Midday Devotion

A Song of Ascents.
¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
² My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
³ He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
⁵ The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
⁷ The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
⁸ The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
¹ LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
² You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah
³ You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
⁴ Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!
⁵ Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
⁶ Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
⁷ Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
⁸ Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.
⁹ Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
¹⁰ Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.
¹² Yes, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
¹³ Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way. (ESV)

A Psalm of David.
¹ Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
² Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
³ For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
⁴ Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
⁵ I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.
⁶ I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
⁷ Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
⁸ Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
⁹ Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge.
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
¹¹ For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
¹² And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.

Of David.
¹ Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
² he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.
³ O LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?
⁴ Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
⁵ Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
⁶ Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them!
⁷ Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners,
⁸ whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
⁹ I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
¹⁰ who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
¹¹ Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
¹² May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;
¹³ may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
¹⁴ may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
¹⁵ Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD! (ESV)

²⁴ “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
²⁶ And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
²⁷ And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (ESV)

¹⁹ And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”
²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand.
²¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son,
²³ and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”
²⁴ At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.
²⁵ Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”
²⁶ So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
²⁷ The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.
²⁸ And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.
²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel.
³⁰ Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people.
³¹ And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. (ESV)

¹⁶ And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion.
¹⁷ And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
¹⁸ And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
¹⁹ And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.
²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
²¹ And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
²² And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).
²³ And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
²⁴ And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.
²⁵ And it was the third hour when they crucified him.
²⁶ And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”
²⁷ And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.
²⁹ And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
³⁰ save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
³¹ So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.
³² Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. (ESV)

⁴ From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.
⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
⁶ Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
⁷ And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
⁸ And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
¹⁰ And the people of Israel set out and camped in Oboth.
¹¹ And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise.
¹² From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered.
¹³ From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
¹⁴ Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, “Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
¹⁵ and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab.”
¹⁶ And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that I may give them water.”
¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—
¹⁸ the well that the princes made, that the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter and with their staffs.” And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah,
¹⁹ and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that looks down on the desert.
²¹ Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
²² “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
²³ But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.
²⁴ And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong.
²⁵ And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
²⁶ For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.
²⁷ Therefore the ballad singers say, “Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be established.
²⁸ For fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab, and swallowed the heights of the Arnon.
²⁹ Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon.
³⁰ So we overthrew them; Heshbon, as far as Dibon, perished; and we laid waste as far as Nophah; fire spread as far as Medeba.”
³¹ Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
³² And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
³³ Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
³⁴ But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”
³⁵ So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.

¹ Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.
² And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
³ And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel.
⁴ And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time,
⁵ sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me.
⁶ Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message.
⁸ And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.
⁹ And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”
¹⁰ And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying,
¹¹ ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.’”
¹² God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
¹³ So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”
¹⁴ So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”
¹⁵ Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these.
¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me,
¹⁷ for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’”
¹⁸ But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more.
¹⁹ So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.”
²⁰ And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” (ESV)

¹² In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.
¹³ And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
¹⁴ Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,
¹⁶ and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
¹⁷ And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,
¹⁸ who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.
¹⁹ And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
²⁰ And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
²² “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
²³ Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
²⁵ “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
²⁶ “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
²⁷ “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
²⁹ To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.
³⁰ Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.
³¹ And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
³² “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
³⁵ But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
³⁶ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (ESV)

²¹ The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;
²² for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
²³ The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;
²⁴ though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.
²⁵ I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.
²⁶ He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.
²⁷ Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.
²⁸ For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
²⁹ The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.
³⁰ The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
³¹ The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip. (ESV)

¹ Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.
² For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.
³ Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,
⁴ having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
⁵ Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
⁶ These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,
⁷ but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
⁸ By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing
⁹ (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,
¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
¹⁶ For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.
¹⁷ For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.
¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.
¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.”
²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.
²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
²³ Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,
²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

¹ For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
³ But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
⁵ Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
⁶ in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
⁸ When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),
⁹ then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
¹⁰ And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
¹¹ And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
¹² But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
¹³ waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”
¹⁷ then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
¹⁸ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
²⁶ For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
²⁷ but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
²⁸ Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
²⁹ How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
³⁰ For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
³² But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,
³³ sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
³⁴ For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
³⁵ Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
³⁷ For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;
³⁸ but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
² For by it the people of old received their commendation.
³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
⁵ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
⁹ By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
¹¹ By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
¹⁴ For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
¹⁵ If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
¹⁸ of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
¹⁹ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
²⁰ By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.
²¹ By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.
²² By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
²³ By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
²⁵ choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
²⁶ He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
²⁹ By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
³² And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—
³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
³⁴ quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
³⁵ Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.
³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—
³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
³⁹ And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
¹¹ For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
¹⁴ Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
¹⁸ For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest
¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.
²⁰ For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”
²¹ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
²⁵ See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”
²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire. (ESV)