1 T herefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses set around us, every weight having put off, and the closely besetting sin, through endurance may we run the contest that is set before us,

2 l ooking to the author and perfecter of faith -- Jesus, who, over-against the joy set before him -- did endure a cross, shame having despised, on the right hand also of the throne of God did sit down;

3 f or consider again him who endured such gainsaying from the sinners to himself, that ye may not be wearied in your souls -- being faint.

4 N ot yet unto blood did ye resist -- with the sin striving;

5 a nd ye have forgotten the exhortation that doth speak fully with you as with sons, `My son, be not despising chastening of the Lord, nor be faint, being reproved by Him,

6 f or whom the Lord doth love He doth chasten, and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;'

7 i f chastening ye endure, as to sons God beareth Himself to you, for who is a son whom a father doth not chasten?

8 a nd if ye are apart from chastening, of which all have become partakers, then bastards are ye, and not sons.

9 T hen, indeed, fathers of our flesh we have had, chastising, and we were reverencing; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of the spirits, and live?

10 f or they, indeed, for a few days, according to what seemed good to them, were chastening, but He for profit, to be partakers of His separation;

11 a nd all chastening for the present, indeed, doth not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow, yet afterward the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised through it -- it doth yield.

12 W herefore, the hanging-down hands and the loosened knees set ye up;

13 a nd straight paths make for your feet, that that which is lame may not be turned aside, but rather be healed;

14 p eace pursue with all, and the separation, apart from which no one shall see the Lord,

15 l ooking diligently over lest any one be failing of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up may give trouble, and through this many may be defiled;

16 l est any one be a fornicator, or a profane person, as Esau, who in exchange for one morsel of food did sell his birthright,

17 f or ye know that also afterwards, wishing to inherit the blessing, he was disapproved of, for a place of reformation he found not, though with tears having sought it.

18 F or ye came not near to the mount touched and scorched with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

19 a nd a sound of a trumpet, and a voice of sayings, which those having heard did entreat that a word might not be added to them,

20 f or they were not bearing that which is commanded, `And if a beast may touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or with an arrow shot through,'

21 a nd, (so terrible was the sight,) Moses said, `I am fearful exceedingly, and trembling.'

22 B ut, ye came to Mount Zion, and to a city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of messengers,

23 t o the company and assembly of the first-born in heaven enrolled, and to God the judge of all, and to spirits of righteous men made perfect,

24 a nd to a mediator of a new covenant -- Jesus, and to blood of sprinkling, speaking better things than that of Abel!

25 S ee, may ye not refuse him who is speaking, for if those did not escape who refused him who upon earth was divinely speaking -- much less we who do turn away from him who from heaven,

26 w hose voice the earth shook then, and now hath he promised, saying, `Yet once -- I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven;'

27 a nd this -- `Yet once' -- doth make evident the removal of the things shaken, as of things having been made, that the things not shaken may remain;

28 w herefore, a kingdom that cannot be shaken receiving, may we have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly, with reverence and religious fear;

29 f or also our God a consuming fire.