The Race of Faith

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, ^(A)let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and ^(B)let us run ^(C)with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the ^[a]author and ^[b]finisher of our faith, ^(D)who for the joy that was set before Him ^(E)endured the cross, despising the shame, and ^(F)has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Discipline of God^(G)

^3 (H)For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, ^(I)lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. ^4 (J)You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

^7 (M)If^[d] you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what ^(N)son is there whom a father does not chasten? ⁸ But if you are without chastening, ^(O)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to ^(P)the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, ^(Q)that we may be partakers of His holiness. ¹¹ Now no ^[e]chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields ^(R)the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Renew Your Spiritual Vitality^(S)

¹² Therefore ^(T)strengthen 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 (U)Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, ^(V)without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone ^(W)fall short of the grace of God; lest any ^(X)root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any ^(Y)fornicator or ^[f]profane person like Esau, ^(Z)who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was ^(AA)rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

The Glorious Company

¹⁸ For you have not come ^[g]to ^(AB)the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and ^[h]darkness and tempest, ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it ^(AC)begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. ²⁰ (For they could not endure what was commanded: ^(AD)“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned ^[i]or shot with an arrow.” ²¹ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ^(AE)“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 ^[j]general assembly and church of ^(AF)the firstborn ^(AG)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(AH)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(AI)made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus ^(AJ)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(AK)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(AL)than that of Abel.

Hear the Heavenly Voice

²⁵ See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For ^(AM)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, ^(AN)“Yet once more I ^[k]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” ²⁷ Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the ^(AO)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 ^[l]may ^(AP)serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹ For ^(AQ)our God is a consuming fire.