Hebrews 12

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.

²⁵Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.

¹⁶as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

³⁴But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.

³⁵So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

³⁶You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,

¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

²³When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

²⁴He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

⁶being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

²and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

⁹Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.

³Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

¹Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

¹³I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits, yet you hold fast to My name. You did not deny your faith in Me, even in the days of My faithful witness Antipas, who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

³²Remember the early days that you were in the light. In those days, you endured a great conflict in the face of suffering.

³³Sometimes you were publicly exposed to ridicule and persecution; at other times you were partners with those who were so treated.

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

⁹Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

⁶For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

¹¹My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, and do not loathe His rebuke;

¹²for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

¹⁷Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

³²But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

¹²Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law,

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

¹²for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

⁷⁵I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

²⁴He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

¹²Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law,

²⁴Correct me, O Lord, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.

¹⁸Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be party to his death.

⁵So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

²⁴He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

¹⁵A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.

¹⁷Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will bring delight to your soul.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

⁹Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

¹⁰And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.

¹A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

¹⁴For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children.

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

¹⁶“May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation

⁵This is what God the Lord says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:

⁶Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

¹⁰The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

¹This is the burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:

⁴Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁴⁴For I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.

⁴⁵For I am the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

¹⁴He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

²⁶to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

²⁷and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.

²⁵I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

²“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

³Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope.

¹⁷For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.

⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

¹⁸The Lord disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.

³Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!

³Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

³Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.

⁴Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.

¹⁴And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.

⁷And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and every knee will turn to water.’ Yes, it is coming and it will surely happen, declares the Lord God.”

⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

²⁶Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.

²⁷Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.

¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

³Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!

⁶Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

³A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

²²And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt;

²³save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.

¹Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

¹⁵But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,

¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

⁷For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

¹¹He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁸If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.

¹²See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.

¹⁸Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

⁴You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

¹As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

⁸Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be fully rewarded.

¹⁴Therefore, beloved, as you anticipate these things, make every effort to be found at peace—spotless and blameless in His sight.

³¹“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied.

³²“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

¹⁶Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

⁴Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

²¹For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

¹⁵But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

²⁹You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

²⁴Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,

²⁵because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,

¹¹Later the other virgins arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’

¹²But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’

²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

⁸But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.

²⁶If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,

²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.

⁴It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,

⁵who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age—

¹¹You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

¹⁷And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.

²²The Lord spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

²³And when you heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain was blazing with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me,

¹⁸When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.

¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

¹²And you are to set up a boundary for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

¹³No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows—whether man or beast, he must not live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

¹⁶This is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”

⁵²in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

¹²And the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

¹And God spoke all these words:

²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

⁴The Lord spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.

³³Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?

¹²And you are to set up a boundary for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

¹³No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows—whether man or beast, he must not live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

²He said: “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.

¹⁰All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

¹⁹For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.

¹⁶On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

¹⁶On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the Lord had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me this time as well.

³And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.

¹⁹And as the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

¹²⁰My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

¹⁷When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

²Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.

¹Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

¹¹So the redeemed of the Lord will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

²I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

⁴⁰God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.

²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

⁴These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

²²Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the Lord says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,

²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

¹⁵Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

⁶Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.

⁴By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

¹⁰“What have you done?” replied the Lord. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

²⁸This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

⁵The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

¹We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

²For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,

¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame come to him who ignores discipline, but whoever heeds correction is honored.

⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁶For this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

⁷I will shake all the nations, and they will come with all their treasures, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.

¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.

¹⁹Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

¹⁶The Lord will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

⁶O mountains, that you skipped like rams, O hills, like lambs?

⁷Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

³¹and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

¹⁰But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

²⁶They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.

²⁷But You remain the same, and Your years will never end.

¹Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

¹¹Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

⁴⁴In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.

¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

²²let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

²⁴For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

³But understand that today the Lord your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the Lord has promised you.

¹⁵For behold, the Lord will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.

⁸in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.

¹⁷And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.