9
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10
For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
11
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12
Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
13
and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
15
looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
16
lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
17
For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
18
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
19
and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.