Chapter 12

1So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every burden and the sin that so easily traps us. Let us run with endurance the race laid out before us.

2Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the one who opened the way of faith and brought it to completion. Because of the joy ahead of him, he endured the cross and treated its shame as nothing. Then he sat down in the place of honor at the right side of God’s throne.

3Think carefully about Jesus, who endured such self-destructive hostility from sinners. Then you will not grow weary or lose heart.

4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

5You have forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as God’s children: “My child, do not treat the Lord’s training lightly, and do not give up when he corrects you.

6The Lord trains those he loves, and he whips every son he welcomes.”

7Endure hardship as training. God is treating you as his children. After all, what son is never trained by his father?

8If you receive no training—something all his children share—then you are illegitimate children, not true sons and daughters.

9We had human fathers who trained us, and we respected them. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

10Our human fathers trained us for a short time as they thought best. But God trains us for our good, so that we may share his holy character.

11At the time, any training feels painful rather than joyful. But afterward, for those shaped by it, it produces a peaceful harvest of right living.

12Therefore, strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.

13Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be put out of joint but will instead be healed.

14Work hard to live at peace with everyone and to live a holy life set apart for God. Without such holiness no one will see the Lord.

15Watch over one another so that no one misses God’s generous favor. Do not let any bitter root grow up and cause trouble, contaminating many people.

16Make sure no one is sexually immoral or treats sacred things as worthless, as Esau did. He sold the rights that belonged to him as the firstborn son in exchange for a single meal.

17You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He found no way to reverse what had happened, although he sought the blessing with tears.

18You have not come to something that can be touched and that burns with fire, or to darkness, gloom, and a storm.

19You have not come to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of spoken words. Those who heard that voice begged that no further word be spoken to them,

20because they could not bear the command: “Even if an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”

21What appeared was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”

22Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to tens of thousands of angels gathered in celebration,

23and to the assembly of firstborn heirs whose names are recorded in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of everyone, and to the spirits of those who are right with God and have been brought to completion.

24You have come to Jesus, who mediates a new covenant—a binding relationship between God and his people—and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than Abel’s blood.

25Be careful not to refuse God, who is speaking. Those who rejected the warning given on earth did not escape. Much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who warns us from heaven.

26At that time his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but heaven as well.”

27The words “once more” show that everything that can be shaken—that is, everything created—will be removed, so that what cannot be shaken will remain.

28Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be grateful. In gratitude, let us serve God in a way that pleases him, with reverence and awe,

29because our God is a fire that consumes.