Hebrews 12:4-13

New American Standard Bible

A Father’s Discipline

⁴^(A)You have not yet resisted ^[a]^(B)to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; ⁵and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“^(C)My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor ^(D)faint when you are punished by Him;
⁶^(E)For ^(F)whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He punishes every son whom He accepts.”

⁷It is for discipline that you endure; ^(G)God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸But if you are without discipline, ^(H)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹Furthermore, we had ^[b]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we ^(I)respected them; shall we not much more be subject to ^(J)the Father of ^[c]spirits, and ^(K)live? ¹⁰For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, ^(L)so that we may share His holiness. ¹¹^(M)For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the ^(N)peaceful fruit of righteousness.

¹²Therefore, ^[d]^(O)strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, ¹³and ^(P)make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather ^(Q)be healed.