1Therefore let us also , seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses , 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 , 2looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith , who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross , despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God . 3For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself , that ye wax not weary , fainting in your souls .
The Discipline of the Lord
4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: 5and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons , My son , regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord , Nor faint when thou art reproved of him ; 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth , And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth . 7It is for chastening that ye endure ; God dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not ? 8But if ye are without chastening , whereof all have been made partakers , then are ye bastards , and not sons . 9Furthermore , we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us , and we gave them reverence : shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits , and live ? 10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them ; but he for our profit , that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous ; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby , even the fruit of righteousness .
The Call to Holiness and Peace
12Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down , and the palsied knees ; 13and make straight paths for your feet , that that which is lame be not turned out of the way , but rather be healed . 14Follow after peace with all men , and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord : 15looking carefully lest there be any man that falleth short of the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you , and thereby the many be defiled ; 16lest there be any fornicator , or profane person , as Esau , who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright . 17For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing , he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind in his father , though he sought it diligently with tears .
The Unshakeable Kingdom
18For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched , and that burned with fire , and unto blackness , and darkness , and tempest , 19and the sound of a trumpet , and the voice of words ; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them ; 20for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain , it shall be stoned ; 21and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said , I exceedingly fear and quake : 22but ye are come unto mount Zion , and unto the city of the living God , the heavenly Jerusalem , and to innumerable hosts of angels, 23to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven , and to God the Judge of all , and to the spirits of just men made perfect , 24and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant , and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel. 25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh . For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth , much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven : 26whose voice then shook the earth : but now he hath promised , saying , Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only , but also the heaven . 27And this word , Yet once more , signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken , as of things that have been made , that those things which are not shaken may remain . 28Wherefore , receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace , whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: 29for our God is a consuming fire .