1 Therefore, since we also have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us put away every weight and the sin {hamartian: moral failure} which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance {hypomones: steadfast perseverance} the race set before us.
2 Keeping our gaze on Jesus {Iesous, Suffering Pioneer}, the one who begins and brings our faith to completion, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, treating shame as nothing, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God {Theos, Exalted King}.
3 For consider Him {Iesous, Suffering Example} who has endured such opposition {antilogia: direct hostility} from sinners against Himself, so that you do not grow weary, losing heart in your souls.
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood {haima: cost of life} in your struggle {antagonizomenoi: ongoing contest} against sin.
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation {parakleseos: fatherly appeal} which addresses you as sons: “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord {Kyrios, Wise Discipliner}, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.”
6 For the Lord {Kyrios, Loving Corrector} disciplines the one whom He loves, and He scourges {mastigoi: severe discipline} every son whom He receives.
7 For discipline you endure; God {Theos, Wise Fatherly Trainer} is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline {paideuei: corrects for maturity}?
8 But if you are without discipline {paideia: formative instruction}, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate {nothos: disqualified child} and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh as discipliners and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father {pater: Supreme Spiritual Source} of spirits, and live {zesomen: experience true life}?
10 For they disciplined us for a few days, according to what seemed good to them, but He {Theos, Wise Father} disciplines us for our benefit, so that we might share in His holiness {hagiotes: set-apart purity}.
11 Yet every discipline, with respect to the present, indeed does not seem to be of joy {charas: deep gladness}, but of grief; but later it yields a peaceful fruit to those who have been trained by it, of righteousness {dikaiosynes: upright conduct}.
12 Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down {pareimenas: exhausted from effort}, and the knees that have been made weak {paralelymena: lacking strength}.
13 And make straight paths for your feet {posin: daily conduct}, so that what is lame will not be turned aside, but rather will be healed {iathe: restored to wholeness}.
14 Pursue peace {eirenen: reconciled harmony} with everyone, and the sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord {Kyrios, Eschatological Judge}.
15 Looking after that no one falls short of the grace of God {Theos, Source of Grace}; that no root of bitterness {pikrias: festering resentment} springs up and causes trouble, and that through it many may become defiled.
16 Lest anyone be a fornicator or a profane person like Esau, who, for a single meal {broseos: food portion}, sold his own birthright {prototokia: firstborn privileges}.
17 For you know that even afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for repentance {metanoias: inner change}, although he sought it with tears {dakruon: intense weeping}.
18 For you have not come to what can be touched {pselaphomeno: physically grasped}, to a blazing fire, and to gloom, and to deep darkness, and to tempest {thyelle: violent storm}.
19 And the sound of a trumpet and a voice of words, of which those who heard {akousantes: fully perceived} implored that no further word {logon: additional command} should be added to them.
20 For they could not endure what was commanded {diastellomenon: solemn directive}: “Even if a beast {therion: wild creature} touches the mountain, it will be stoned.”
21 And so terrifying was the sight {phantazomenon: overwhelming manifestation} that Moses {Mouses: Sinai mediator} said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God {Theos, Living Covenant King}, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in festal gathering {panegyrei: joyful assembly}.
23 And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens, and to God {Theos, Supreme Judge} the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous {dikaion: just ones} who have been made perfect.
24 And to Jesus {Iesous, New Covenant Mediator}, the mediator of a new covenant {diatheke: binding promise}, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaks better than Abel’s.
25 See to it that you do not refuse Him {Theos, Present Heavenly Speaker} who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused the one who gave them a warning {chrematizo: solemn divine message} on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
26 His voice shook the earth then, but now He {Theos, Sovereign Promise-Maker} has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven {ouranos: unseen celestial}.”
27 But the phrase “Yet once more” indicates the removal {metathesin: total displacement} of the things being shaken {saleuomenon: unstable realities}, as of things that have been made, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us hold to grace {charis: unearned favor}, and by it let us serve God {Theos, One We Serve} acceptably, with reverence and awe.
29 For our God {Theos, Holy Judge} is fire that consumes {pyr: refining element}.