Hebrews 12 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

The Race of Faith

Renew Your Spiritual Life

Heb 12:1Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Heb 12:2

Heb 12:2looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Discipline of God

(Prov. 3:11, 12 )

Heb 12:3

Heb 12:3For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Heb 12:4

Heb 12:4You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

Heb 12:5

Heb 12:5And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

Heb 12:6

Heb 12:6For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”[fn]

Heb 12:7

Heb 12:7If[fn] you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

Heb 12:8

Heb 12:8But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Heb 12:9

Heb 12:9Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

Heb 12:10

Heb 12:10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

Heb 12:11

Heb 12:11Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Renew Your Spiritual Vitality

(Gen. 25:29–34; 27:30–40 )

Heb 12:12

Heb 12:12Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,

Heb 12:13

Heb 12:13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Heb 12:14

Heb 12:14Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

Heb 12:15

Heb 12:15looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;

Heb 12:16

Heb 12:16lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

Heb 12:17

Heb 12:17For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

The Glorious Company

Heb 12:18

Heb 12:18For you have not come to the mountain that[fn] may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness[fn] and tempest,

Heb 12:19

Heb 12:19and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

Heb 12:20

Heb 12:20(For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned[fn] or shot with an arrow.”[fn]

Heb 12:21

Heb 12:21And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”[fn])

Heb 12:22

Heb 12:22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,

Heb 12:23

Heb 12:23to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Heb 12:24

Heb 12:24to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Hear the Heavenly Voice

Heb 12:25

Heb 12:25See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For 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,

Heb 12:26

Heb 12:26whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake[fn] not only the earth, but also heaven.”[fn]

Heb 12:27

Heb 12:27Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Heb 12:28

Heb 12:28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may[fn] serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

Heb 12:29

Heb 12:29For our God is a consuming fire.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(12:6)

Proverbs 3:11, 12

(12:7)

NU-Text and M-Text read It is for discipline that you endure; God . . . .

(12:18)

NU-Text reads to that which.

(12:18)

NU-Text reads gloom.

(12:20)

NU-Text and M-Text omit the rest of this verse.

NU-Text reads will shake.

(12:26)

Haggai 2:6

(12:28)

M-Text omits may.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.