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].
Seeing, therefore, that there is on every side of us such a throng of witnesses, let us also lay aside everything that hinders us, and the sin that clings about us, and run with patient endurance the race that lies 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].
our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfect example of our faith, who, for the joy that lay before him, endured the cross, heedless of its shame, and now “has taken his seat at 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.
Weigh well the example of him who had to endure such opposition from “people who were sinning against themselves,” so that you should not grow weary or faint-hearted.
4 While you have struggled against [being tempted to] sin, you have not yet bled [and died because of resisting evil, as Jesus did].
You have not yet, in your struggle with sin, resisted to the death;
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 encouraging words which are addressed to you as God’s children – “My child, think not lightly of the Lord’s discipline, do not despond when he rebukes you;
6 because it is everyone whom he loves whom the Lord disciplines, and he punishes everyone whom he accepts as his child.
For it is him whom he loves that he disciplines, and he chastises every child whom he acknowledges.”
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].
It is for your discipline that you have to endure all this. God is dealing with you as his children. For where is there a child whom his father does not discipline?
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].
If you are left without that discipline, in which all children share, it shows that you are bastards, and not true children.
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]!
Further, when our earthly fathers disciplined us, we respected them. Should we not, then, much rather yield submission to the Father of souls, 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.
Our fathers disciplined us for only a short time and as seemed best to them; but God disciplines us for our true good, to enable us to share 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.
No discipline is pleasant at the time; on the contrary, it is painful. But afterwards its fruit is seen in the peacefulness of a righteous life which is the lot of those who have been trained under it.
12 So, [instead of acting as though you were spiritually exhausted], renew yourselves [MET] spiritually.
Therefore “lift again the down-dropped hands and straighten the weakened 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.
make straight paths for your feet,” so that the lame limb may not be put out of joint, but rather be cured.
14 Try to live peacefully with all people. Seek to be holy, since no one will see the Lord if he is not holy.
Try earnestly to live at peace with everyone, and to attain to that purity without which no one will 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.
Take care that no one fails to use the loving help of God, “that no bitterness is allowed to take root and spring up, and cause trouble,” and so poison the whole community.
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.
Take care that no one becomes immoral, or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
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 even afterwards, when he wished to claim his father’s blessing, he was rejected – for he never found an opportunity to repair his error – though he begged for the blessing 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.
It is not to tangible “flaming fire” that you have drawn near, nor to “gloom, and darkness, and storm,
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 the blast of a trumpet, and an audible voice.” Those who heard that voice entreated that they might hear no more,
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 bear to think of the command – “If even an animal touches the mountain, it is to be stoned to death;”
21 Truly, because Moses was terrified after seeing what happened [on the mountain], he said, “I am trembling because I am very afraid!”
and so fearful was the sight that Moses said – “I tremble with fear.”
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.
No, but it is to Mount Zion that you have drawn near, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts 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 festal gathering and assemblage of God’s firstborn whose names are enrolled in heaven, to God the judge of all people, to the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection,
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.
to Jesus, the intermediary of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that tells of better things 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]
Beware how you refuse to hear him who is speaking. For, if the Israelites did not escape punishment, when they refused to listen to him who taught them on earth the divine will, far worse will it be for us, if we turn away from him who is teaching us from heaven.
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.”
Then his voice shook the earth, but now his declaration is – “Still once more I will cause not only the earth to tremble, but also the heavens.”
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.
And those words “still once more” indicate the passing away of all that is shaken – that is, of all created things – in order that only what is 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, let us, who have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, be thankful, and so offer acceptable worship to God, with awe and the deepest respect.
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.”
