Hebrews 12:14-29

New King James Version

^14 (A)Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, ^(B)without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone ^(C)fall short of the grace of God; lest any ^(D)root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any ^(E)fornicator or ^[a]profane person like Esau, ^(F)who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was ^(G)rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

The Glorious Company

¹⁸ For you have not come ^[b]to ^(H)the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and ^[c]darkness and tempest, ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it ^(I)begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. ²⁰ (For they could not endure what was commanded: ^(J)“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned ^[d]or shot with an arrow.” ²¹ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ^(K)“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 ^[e]general assembly and church of ^(L)the firstborn ^(M)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(N)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(O)made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus ^(P)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(Q)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(R)than that of Abel.

Hear the Heavenly Voice

²⁵ See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For ^(S)if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ^(T)“Yet once more I ^[f]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” ²⁷ Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the ^(U)removal 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 ^[g]may ^(V)serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹ For ^(W)our God is a consuming fire.