God Disciplines His Children

¹ Therefore let us also, seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider him who has endured such hostility from sinners, that you do not grow weary and lose heart.

⁴ You have not yet resisted sin to the point of bloodshed in your striving against sin. ⁵ You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with sons,

“My son, do not take lightly the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when you are reproved by him.
⁶ For whom the Lord loves, he corrects,
just as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” ^a

⁷ Endure suffering as correction because God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not correct? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, our earthly fathers corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁰ For our earthly fathers indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them, but he disciplines us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. ¹¹ All chastening seems to be, at the time, not joyous but grievous, yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore lift up hands that hang down and knees that are feeble, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Warning and Encouragement

¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, and sanctification, without which no man will see the Lord. ¹⁵ Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many by it. ¹⁶ Watch out for any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. ¹⁷ For you know that even afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, though in tears he diligently sought it.

The Mountain of Fear and the Mountain of Joy

¹⁸ For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, ¹⁹ the sound of a trumpet, and the sound of words. Those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, ²⁰ for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ^b 21 So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” ^c

²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, ²³ to the festive gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.

²⁵ See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

^{a Proverbs 3:11-12
b Exodus 19:12-13
c Deuteronomy 9:19}

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