Hebrews 12
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Hebrews 12
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| Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, | For this reason, as we are circled by so great a cloud of witnesses, putting off every weight, and the sin into which we come so readily, let us keep on running in the way which is marked out for us, |
| looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. | Having our eyes fixed on Jesus, the guide and end of our faith, who went through the pains of the cross, not caring for the shame, because of the joy which was before him, and who has now taken his place at the right hand of God's seat of power. |
| For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. | Give thought to him who has undergone so much of the hate of sinners against himself, so that you may not be tired and feeble of purpose. |
| Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: | Till now you have not given your blood in your fight against sin: |
| and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art reproved of him; | And you have not kept in mind the word which says to you as to sons, My son, do not make little of the Lord's punishment, and do not give up hope when you are judged by him; |
| For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. | For the Lord sends punishment on his loved ones; everyone whom he takes as his son has experience of his rod. |
| It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom [his] father chasteneth not? | It is for your training that you undergo these things; God is acting to you as a father does to his sons; for what son does not have punishment from his father? |
| But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. | But if you have not that punishment of which we all have our part, then you are not true sons, but children of shame. |
| Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? | And again, if the fathers of our flesh gave us punishment and had our respect, how much more will we be under the authority of the Father of spirits, and have life? |
| For they indeed for a few days chastened [us] as seemed good to them; but he for [our] profit, that [we] may be partakers of his holiness. | For they truly gave us punishment for a short time, as it seemed good to them; but he does it for our profit, so that we may become holy as he is. |
| All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, [even the fruit] of righteousness. | At the time all punishment seems to be pain and not joy: but after, those who have been trained by it get from it the peace-giving fruit of righteousness. |
| Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; | For this cause let the hands which are hanging down be lifted up, and let the feeble knees be made strong, |
| and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed. | And make straight roads for your feet, so that the feeble may not be turned out of the way, but may be made strong. |
| Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord: | Let your desire be for peace with all men, and to be made holy, without which no man may see the Lord; |
| looking carefully lest [there be] any man that falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you], and thereby the many be defiled; | Looking with care to see that no man among you in his behaviour comes short of the grace of God; for fear that some bitter root may come up to be a trouble to you, and that some of you may be made unclean by it; |
| lest [there be] any fornication, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright. | And that there may not be any evil liver, or any man without respect for God, like Esau, who let his birthright go for a plate of food. |
| For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind [in his father,] though he sought is diligently with tears. | For you have knowledge that even long after, when he was desiring the blessing for his heritage, he was turned away, though he made his request frequently and with weeping; because the past might not be changed. |
| For ye are not come unto [a mount] that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, | You have not come to a mountain which may be touched, and is burning with fire, and to a black cloud, and a dark smoke, and a violent wind, |
| and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them; | And to the sound of a horn, and the voice of words, the hearers of which made request that not a word more might be said to them: |
| for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; | For the order which said, If the mountain is touched even by a beast, the beast is to be stoned, seemed hard to them; |
| and so fearful was the appearance, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: | And the vision was so overpowering that even Moses said, I am shaking and full of fear. |
| but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, | But you have come to the mountain of Zion, to the place of the living God, to the Jerusalem which is in heaven, and to an army of angels which may not be numbered, |
| to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, | To the great meeting and church of the first of those who are named in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of good men made complete, |
| and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than [that of] Abel. | And to Jesus by whom the new agreement has been made between God and man, and to the sign of the blood which says better things than Abel's blood. |
| See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned [them] on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape] who turn away from him that [warneth] from heaven: | See that you give ear to his voice which comes to you. For if those whose ears were shut to the voice which came to them on earth did not go free from punishment, what chance have we of going free if we give no attention to him whose voice comes from heaven? |
| whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. | Whose voice was the cause of the shaking of the earth; but now he has made an oath, saying, There will be still one more shaking, not only of the earth, but of heaven. |
| And this [word], Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. | And the words, Still one more, make it clear that there will be a taking away of those things which are shaking, as of things which are made, so that there may be only those things of which no shaking is possible. |
| Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: | If then, we have a kingdom which will never be moved, let us have grace, so that we may give God such worship as is pleasing to him with fear and respect: |
| for our God is a consuming fire. | For our God is an all-burning fire. |
