Day 287 of 365

¹Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

²looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³For consider him who has endured such hostility from sinners against himself, that you do not grow weary, fainting in your souls.

⁴You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;

⁵and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, "My son, do not take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;

⁶For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives."

⁷It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

⁸But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.

⁹Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁰For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

¹¹All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.

¹²Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,

¹³and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

¹⁴Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,

¹⁵looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;

¹⁶lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his own birthright for one meal.

¹⁷For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.

¹⁸For you have not come to something that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and darkness, gloom, and storm,

¹⁹the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,

²⁰for they could not stand that which was commanded, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned;"

²¹and so fearful was the appearance, 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 innumerable multitudes of angels,

²³to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

²⁴to Jesus, the mediator of a New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.

²⁵See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned on the Earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,

²⁶whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens."

²⁷This phrase, "Yet once more," signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.

²⁸So since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, through which we may offer service pleasing to God, with reverence and awe,

²⁹for our God is a consuming fire.

¹Let brotherly love continue.

²Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.

³Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.

⁴Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

⁵Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

⁶So that with good courage we say, "The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

⁷Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.

⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

¹⁰We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp.

¹²Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.

¹³Let us therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach.

¹⁴For we do not have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.

¹⁵Through him, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.

¹⁶But do not forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

¹⁸Pray for us, for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things.

¹⁹I strongly urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you sooner.

²⁰Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,

²¹make you complete in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.

²²But I exhort you, brothers, endure the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words.

²³Know that our brother Timothy has been freed, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.

²⁴Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings.

²⁵Grace be with you all.

¹Jacob, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Diaspora: Greetings.

²Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,

³knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

⁴Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.

⁶But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

⁷For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.

⁸He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;

¹⁰and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.

¹¹For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.

¹²Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which he promised to those who love him.

¹³Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

¹⁴But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.

¹⁸Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹This you know, my beloved brothers. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

²⁰for the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

²¹Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;

²⁴for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

²⁵But he who looks into the perfect Law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶If anyone thinks himself to be religious while he does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man's religion is worthless.

²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

¹My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.

²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;

³and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, "Sit here in a good place;" but you tell the poor man, "Stand there," or "Sit by my footstool;"

⁴haven't you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?

⁷Do not they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

⁸However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

¹¹For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

¹²So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?

¹⁵And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you tells them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled;" and yet you did not give them the things the body needs, what good is it?

¹⁷Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

¹⁸Yes, a man will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.

²⁰But do you want to know, foolish man, that faith apart from works is dead?

²¹Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

²²You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;" and he was called the friend of God.

²⁴You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.

²⁵In like manner was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?

²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.