Bible Gateway passage: Hebrews 12 - English Standard Version (2024)

Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

12Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and ^(A)sin which clings so closely, and ^(B)let us run ^(C)with endurance the race that is ^(D)set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, ^(E)who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising ^(F)the shame, and ^(G)is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do Not Grow Weary

^3(H)Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or ^(I)fainthearted. ⁴In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

^(J)“My son, ^(K)do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶For ^(L)the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure. ^(M)God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸If you are left without discipline, ^(N)in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to ^(O)the Father of spirits ^(P)and live? ¹⁰For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, ^(Q)that we may share his holiness. ^11(R)For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields ^(S)the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹²Therefore ^(T)lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³and ^(U)make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint ^(V)but rather be healed. ^14(W)Strive for peace with everyone, and for the ^(X)holiness ^(Y)without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵See to it that no one ^(Z)fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ^(AA)“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶that no one is ^(AB)sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷For you know that ^(AC)afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

¹⁸For you have not come to ^(AD)what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹and ^(AE)the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words ^(AF)made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰For they could not endure the order that was given, ^(AG)“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹Indeed, ^(AH)so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” ²²But you have come to ^(AI)Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, ^(AJ)the heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^(AK)innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³and to ^(AL)the assembly^[a] of the firstborn who are ^(AM)enrolled in heaven, and to ^(AN)God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴and to Jesus, ^(AO)the mediator of a new covenant, and to ^(AP)the sprinkled blood ^(AQ)that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For ^(AR)if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. ²⁶At that time ^(AS)his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ^(AT)“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates ^(AU)the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸Therefore let us be grateful for receiving ^(AV)a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus ^(AW)let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our ^(AX)God is a consuming fire.