Hebrews 12:1

Bible in Basic English (1941)

For this reason, as we are circled by so great a cloud of witnesses, putting off every weight, and the sin into which we come so readily, let us keep on running in the way which is marked out for us,

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

¶Τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς τοσοῦτον ἔχοντες περικείμενον ἡμῖν νέφος μαρτύρων, ὄγκον ἀποθέμενοι πάντα καὶ τὴν εὐπερίστατον ἁμαρτίαν, διʼ ὑπομονῆς τρέχωμεν τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα,

Transliteration

Toigaroun and hēmeis tosouton echontes perikeimenon hēmin nephos martyrōn, ogkon apothemenoi all and the euperistaton hamartian, through hypomonēs let us trechōmen the prokeimenon hēmin agōna,

Grammar Details

• *Toigaroun*: conjunction - therefore/consequently/for that reason
• *hēmeis*: personal pronoun, nominative, plural - we
• *tosouton*: demonstrative pronoun, accusative, singular, neuter - so great/such a great
• *echontes*: participle, present active, nominative, plural, masculine - having
• *perikeimenon*: participle, perfect middle/passive, accusative, singular, neuter - surrounding/encompassing
• *hēmin*: personal pronoun, dative, plural - us/to us
• *nephos*: noun, accusative, singular, neuter - cloud
• *martyrōn*: noun, genitive, plural, masculine - of witnesses
• *ogkon*: noun, accusative, singular, masculine - weight/burden/encumbrance
• *apothemenoi*: participle, aorist middle, nominative, plural, masculine - having laid aside/putting away
• *euperistaton*: adjective, accusative, singular, feminine - easily entangling/besetting
• *hamartian*: noun, accusative, singular, feminine - sin
• *hypomonēs*: noun, genitive, singular, feminine - endurance/perseverance/patience
• *trechōmen*: verb, present active subjunctive, 1st person plural - let us run
• *prokeimenon*: participle, present middle/passive, accusative, singular, masculine - set before/lying before
• *agōna*: noun, accusative, singular, masculine - race/contest/conflict

Word Meanings

• *Toigaroun*: therefore/consequently/for that very reason
• *nephos*: cloud/multitude/great number
• *ogkon*: weight/burden/encumbrance/bulk/pride
• *euperistaton*: easily entangling/besetting/distracting/hindering/surrounding
• *hypomonēs*: endurance/perseverance/patience/steadfastness
• *agōna*: race/contest/conflict/struggle

Referenced Verses

• 1 Cor 9:24-27 : 24 Do you not see that in a running competition all take part, but only one gets the reward? So let your minds be fixed on the reward. 25 And every man who takes part in the sports has self-control in all things. Now they do it to get a crown which is of this world, but we for an eternal crown. 26 So then I am running, not uncertainly; so I am fighting, not as one who gives blows in the air: 27 But I give blows to my body, and keep it under control, for fear that, after having given the good news to others, I myself might not have God's approval.
• 2 Tim 4:7 : 7 I have made a good fight, I have come to the end of my journey, I have kept the faith:
• Luke 21:34 : 34 But give attention to yourselves, for fear that your hearts become over-full of the pleasures of food and wine, and the cares of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly, and take you as in a net:
• Phil 2:16 : 16 Offering the word of life; so that I may have glory in you in the day of Christ, because my running was not for nothing and my work was not without effect.
• Phil 3:10-14 : 10 That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death; 11 If in any way I may have the reward of life from the dead. 12 Not as if I had even now got the reward or been made complete: but I go on in the hope that I may come to the knowledge of that for which I was made the servant of Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers, it is clear to me that I have not come to that knowledge; but one thing I do, letting go those things which are past, and stretching out to the things which are before, 14 I go forward to the mark, even the reward of the high purpose of God in Christ Jesus.
• Heb 10:35-39 : 35 So do not give up your hope which will be greatly rewarded. 36 For, having done what was right in God's eyes, you have need of waiting before his word has effect for you. 37 In a very little time he who is coming will come; he will not be slow. 38 But the upright man will be living by his faith; and if he goes back, my soul will have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.
• Col 3:5-8 : 5 Then put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh, unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of strange gods; 6 Because of which the wrath of God comes on those who go against his orders; 7 Among whom you were living in the past, when you did such things. 8 But now it is right for you to put away all these things; wrath, passion, bad feeling, curses, unclean talk;
• Eph 4:22-24 : 22 That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit; 23 And be made new in the spirit of your mind, 24 And put on the new man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living.
• Gal 5:7 : 7 You were going on well; who was the cause of your not giving ear to what is true?
• Jas 5:7-9 : 7 Go on waiting calmly, my brothers, till the coming of the Lord, like the farmer waiting for the good fruit of the earth till the early and late rains have come. 8 Be as calm in your waiting; let your hearts be strong: because the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Say no hard things against one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged; see, the judge is waiting at the doors. 10 Take as an example of pain nobly undergone and of strength in trouble, the prophets who gave to men the words of the Lord. 11 We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.
• 2 Cor 7:1 : 1 Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.
• Rom 12:12 : 12 Being glad in hope, quiet in trouble, at all times given to prayer,
• Rom 13:11-14 : 11 See then that the time has come for you to be awake from sleep: for now is your salvation nearer than when you first had faith. 12 The night is far gone, and the day is near: so let us put off the works of the dark, arming ourselves with light, 13 With right behaviour as in the day; not in pleasure-making and drinking, not in bad company and unclean behaviour, not in fighting and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give thought to the flesh to do its desires.
• Luke 14:26-33 : 26 And turning round, he said to them, If any man comes to me, and has not hate for his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even for his life, he may not be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not take up his cross and come after me may not be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to put up a tower, does not first give much thought to the price, if he will have enough to make it complete? 29 For fear that if he makes a start and is not able to go on with it to the end, all who see it will be laughing at him, 30 And saying, This man made a start at building and is not able to make it complete. 31 Or what king, going to war with another king, will not first take thought if he will be strong enough, with ten thousand men, to keep off him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or while the other is still a great distance away, he sends representatives requesting conditions of peace. 33 And so whoever is not ready to give up all he has may not be my disciple.
• Matt 10:37-38 : 37 He who has more love for his father or mother than for me is not good enough for me; he who has more love for son or daughter than for me is not good enough for me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and come after me is not good enough for me.
• Luke 8:14-15 : 14 And those which went among thorns are those who have given hearing, and go on their way, but they are overcome by cares and wealth and the pleasures of life, and they give no fruit. 15 And those in the good earth are those who, having given ear to the word, keep it with a good and true heart, and in quiet strength give fruit.
• 1 Pet 4:2 : 2 So that you may give the rest of your lives in the flesh, not to the desires of men, but to the purpose of God.
• 2 Tim 2:4 : 4 A fighting man, when he is with the army, keeps himself free from the business of this life so that he may be pleasing to him who has taken him into his army.
• 1 John 2:15-16 : 15 Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 Because everything in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world.
• Rev 3:10 : 10 Because you have kept my word in quiet strength, I will keep you from the hour of testing which is coming on all the world, to put to the test those who are on earth.
• Rev 13:10 : 10 If any man sends others into prison, into prison he will go: if any man puts to death with the sword, with the sword will he be put to death. Here is the quiet strength and the faith of the saints.
• Rev 22:16 : 16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give witness to you of these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star.
• Rev 1:9 : 9 I, John, your brother, who have a part with you in the trouble and the kingdom and the quiet strength of Jesus, was in the island which is named Patmos, for the word of God and the witness of Jesus.
• 2 Pet 1:6 : 6 And self-control to knowledge, and a quiet mind to self-control, and fear of God to a quiet mind,
• Matt 24:13 : 13 But he who goes through to the end will get salvation.
• Luke 16:28 : 28 For I have five brothers; and let him give them an account of these things, so that they may not come to this place of pain.
• Luke 18:22-25 : 22 And Jesus, hearing it, said to him, One thing you still have need of; get money for your goods, and give it away to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven; and come after me. 23 But at these words he became very sad, for he had great wealth. 24 And Jesus, looking at him, said, How hard it is for those who have wealth to get into the kingdom of God! 25 It is simpler for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a man who has much money to come into the kingdom of God.
• John 4:44 : 44 For Jesus himself said that a prophet has no honour in the country of his birth.
• Rom 8:24-25 : 24 For our salvation is by hope: but hope which is seen is not hope: for who is hoping for what he sees? 25 But if we have hope for that which we see not, then we will be able to go on waiting for it.
• 1 Tim 6:9-9 : 9 But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all evil: and some whose hearts were fixed on it have been turned away from the faith, and been wounded with unnumbered sorrows.
• 1 Pet 2:1 : 1 So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk,
• Heb 6:15 : 15 And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect.
• Heb 11:2-9 : 2 For by it our fathers had God's approval. 3 By faith it is clear to us that the order of events was fixed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which only seem to be. 4 By faith Abel made a better offering to God than Cain, and he had witness through it of his righteousness, God giving his approval of his offering: and his voice still comes to us through it though he is dead. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up to heaven so that he did not see death; he was seen no longer, for God took him away: for before he was taken, witness had been given that he was well-pleasing to God: 6 And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for him. 7 By faith Noah, being moved by the fear of God, made ready an ark for the salvation of his family, because God had given him news of things which were not seen at the time; and through it the world was judged by him, and he got for his heritage the righteousness which is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham did as God said when he was ordered to go out into a place which was to be given to him as a heritage, and went out without knowledge of where he was going. 9 By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage: 10 For he was looking for the strong town, whose builder and maker is God. 11 And by faith Sarah herself had power to give birth, when she was very old, because she had faith in him who gave his word; 12 So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered. 13 All these came to their end in faith, not having had the heritage; but having seen it with delight far away, they gave witness that they were wanderers and not of the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves. 15 And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back. 16 But now their desire is for a better country, that is to say, for one in heaven; and so it is no shame to God to be named their God; for he has made ready a town for them. 17 By faith Abraham made an offering of Isaac, when he was tested: and he with whom the agreement had been made gave up as an offering the only son of his body, 18 Of whom it had been said, From Isaac will your seed take their name: 19 Judging that God was able to give life even to the dead; and because of this he did get him back as if from death. 20 By faith Isaac, blessing Jacob and Esau, gave news of things to come. 21 By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick. 22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, said that the children of Israel would go out of Egypt; and gave orders about his bones. 23 By faith Moses was kept secretly by his father and mother for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a fair child; and they had no fear of the king's orders. 24 By faith Moses, when he became a man, had no desire to be named the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25 Feeling that it was better to undergo pain with the people of God, than for a short time to have a taste of the pleasures of sin; 26 Judging a part in the shame of Christ to be better than all the wealth of Egypt; for he was looking forward to his reward. 27 By faith he went out of Egypt, not being turned from his purpose by fear of the wrath of the king; for he kept on his way, as seeing him who is unseen. 28 By faith he kept the Passover, and put the sign of the blood on the houses, so that the angel of destruction might not put their oldest sons to death. 29 By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, though the Egyptians were overcome by the water when they made an attempt to do the same. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho came down, after they had been circled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab, the loose woman, was not put to death with those who had gone against God's orders, because she had taken into her house in peace those sent to see the land. 32 What more am I to say? For there would not be time to give the stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 Who through faith overcame kingdoms, did righteousness, got their reward, kept the mouths of lions shut, 34 Put out the power of fire, got safely away from the edge of the sword, were made strong when they had been feeble, became full of power in war, and put to flight the armies of the nations. 35 Women had their dead given back to them living; others let themselves be cruelly attacked, having no desire to go free, so that they might have a better life to come; 36 And others were tested by being laughed at or by blows, and even with chains and prisons: 37 They were stoned, they were cut up with knives, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins; being poor and in pain and cruelly attacked, 38 Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.
• Luke 12:15 : 15 And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has.
• Rom 2:7 : 7 To those who go on with good works in the hope of glory and honour and salvation from death, he will give eternal life:
• Rom 5:3-5 : 3 And not only so, but let us have joy in our troubles: in the knowledge that trouble gives us the power of waiting; 4 And waiting gives experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope does not put to shame; because our hearts are full of the love of God through the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
• John 3:32 : 32 He gives witness of what he has seen and of what has come to his ears; and no man takes his witness as true.
• Ps 18:23 : 23 And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin.
• 1 Pet 5:12 : 12 I have sent you this short letter by Silvanus, a true brother, in my opinion; comforting you and witnessing that this is the true grace of God; keep to it.
• Isa 60:8 : 8 Who are these coming like a cloud, like a flight of doves to their windows?
• Ezek 38:9 : 9 And you will go up, you will come like a storm, you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your forces, and a great number of peoples with you.
• Ezek 38:16 : 16 And you will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land; and it will come about, in the last days, that I will make you come against my land, so that the nations may have knowledge of me when I make myself holy in you, O Gog, before their eyes.
• Matt 10:22 : 22 And you will be hated by all men because of my name: but he who is strong to the end will have salvation.
• Luke 9:59-62 : 59 And he said to another, Come after me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father. 60 But he said to him, Let the dead take care of their dead; it is for you to go and give news of the kingdom of God. 61 And another man said, I will come with you, Lord, but first let me say a last good-day to those who are at my house. 62 But Jesus said, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is good enough for the kingdom of God.
• John 4:39 : 39 Now a number of the people of that town had faith in him because of the woman's witness: He has been talking to me of everything I ever did.
• Jas 1:3 : 3 Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope;