13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14aPursue peace with all people, and holiness, bwithout which no one will see the Lord:
15 looking carefully lest anyone afall short of the grace of God; lest any broot of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
16 lest there be any afornicator or profane person like Esau, bwho for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was arejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
The Glorious Company
18 For you have not come1 to athe mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and2 darkness and tempest,
19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard itabegged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: a“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned1 or shot with an arrow.”
21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, a“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
23 to the1 general assembly and church of athe firstborn bwhoare registered in heaven, to God cthe Judge of all, to the spirits of just men dmade perfect,
24 to Jesus athe Mediator of the new covenant, and to bthe blood of sprinkling that speaks better things cthan thatof Abel.
Hear the Heavenly Voice
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For aif they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shallwenotescape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,
26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, a“Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the aremoval of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we1 may aserve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
lest any . . . fall—Greek, "lest any (namely, through sloth in running) failing," or "falling short of the grace of God . . . trouble you." The image is taken from a company of travellers, one of whom lags behind, and so never reaches the end of the long and laborious journey [CHRYSOSTOM].
root of bitterness—not merely a "bitter root," which might possibly bring forth sweet fruits; this, a root whose essence is "bitterness," never could. Paul here refers to Deuteronomy 29:18, "Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood" (compare Acts 8:23). Root of bitterness comprehends every person (compare Hebrews 12:16) and every principle of doctrine or practice so radically corrupt as to spread corruption all around. The only safety is in rooting out such a root of bitterness.
many—rather, "the many," that is, the whole congregation. So long as it is hidden under the earth it cannot be remedied, but when it "springs up," it must be dealt with boldly. Still remember the caution (Matthew 13:26-30) as to rooting out persons. No such danger can arise in rooting out bad principles.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Hebrews 12:15:
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