Previous Chapter Full Page Full Page Next Chapter

Hebrews 12 :: Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Heb 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Pro 3:11, 12 )
Heb 12:3Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

A Father's Discipline

Heb 12:4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Heb 12:5And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons?--"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him.
Heb 12:6For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."
Heb 12:7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
Heb 12:8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Heb 12:9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
Heb 12:10For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
Heb 12:11For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Heb 12:12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
Heb 12:13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
Heb 12:14Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Heb 12:15See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled;
Heb 12:16that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
Heb 12:17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Contrast of Sinai and Zion

Heb 12:18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest,
Heb 12:19and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers entreat that no further messages be spoken to them.
Heb 12:20For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned."
Heb 12:21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear."
Heb 12:22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
Heb 12:23and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.

The Unshaken Kingdom

Heb 12:25See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
Heb 12:26His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven."
Heb 12:27This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe;
Heb 12:29for our God is a consuming fire.
Translation Copyright Logo

Downloaded from the Oxford Text Archive and used with permission. The following header is required to be posted:

Source: Transcribed from: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version containing the Old and New Testaments, translated from the original tongues: being the version set forth A.D. 1611, revised A.D. 1881-1885 and A.D. 1901: compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1946-52. — 2nd ed. of New Testament A.D. 1971. There should be enough in the rest of the description to identify the text.

Language: English

Availability: Freely available for non-commercial use provided that this header is included in its entirety with any copy distributed.

Pericope

Pericope taken from the NASB95 and has been graciously provided by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
All rights reserved.