Hebrews 12
1 We [know about] many people like that [who showed they trusted in God]. They are like a crowd of spectators [who are cheering for us inside a stadium] [MET]. Knowing that, we must put away all the things that hinder us, [as a runner puts aside everything that would hinder him because they are heavy] [MET]. Especially we must put away sinful actions that [hinder us, as a runner] sets aside clothes he does not need, clothes that would entangle him [MET]. Let us [wholeheartedly strive to achieve what God has planned for us, as someone] in a race wholeheartedly runs the course that is before him [MET].
Therefore let us indeed, having around us so great a cloud of witnesses, having laid aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, run with patience the race which is set before us,
2 And let us [keep our minds on] Jesus, [as a runner] keeps his eyes on [the goal] [MET]. Jesus is the one we should imitate in the way he perfectly trusted [God. When he died on] the cross he endured it as he suffered greatly [MTY], instead of [thinking about the things he would] rejoice about [later]. He disregarded being disgraced by [dying that way]. He is now sitting at the place of highest honor [MTY] at the throne [where God rules].
looking unto Jesus the beginner and perfecter of our faith; who for the joy that was placed before him, endured the cross, looking with contempt at the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.
3 [Jesus] patiently endured it when sinful people acted so hostilely against him. Try to act the way he did, so that you do not give up [trusting] God or become discouraged.
For consider him who has endured so great a contradiction of sinners against himself, in order that you may not become weary, fainting in your souls.
4 While you have struggled against [being tempted to] sin, you have not yet bled [and died because of resisting evil, as Jesus did].
For you have not yet resisted unto blood, fighting against sin;
5 Do not forget [RHQ] these words [that Solomon spoke to his son, that are the same as God] would exhort you as his children: My child, pay attention [LIT] when the Lord is disciplining you, and do not be discouraged when the Lord punishes you [DOU],
and you 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 proven of him:
6 because it is everyone whom he loves whom the Lord disciplines, and he punishes everyone whom he accepts as his child.
for whom the Lord loves he chastises, and scourges every son whom he receives.
7 It is in order that God may discipline you that he requires you to endure the disagreeable things [that happen to you]. [When God disciplines you] he is treating you as a father treats his children. All fathers [RHQ] discipline their children [LIT].
Endure unto chastisement; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom the father does not chastise?
8 So, if you have not experienced God disciplining you just like he disciplines all his other children, you are [not true children of God] [MET]. [You are like] illegitimate children; [no father disciplines them].
And if you are without chastisement, of which all have been partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore, our natural fathers disciplined us [when we were young], and we respected them for doing that. So we should certainly more readily accept God our spiritual Father disciplining us, with the result that we live eternally [RHQ]!
Then indeed, we had fathers of our flesh who chastised us, and we endured: how much more then shall we submit to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 Our natural fathers disciplined us for a short time in a way that they considered right, [but it wasn’t always right], but God always disciplines us [in a right way], to help us. He does it so that we may be holy as he is.
For they indeed for a few days were accustomed to chastise us according to that which seemed right to them; but he made unto our profit, in order that we might partake his holiness.
11 During the time that God is disciplining us, that does not seem to be something about which we should rejoice. Instead, it is something that pains us. But later it causes those who have learned from it to be peaceful and to [live] righteously.
Indeed no chastisement for the present seems to be truly joyful, but sorrowful: but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who have been disciplined by it.
12 So, [instead of acting as though you were spiritually exhausted], renew yourselves [MET] spiritually.
Therefore hold up the hands which hang down, and the paralyzed knees,
13 Go straight forward [in your Christian life] [MET], in order that believers who are uncertain about their faith [will imitate you] and not ([leave God’s way/] useless [to God]) [MET]. Instead, they will be spiritually restored [MET] as an injured and useless limb is restored.
and make straight paths for your feet, in order that whatsoever is lame may not be turned out of the way, but rather may it be healed.
14 Try to live peacefully with all people. Seek to be holy, since no one will see the Lord if he is not holy.
Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification, without which no one shall see the Lord:
15 Beware that none of you stops [trusting in] God, [who has done kind things for us that we did not deserve] (OR, Beware that you have never [experienced] God kindly [saving you]). Be on guard lest any of you [act in an evil way towards others], because your doing that will [grow like] [MET] a root [grows into a big plant], and the result [of your] doing that will be that many believers will sin and become unacceptable to God.
looking diligently lest any one may fail from the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up may trouble you, and through it many may be defiled;
16 Do not let anyone be immoral, or be irreligious as Esau was. He exchanged the rights he had as a firstborn son for only one meal.
lest any one may be a fornicator, or a profane person, as was Esau, who for one morsel sold his birthright.
17 You know that after he did that, he wanted to receive [what his father would promise to give him if] he blessed him. But [his father] was unable [to change what he had already done]. And Esau found no way to change things, even though he sought tearfully to do that.
For you know that, wishing to inherit the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance even though having sought it diligently with tears.
18 In coming [to God] you have not [experienced things like what the Israeli people experienced] at [Sinai] Mountain. [They] approached [a mountain that God told them they] should not touch. [They approached] a blazing fire, and it was gloomy and dark [DOU], and there was a hurricane/cyclone.
For you have not come to the mountain that can be touched, and that is burnt with fire, and unto blackness and darkness, and tempest,
19 They heard a trumpet sounding and they heard [God] speak. The result was that those who heard it pleaded for God not to speak to them like that again.
and to the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of words; which those having heard requested that the word should not be spoken unto them:
20 When [God] commanded them saying, “If [a person or] even an animal touches this mountain, [you] must [kill him/it by] throwing stones at him/it,” they were terrified.
for they could not endure that which was spoken, If a wild beast should touch the mountain, it shall be pierced through with a dart:
21 Truly, because Moses was terrified after seeing what happened [on the mountain], he said, “I am trembling because I am very afraid!”
and the sight was so fearful, Moses said, I exceedingly fear and tremble:
22 Instead, [it is as though] you have come to [the presence of God in heaven] [MET]. [That is like what your ancestors did when they came to worship] God on Zion Hill, in Jerusalem, in the city of God who is all-powerful. You have come (OR, you are coming) to where there are countless angels, who are rejoicing as they have gathered together.
but you have come to mount Zion, and to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the city of the living God, and to myriads of angels,
23 You have joined all the believers [who have privileges like] firstborn sons, whose names [God] has written down in heaven. You have come to God, who will judge everyone. You have come to where the spirits of God’s people are, people who lived righteously [before they died], and who now have been made perfect [in heaven].
to the whole company, and to the church of the first-born, who have been written in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of justified people who have been made perfect,
24 You have come to Jesus, who arranged a new covenant [between us and God]. You have accepted [what he accomplished when] his blood flowed [when he died on the cross. His doing that made it possible for God to forgive us]. That is better than the blood of Abel, [who just] wanted revenge because his brother Cain murdered him.
and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking something better than the blood of Abel.
25 Beware that you do not refuse to listen to [God] who is speaking to you. The Israeli people did not escape [God punishing them] when [Moses] (OR, [God]) warned them here on earth. So we shall surely not escape [God punishing us] if we reject him when he warns us from heaven! [RHQ]
See that you do not reject the one speaking: for if they escape not having rejected the one delivering them the divine oracles on earth, how much more shall we not escape, who turn away from the one speaking from the heavens:
26 The earth shook [PRS] then when he spoke [MTY] [at Sinai Mountain]. But now he has promised, “I will shake the earth again, one more time, but I will shake heaven too.”
whose voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, saying, I will still once shake not only the earth, but also heaven.
27 The words “again, one more time” indicate that things [on earth] will be shaken {that [he] will shake things [on earth]}, meaning that he will set aside all that [he] has created, in order that the things [in heaven] that cannot be shaken {that nothing can shake} may remain forever.
But he would yet once show the removal of the things shaken, as having been created, in order that the things unshaken may remain.
28 So, let us thank God that we are becoming members of a kingdom that nothing can shake. Let us worship/serve God in a way that pleases him by being greatly in awe [DOU] before him.
Therefore receiving an unshaken kingdom, let us have grace, through which we may worship God acceptably with reverence and fear:
29 Remember that the God we [worship/serve] is like a fire that burns up everything [that is impure] [MET]!
for our God is a consuming fire.
