1Wherefore 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 , 2Looking 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 . 3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself , lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds .
The Discipline of the Lord
4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood , striving against sin . 5And 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 : 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth , and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth . 7If ye endure chastening , God dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not ? 8But if ye be without chastisement , whereof all are partakers , then are ye bastards , and not sons . 9Furthermore 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 ? 10For 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 . 11Now 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 there by .
The Call to Holiness and Peace
12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down , and the feeble knees ; 13And make straight paths for your feet , lest that which is lame be turned out of the way ; but let it rather be healed . 14Follow peace with all men , and holiness , without which no man shall see the Lord : 15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you , and there by many be defiled ; 16Lest there be any fornicator , or profane person , as Esau , who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright . 17For 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 .
The Unshakeable Kingdom
18For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched , and that burned with fire , nor unto blackness , and darkness , and tempest , 19And 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 : 21And so terrible was the sight , that Moses said , I exceedingly fear and quake :) 22But ye are come unto mount Sion , and unto the city of the living God , the heavenly Jerusalem , and to an innumerable company of angels , 23To 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 , 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant , and to the blood of sprinkling , that speaketh better things than that of Abel . 25See 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 : 26Whose voice then shook the earth : but now he hath promised , saying , Yet once more I shake not the earth only , but also heaven . 27And 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 . 28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved , let us have grace , whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear : 29For our God is a consuming fire .