Hebrews 12:25 (YLT)

Passage

See, may ye not refuse him who is speaking, for if those did not escape who refused him who upon earth was divinely speaking--much less we who do turn away from him who <FI>speaketh<Fi> from heaven,

Nearby Context

Hebrews 12:23 to the company and assembly of the first-born in heaven enrolled, and to God the judge of all, and to spirits of righteous men made perfect,

Hebrews 12:24 and to a mediator of a new covenant--Jesus, and to blood of sprinkling, speaking better things than that of Abel!

Hebrews 12:25 See, may ye not refuse him who is speaking, for if those did not escape who refused him who upon earth was divinely speaking--much less we who do turn away from him who <FI>speaketh<Fi> from heaven,

Hebrews 12:26 whose voice the earth shook then, and now hath he promised, saying, `Yet once--I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven;'

Hebrews 12:27 and this--`Yet once' --doth make evident the removal of the things shaken, as of things having been made, that the things not shaken may remain;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "refuse", "speaking", "escape", "refused", "upon", "earth", "divinely", and "speaking--much". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "refuse" and "speaking", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 24's "and to a mediator of a new..." into verse 26's "whose voice the earth shook then and...", so "refuse" and "speaking" belong inside that flow. In Hebrews context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "refuse" and "speaking" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.