1 T herefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses set around us, every weight having put off, and the closely besetting sin, through endurance may we run the contest that is set before us,

Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,

2 l ooking to the author and perfecter of faith -- Jesus, who, over-against the joy set before him -- did endure a cross, shame having despised, on the right hand also of the throne of God did sit down;

Looking away to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith and is also its Finisher. He, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 f or consider again him who endured such gainsaying from the sinners to himself, that ye may not be wearied in your souls -- being faint.

Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.

4 N ot yet unto blood did ye resist -- with the sin striving;

You have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, nor have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out your blood.

5 a nd ye have forgotten the exhortation that doth speak fully with you as with sons, `My son, be not despising chastening of the Lord, nor be faint, being reproved by Him,

And have you forgotten the divine word of appeal and encouragement in which you are reasoned with and addressed as sons? My son, do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by Him;

6 f or whom the Lord doth love He doth chasten, and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;'

For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.

7 i f chastening ye endure, as to sons God beareth Himself to you, for who is a son whom a father doth not chasten?

You must submit to and endure for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not train and correct and discipline?

8 a nd if ye are apart from chastening, of which all have become partakers, then bastards are ye, and not sons.

Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons.

9 T hen, indeed, fathers of our flesh we have had, chastising, and we were reverencing; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of the spirits, and live?

Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded and respected. Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so live?

10 f or they, indeed, for a few days, according to what seemed good to them, were chastening, but He for profit, to be partakers of His separation;

For disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.

11 a nd all chastening for the present, indeed, doth not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow, yet afterward the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised through it -- it doth yield.

For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 W herefore, the hanging-down hands and the loosened knees set ye up;

So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,

13 a nd straight paths make for your feet, that that which is lame may not be turned aside, but rather be healed;

And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet, so that the lame and halting may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.

14 p eace pursue with all, and the separation, apart from which no one shall see the Lord,

Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

15 l ooking diligently over lest any one be failing of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up may give trouble, and through this many may be defiled;

Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look, to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it—

16 l est any one be a fornicator, or a profane person, as Esau, who in exchange for one morsel of food did sell his birthright,

That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless and sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

17 f or ye know that also afterwards, wishing to inherit the blessing, he was disapproved of, for a place of reformation he found not, though with tears having sought it.

For you understand that later on, when he wanted his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance, although he sought for it carefully with tears.

18 F or ye came not near to the mount touched and scorched with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm,

19 a nd a sound of a trumpet, and a voice of sayings, which those having heard did entreat that a word might not be added to them,

And to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them.

20 f or they were not bearing that which is commanded, `And if a beast may touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or with an arrow shot through,'

For they could not bear the command that was given: If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.

21 a nd, (so terrible was the sight,) Moses said, `I am fearful exceedingly, and trembling.'

In fact, so awful and terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am terrified (aghast and trembling with fear).

22 B ut, ye came to Mount Zion, and to a city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of messengers,

But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering,

23 t o the company and assembly of the first-born in heaven enrolled, and to God the judge of all, and to spirits of righteous men made perfect,

And to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect,

24 a nd to a mediator of a new covenant -- Jesus, and to blood of sprinkling, speaking better things than that of Abel!

And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks, a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel.

25 S ee, may ye not refuse him who is speaking, for if those did not escape who refused him who upon earth was divinely speaking -- much less we who do turn away from him who from heaven,

So see to it that you do not reject Him or refuse to listen to and heed Him Who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused to listen and heed Him Who warned and divinely instructed them on earth, how much less shall we escape if we reject and turn our backs on Him Who cautions and admonishes from heaven?

26 w hose voice the earth shook then, and now hath he promised, saying, `Yet once -- I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven;'

Then His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake and make tremble not only the earth but also the heavens.

27 a nd this -- `Yet once' -- doth make evident the removal of the things shaken, as of things having been made, that the things not shaken may remain;

Now this expression, Yet once more, indicates the final removal and transformation of all shaken—that is, of that which has been created—in order that what cannot be shaken may remain and continue.

28 w herefore, a kingdom that cannot be shaken receiving, may we have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly, with reverence and religious fear;

Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe;

29 f or also our God a consuming fire.

For our God a consuming fire.