Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 25th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Christian Standard Bible ®

Hebrews 12:12

Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Despondency;   Perseverance;   Resignation;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Endurance;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Faithfulness of God;   Wisdom of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Games;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Gestures;   Hebrews;   Perseverance;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Children (Sons) of God;   Hebrews, Epistle to;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Discipline;   Discipline (2);   Hand;   Hebrews Epistle to the;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Hang(ed);   Knee;   Lift;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Feeble Knees;   Gesture;   Hebrews, Epistle to the;   Jehoiada;   Knee;   Straight;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for September 17;   Every Day Light - Devotion for May 6;  

Parallel Translations

King James Version (1611)
Wherefore lift vp the handes which hang downe, and the feeble knees.
King James Version
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
English Standard Version
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
New American Standard Bible
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
New Century Version
You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
Berean Standard Bible
Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.
Contemporary English Version
Now stand up straight! Stop your knees from shaking
Complete Jewish Bible
So, strengthen your drooping arms, and steady your tottering knees;
Darby Translation
Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the failing knees;
Easy-to-Read Version
You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Wherfore lift vp your hands which hang downe, and your weake knees,
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore, be courageous and strong;
Good News Translation
Lift up your tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees!
Lexham English Bible
Therefore strengthen your slackened hands and your weakened knees,
Literal Translation
Because of this, "straighten the hands" hanging alongside, "and the enfeebled knees;"
Amplified Bible
So then, strengthen hands that are weak and knees that tremble.
American Standard Version
Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees;
Bible in Basic English
For this cause let the hands which are hanging down be lifted up, and let the feeble knees be made strong,
Hebrew Names Version
Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
International Standard Version
Therefore, strengthen your tired arms and your weak knees,Job 1:4:3-4; Isaiah 35:3;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
Wherefore your relaxed hands and your trembling knees make strong;
Murdock Translation
Wherefore, strengthen ye your relaxed hands, and your tottering knees:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Strayghten vp therfore the handes which were let downe, and the weake knees:
English Revised Version
Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees;
World English Bible
Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Wherefore Lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees:
Weymouth's New Testament
Therefore strengthen the drooping hands and paralysed knees,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For whiche thing reise ye slowe hondis,
Update Bible Version
Therefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees;
Webster's Bible Translation
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
New English Translation
Therefore, strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees ,
New King James Version
Genesis 25:29-34; 27:30-40">[xr] Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
New Living Translation
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.
New Life Bible
So lift up your hands that have been weak. Stand up on your weak legs.
New Revised Standard
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wherefore, the slackened hands and paralysed knees, restore ye,
Douay-Rheims Bible
Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees:
Revised Standard Version
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Stretch forthe therfore agayne the hondes which were let doune and the weake knees
Young's Literal Translation
Wherefore, the hanging-down hands and the loosened knees set ye up;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Life vp therfore the handes which were let downe, and the weake knees,
Mace New Testament (1729)
Wherefore "strengthen your weak hands and your feeble knees.
THE MESSAGE
So don't sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!
Simplified Cowboy Version
So stack another dally on the horn and lift your chin up in order to strengthen those weak knees.

Contextual Overview

4In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: 6for the Lord disciplines the one he lovesand punishes every son he receives. 7Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. 11No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Hebrews 12:3, Hebrews 12:5, Job 4:3, Job 4:4, Isaiah 35:3, Ezekiel 7:17, Ezekiel 21:7, Daniel 5:6, Nahum 2:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:14

Reciprocal: Exodus 17:12 - stayed up his hands Leviticus 11:22 - General Deuteronomy 20:3 - let not Deuteronomy 22:4 - thou shalt surely 1 Samuel 17:32 - Let 1 Samuel 23:16 - strengthened Ezra 10:4 - be of good Nehemiah 6:9 - Their hands Job 35:15 - in great Job 42:11 - they bemoaned Psalms 31:24 - Be of Psalms 109:24 - knees Psalms 119:50 - This Jeremiah 31:8 - them the Ezekiel 34:4 - diseased Micah 4:6 - will I Zephaniah 3:16 - be said Matthew 12:20 - bruised Luke 3:5 - and the crooked Luke 22:32 - strengthen John 11:28 - and called John 14:1 - not John 21:15 - lambs Acts 18:23 - strengthening Acts 20:35 - how that 2 Corinthians 1:4 - that 2 Corinthians 2:7 - ye Colossians 3:16 - teaching 1 Thessalonians 4:18 - Wherefore Hebrews 13:22 - suffer James 5:19 - and one

Cross-References

Genesis 12:8
From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to the Lord there, and he called on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 12:10
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
Genesis 20:11
Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’
Genesis 26:7
When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.”
1 Samuel 27:1
David said to himself, “One of these days I’ll be swept away by Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape immediately to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me everywhere in Israel, and I’ll escape from him.”
Proverbs 29:25
The fear of mankind is a snare,but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.
Matthew 10:28
Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ver. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down,.... These words may be considered as spoken to the Hebrews, with respect to themselves; accordingly, the Syriac version reads, "your hands", and "your knees"; who were sluggish, and inactive in prayer, in hearing the word, in attendance on ordinances, in holding fast their profession, and in the performance of those things which adorn it; they were weary and fatigued with weights and burdens of sins and afflictions; and were faint, fearful, and timorous, through distrust of the promised good, because of their persecutions, being in present distress, and in a view of approaching danger, with which they might be surprised, as well as affected with their present afflictions: and then the exhortation to "lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees", is to be active in every duty; to be courageous against every enemy: to bear patiently every burden; to take heart, and be of good cheer under every afflictive providence: or else they may be considered as an exhortation to them with respect to others, which seems to be most agreeable to

Isaiah 35:3 from whence they are taken; and then what is signified in them is done by sympathizing with persons in distress; by speaking comfortably to them, and by bearing their burdens.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wherefore - In view of the facts which have been now stated - that afflictions are sent from God, and are evidences of his paternal watchfulness.

Lift up the hands which hang down - As if from weariness and exhaustion. Renew your courage; make a new effort to bear them. The hands fall by the side when we are exhausted with toil, or worn down by disease; see the notes on Isaiah 35:3, from which place this exhortation is taken.

And the feeble knees - The knees also become enfeebled by long effort, and tremble as if their strength were gone. Courage and resolution may do much, however, to make them firm, and it is to this that the apostle exhorts those to whom he wrote. They were to make every effort to bear up under their trials. The hope of victory will do much to strengthen one almost exhausted in battle; the desire to reach home invigorates the frame of the weary traveler. So it is with the Christian. In persecution, and sickness, and bereavement, he may be ready to sink under his burdens. The hands fall, and the knees tremble, and the heart sinks within us. But confidence in God, and the hope of heaven, and the assurance that all this is for our good, will reinvigorate the enfeebled frame, and enable us to bear what we once supposed would crush us to the dust. A courageous mind braces a feeble body, and hope makes it fresh for new conflicts.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hebrews 12:12. Wherefore lift up the hands — The apostle refers to Isaiah 35:3. The words are an address to persons almost worn out with sickness and fatigue, whose hands hang down, whose knees shake, and who are totally discouraged. These are exhorted to exert themselves, and take courage, with the assurance that they shall infallibly conquer if they persevere.


 
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