Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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God Our Father
1 As for us, we have this large
crowd of witnesses around
us. So then, let us rid ourselves of
everything that gets in the way, and
of the sin which holds on to us so
tightly, and let us run with determination
the race that lies before us.
2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus,
on whom our faith depends from beginning
to end. He did not give up
because of the cross! On the contrary,
because of the joy that was
waiting for him, he thought nothing
of the disgrace of dying on the cross,
and he is now seated at the right side
of God's throne.
3 Think of what he went through;
how he put up with so much hatred
from sinners! So do not let yourselves
become discouraged and give
up.
4 For in your struggle against sin
you have not yet had to resist to the
point of being killed.
5 Have you forgotten
the encouraging words which
God speaks to you as his sons?
“My son, pay attention when the Lord corrects you,
and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.
6
Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves,
and punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” note
7 Endure what you suffer as being a
father's punishment; your suffering
shows that God is treating you as his
sons. Was there ever a son who was
not punished by his father?
8 If you
are not punished, as all his sons are,
it means you are not real sons, but
bastards.
9 In the case of our human
fathers, they punished us and we respected
them. How much more,
then, should we submit to our spiritual
Father and live!
10 Our human fathers
punished us for a short time, as
it seemed right to them; but God
does it for our own good, so that we
may share his holiness.
11 When we
are punished, it seems to us at the
time something to make us sad, not
glad. Later, however, those who
have been disciplined by such punishment
reap the peaceful reward of
a righteous life.
Instructions and Warnings
12 Lift up your tired hands, then,
and strengthen your trembling
knees! note
13 Keep walking on straight
paths, so that the lame foot may
not be disabled, but instead be
healed. note
14 Try to be at peace with everyone,
and try to live a holy life, because
no one will see the Lord without
it.
15 Guard against turning back
from the grace of God. Let no one
become like a bitter plant that grows
up and causes many troubles with
its poison. note
16 Let no one become immoral
or unspiritual like Esau, who
for a single meal sold his rights as
the older son. note
17 Afterward, you
know, he wanted to receive his father's
blessing; but he was turned
back, because he could not find any
way to change what he had done,
even though in tears he looked for
it. note note
18 You have not come, as the people
of Israel came, to what you can
feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing
fire, the darkness and the gloom, the
storm,
19 the blast of a trumpet, and
the sound of a voice. When the people
heard the voice, they begged not
to hear another word, note
20 because
they could not bear the order which
said, “If even an animal touches the
mountain, it must be stoned to
death.” note
21 The sight was so terrifying
that Moses said, “I am trembling
and afraid!” note
22 Instead, you have come to
Mount Zion and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
with its thousands of angels.
23 You
have come to the joyful gathering of
God's first-born sons, whose names
are written in heaven. You have
come to God, who is the judge of all
mankind, and to the spirits of good
people made perfect. note
24 You have
-- --
come to Jesus, who arranged the
new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that promises much better
things than does the blood of Abel.
25 Be careful, then, and do not refuse
to hear him who speaks. Those
who refused to hear the one who
gave the divine message on earth did
not escape. How much less shall we
escape, then, if we turn away from
the one who speaks from heaven! note
26 His voice shook the earth at that
time, but now he has promised, “I
will once more shake not only the
earth but heaven as well.” note
27 The
words “once more” plainly show
that the created things will be
shaken and removed, so that the
things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28 Let us be thankful, then, because
we receive a kingdom that cannot be
shaken. Let us be grateful and worship
God in a way that will please
him, with reverence and fear;
29 because
our God is indeed a destroying
fire. note
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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