a mountain] that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm, |
| 19 | And to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them. |
| 20 | For they could not bear the command that was given: If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death. |
| 21 | In fact, so awful
and
terrifying was the [phenomenal] sight that Moses said, I am terrified (aghast and trembling with fear). |
| 22 | But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering, |
| 23 | And to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect, |
| 24 | And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better
and
nobler
and
more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance]. |
| 25 | So see to it that you do not reject Him
or
refuse to listen to
and
heed Him Who is speaking [to you now]. For if they [the Israelites] did not escape when they refused to listen
and
heed Him Who warned
and
divinely instructed them [here] on earth [revealing with heavenly warnings His will], how much less shall we escape if we reject
and
turn our backs on Him Who cautions
and
admonishes [us] from heaven? |
| 26 | Then [at Mount Sinai] His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake
and
make tremble not only the earth but also the [starry] heavens. |
| 27 | Now this expression, Yet once more, indicates the final removal
and
transformation of all [that can be] shaken—that is, of that which has been created—in order that what cannot be shaken may remain
and
continue. |
| 28 | Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm
and
stable
and
cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service
and
acceptable worship, with modesty
and
pious care and godly fear
and
awe; |
| 29 | For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire. |
Cross references:
-
Hebrews 12:2 : Ps. 110:1.
-
Hebrews 12:8 : Prov. 3:11, 12.
-
Hebrews 12:12 : Isa. 35:3.
-
Hebrews 12:16 : Gen. 25:29-34.
-
Hebrews 12:17 : Gen. 27:30-40.
-
Hebrews 12:19 : Exod. 19:12-22; 20:18-21; Deut. 4:11, 12; 5:22-27.
-
Hebrews 12:20 : Exod. 19:12, 13.
-
Hebrews 12:21 : Deut. 9:19.
-
Hebrews 12:24 : Gen. 4:10.
-
Hebrews 12:26 : Hag. 2:6.
-
Hebrews 12:27 : Ps. 102:26.
-
Hebrews 12:29 : Deut. 4:24.
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