1 Wherefore seeing we
also are compassed
about with so
great a
cloud of
witnesses,
let us lay
aside every weight,
and the
sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us
run with patience the
race that is set
before us,
2 Looking 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 is set
down at the right
hand of the
throne of
God.
3 For consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself,
lest ye be
wearied and
faint in
your minds.
4 Ye
have not
yet resisted unto blood,
striving against sin.
5 And ye have
forgotten the
exhortation which speaketh unto
you as unto
children,
My son,
despise not thou the
chastening of the
Lord,
nor faint when thou art
rebuked of him:
6 For whom the
Lord loveth he
chasteneth ,
and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth .
7 If ye
endure chastening,
God dealeth with
you as with
sons;
for what son is
he whom the
father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye
be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers,
then are
ye bastards,
and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have
had fathers of
our flesh which
corrected us,
and we gave them
reverence : shall
we not much rather be in
subjection unto the
Father of
spirits,
and live ?
10 For they
verily for a
few days chastened us
after their
own pleasure ;
but he
for our
profit ,
that we might be
partakers of
his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the
present seemeth to
be joyous,
but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby .
12 Wherefore lift
up the
hands which hang
down ,
and the
feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for
your feet, lest
that which is
lame be turned out of the
way ;
but let
it rather be
healed .
14 Follow peace with all men,
and holiness,
without which no
man shall
see the
Lord:
15 Looking
diligently lest any
man fail of the
grace of
God;
lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you,
and thereby many be
defiled ;
16 Lest there be
any fornicator,
or profane
person,
as Esau,
who for one morsel of
meat sold his birthright.
17 For ye
know how that
afterward , when he
would have
inherited the
blessing, he was
rejected :
for he
found no place of
repentance,
though he
sought it carefully with tears.
18 For ye
are not come unto the
mount that might be
touched ,
and that
burned with
fire,
nor unto
blackness,
and darkness,
and tempest,
19 And the
sound of a
trumpet,
and the
voice of
words;
which voice they that
heard intreated that the
word should not be
spoken to
them any
more:
20 (
For they
could not endure that which was
commanded , And if so much
as a
beast touch the
mountain, it shall be
stoned ,
or thrust
through with a
dart:
21 And so terrible was the
sight , that
Moses said , I exceedingly
fear and quake:)
22 But ye are
come unto
mount Sion,
and unto the
city of the
living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable
company of
angels,
23 To the general
assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are
written in heaven,
and to
God the
Judge of
all,
and to the
spirits of just
men made
perfect ,
24 And to
Jesus the
mediator of the
new covenant,
and to the
blood of
sprinkling, that
speaketh better
things than that of
Abel.
25 See that ye
refuse not him that
speaketh .
For if they escaped not who refused
him that
spake on earth,
much more shall not
we escape, if we turn away from
him that speaketh
from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the
earth:
but now he hath
promised ,
saying ,
Yet once
more I shake not the
earth only,
but also heaven.
27 And this word,
Yet once
more,
signifieth the
removing of those things that are
shaken ,
as of things that are
made ,
that those things which
cannot be
shaken may
remain .
28 Wherefore we
receiving a
kingdom which cannot be
moved, let us
have grace,
whereby we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly
fear:
29 For our God is a
consuming fire.