1 Therefore, since we too are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 For consider the one who has endured such hostility from sinners against themselves, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood,

5 and you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:

7 It is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons, for what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 But if you are without discipline, in which all have shared, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Moreover, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more submit to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a few days as seemed best to them, but he does so for our good, so that we may share in his holiness. 11 For the present, no discipline seems joyful, but painful. Later, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those trained by it.

12 Therefore lift up the drooping hands and strengthen the weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many, 16 and that no one is sexually immoral or profane like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.

18 For you have not come to something that can be touched, to blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and a storm, 19 to the sound of a trumpet and a voice speaking words, whose hearers begged that no further word be spoken to them. 20 For they could not bear what was commanded: “Even if an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21 And so fearful was the sight that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in a festive gathering, 23 to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to sprinkled blood that speaks better than Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse the one who speaks. For if those who refused the one who warned them on earth did not escape, much less will we if we turn away from the one who warns from heaven. 26 His voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removal of the things that are shaken, as things that have been made, so that the things that are not shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be grateful, and so offer God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.