9. Then, too, we have certainly had the fathers of our flesh as instructors, and we reverenced them. Should we not obey the Father of spirits all the more, and so live?
10. And indeed, for a few days and according to their own wishes, they instructed us. But he does so to our benefit, so that we may receive his sanctification.
11. Now every discipline, in the present time, does not seem a gladness, of course, but a grief. But afterwards, it will repay a most peaceful fruit of justice to those who become trained in it.
12. Because of this, lift up your lazy hands and your lax knees,
13. and straighten the path of your feet, so that no one, being lame, may wander astray, but instead may be healed.
14. Pursue peace with everyone. Pursue sanctity, without which no one shall see God.
15. Be contemplative, lest anyone lack the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up and impede you, and by it, many might be defiled,
16. lest any fornicator or worldly person be like Esau, who, for the sake of one meal, sold his birthright.
17. For you know that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the benediction, he was rejected. For he found no place for repentance, even though he had sought it with tears.
18. But you have not drawn near to a tangible mountain, or a burning fire, or a whirlwind, or a mist, or a storm,
19. or the sound of a trumpet, or a voice of words. Those who had experienced these things excused themselves, lest the Word be spoken to them.
20. For they could not bear what was said, and so, if even a beast would have touched the mountain, it would have been stoned.