12:1 Consequently, then, since we have a vast cloud of witnesses surrounding us, we must pull out every arrowhead of the failure that opposes us from all directions, so that we can run the race before us and endure to the finish.

12:2 We must look to the Originator and Completer of the faith: Jesus, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross and ignored its shame. He has been seated at the right of the throne of God.

12:3 Consider this One who endured such resistance from those who err, so that you won’t run out of energy and slack off.

12:4 You have not yet come to the point of bloodshed in your struggle against failure,

12:5 and you have been oblivious to the intercession which contends with you as with children: “My child, do not take the Master’s training lightly, and do not slack off when he puts you under examination.

12:6 For whoever the Master loves he trains, and he will punish any child he calls his own.”

12:7 So if you are enduring training, it’s because you are God’s children. After all, what child is not trained by their parents?

12:8 So if you are not being trained— and we are all well familiar with that— you are not true children but illegitimate.

12:9 We have been trained by our physical parents, and we respected them for it. Should we not be all the more supportive of the Father of our spirits and live?

12:10 They trained us for a few days in the way they thought was best, but that One does it for our benefit so we can have a part in his holiness.

12:11 Now of course no training is a joy when we’re in it, but a time of sadness. Yet it results in peace and justice for those who are conditioned by it.

12:12 So flex those limp hands and numb knees!

12:13 Make level paths for your feet so the lame will not twist an ankle but instead be healed.

12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and also holiness, without which nobody will see the Master.

12:15 Make sure nobody is left out of the favor of God, and that no root of bitterness sprouts up to crowd you out and infect you.

12:16 Also watch out for anyone who is promiscuous or is godless like Esau, who traded his birthright for a meal.

12:17 You know that afterwards he was denied the blessing of inheritance, and he could not get it back from his father, though he sought it with tears.

12:18 For you have not come to the place where you could feel the fire, the darkness, the gloom, and the tornado,

12:19 hearing the trumpet blast and the sound of proclamation, which made those who heard it beg for it to stop.

12:20 They could not bear the warning that even if a wild animal touched the mountain it would have to be stoned.

12:21 The spectacle was so frightening that Moses said, “I am terrified and shaking!”

12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the heavenly city of the living God, Jerusalem. You have come to many thousands of Messengers

12:23 in a universal gathering and assembly of the firstborn, having been registered in the heavens. You have come to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of those who have been justified.

12:24 And you have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new unilateral contract, and to a sprinkling of blood that speaks to us in a better way than Abel.

12:25 Be very careful that you do not reject the One who speaks. For if there was no escape for those who rejected the divine revelation given on earth, how much more so for us if we turn from the One from the heavens?

12:26 His voice once shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the sky!”

12:27 That phrase, “once more,” makes it clear that what will be shaken— the created things— will be taken away, leaving only that which cannot be shaken.

12:28 So then, by accepting the unshakable kingdom, let us be grateful and offer divine service that is pleasing to God, with precaution and awe—

12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.