Hebrews 12:1
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Context
Following the chapter-long catalog of those who lived by faith, this verse applies their example to the readers, urging them to persevere in their own race of faith.
What Does Hebrews 12:1 Mean?
Hebrews 12:1 calls believers to run the race of faith with endurance, laying aside every weight and besetting sin, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. The word "wherefore" ties this directly to the previous chapter's roll of the faithful. Those who lived by faith now form a "great cloud of witnesses" -- a vast crowd whose lives testify that faith carries a person through. Their example surrounds and encourages the runner.
The image is athletic: a long-distance race demanding sustained effort. Two things must be set aside. First, "every weight" -- anything that hinders, even if not sinful in itself, like a runner shedding excess burden. Second, "the sin which doth so easily beset us" -- sin that clings closely, entangling the feet and tripping the runner. Both must go for the race to be run well. The race itself is to be run "with patience," a word meaning steady endurance under strain. And it is "set before us," meaning each person has a course marked out for them, not chosen at random. The verse pictures the Christian life as deliberate, demanding, and worth finishing. It is not a sprint of bursts and stops but a marathon of perseverance, run with the testimony of the faithful all around.
In the Original Language
The Greek hypomonē ("patience") means steadfast endurance, and euperistatos ("easily beset") describes sin that closely surrounds or clings.
Cross References
“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”
- 1 Corinthians 9:24
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
- Philippians 3:14
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
- Hebrews 12:2
Application
Identify and set aside whatever weighs you down or entangles you, and run your appointed course with steady endurance, encouraged by those who finished before you.