Passage

Hebrews 12.17

Book: Hebrews · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"15. looking carefully lest there be any man that falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled; 16. lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright."

"17. For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind in his father, though he sought it diligently with tears."

"18. For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19. and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them;" (Hebrews 12:15-19, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"15. looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it; 16. lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal."

"17. For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears."

"18. For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, 19. the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them," (Hebrews 12:15-19, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"15. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; ^{fail: or, fall from} 16. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."

"17. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. ^{place: or, way to change his mind}"

"18. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19. And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:" (Hebrews 12:15-19, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"15. looking diligently over lest any one be failing of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up may give trouble, and through this many may be defiled; 16. lest any one be a fornicator, or a profane person, as Esau, who in exchange for one morsel of food did sell his birthright,"

"17. for ye know that also afterwards, wishing to inherit the blessing, he was disapproved of, for a place of reformation he found not, though with tears having sought it."

"18. For ye came not near to the mount touched and scorched with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19. and a sound of a trumpet, and a voice of sayings, which those having heard did entreat that a word might not be added to them," (Hebrews 12:15-19, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Repentance

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.