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Hebrews 12

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📖 Hebrews introduction

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1Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, ✦ 2looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ✦ 3For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. ✦ 4You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; ✦ 5and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are punished by Him; ✦ 6For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He punishes every son whom He accepts.” ✦ 7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ✦ 8But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ✦ 9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? ✦ 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. ✦ 11For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. ✦ 12Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, ✦ 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. ✦ 14Pursue peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ✦ 15See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ✦ 16that there be no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ✦ 17For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. ✦ 18For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, ✦ 19and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. ✦ 20For they could not cope with the command, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ✦ 21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” ✦ 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, ✦ 23to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ✦ 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. ✦ 25See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. ✦ 26And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ✦ 27This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ✦ 28Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let’s show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; ✦ 29for our God is a consuming fire. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Where this chapter connects

Heb 12 ·15Heb 10 ·13Ps 119 ·8Eph 5 ·81 Pet 1 ·8Heb 11 ·8Exod 19 ·71 Pet 2 ·7

Christ at the center

Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.

How Hebrews 12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed

    Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

  • SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed

    Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)

  • ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed

    A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

  • VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical

    In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.

Commentaries & study tools

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