Hebrews 12 Cross References - WNT

¹ Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses, let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us, ² simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself-- where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted, compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured such hostility directed against Him by sinners. ⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted so as to endanger your lives; ⁵ and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as sons, and which say, "MY SON, DO NOT THINK LIGHTLY OF THE LORD'S DISCIPLINE, AND DO NOT FAINT WHEN HE CORRECTS YOU; ⁶ FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES: AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE ACKNOWLEDGES." ⁷ The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards, and not true sons. ⁹ Besides this, our earthly fathers used to discipline us and we treated them with respect, and shall we not be still more submissive to the Father of our spirits, and live? ¹⁰ It is true that they disciplined us for a few years according as they thought fit; but He does it for our certain good, in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character. ¹¹ Now, at the time, discipline seems to be a matter not for joy, but for grief; yet it afterwards yields to those who have passed through its training a result full of peace--namely, righteousness. ¹² Therefore strengthen the drooping hands and paralysed knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put entirely out of joint ¹⁴ but may rather be restored. Persistently strive for peace with all men, and for that growth in holiness apart from which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ Be carefully on your guard lest there be any one who falls back from the grace of God; lest any root bearing bitter fruit spring up and cause trouble among you, and through it the whole brotherhood be defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be a fornicator, or an ungodly person like Esau, who, in return for a single meal, parted with the birthright which belonged to him. ¹⁷ For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to secure the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no opportunity for undoing what he had done, though he sought the blessing earnestly with tears. ¹⁸ For you have not come to a material object all ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and storm and trumpet-blast and the sound of words-- ¹⁹ a sound of such a kind that those who heard it entreated that no more should be added. ²⁰ For they could not endure the order which had been given, "EVEN A WILD BEAST, IF IT TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, SHALL BE STONED TO DEATH;" ²¹ and so terrible was the scene that Moses said, "I TREMBLE WITH FEAR." ²² On the contrary you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the ever-living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels, ²³ to the great festal gathering and Church of the first-born, whose names are recorded in Heaven, and to a Judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus the negotiator of a new Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks in more gracious tones than that of Abel. ²⁵ Be careful not to refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they of old did not escape unpunished when they refused to listen to him who spoke on earth, much less shall we escape who turn a deaf ear to Him who now speaks from Heaven. ²⁶ His voice then shook the earth, but now we have His promise, "YET AGAIN I WILL, ONCE FOR ALL, CAUSE NOT ONLY THE EARTH TO TREMBLE, BUT HEAVEN ALSO." ²⁷ Here the words "Yet again, once for all" denote the removal of the things which can be shaken--created things--in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, receiving, as we now do, a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us cherish thankfulness so that we may ever offer to God an acceptable service, with godly reverence and awe. ²⁹ For our God is also a consuming fire.

²² And you will be objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name; but he who holds out to the End--he will be saved.

³⁷ Any one who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and any one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸ and any one who does not take up his cross and follow where I lead is not worthy of me.

¹³ but those who stand firm to the End shall be saved.

¹⁴ That which fell among the thorns means those who have heard, but as they go on their way, the Message is stifled by the anxieties, wealth and gaieties of time, and they yield nothing in perfection. ¹⁵ But as for that in the good ground, it means those who, having listened to the Message with open minds and in a right spirit, hold it fast, and patiently yield a return.

⁵⁹ "Follow me," He said to another. "Master," the man replied, "allow me first to go and bury my father." ⁶⁰ "Leave the dead," Jesus rejoined, "to bury their own dead; but you must go and announce far and wide the coming of the Kingdom of God." ⁶¹ "Master," said yet another, "I will follow you; but allow me first to go and say good-bye to my friends at home." ⁶² Jesus answered him, "No one who has put his hand to the plough, and then looks behind him, is fit for the Kingdom of God.

¹⁵ And to the people He said, "Take care, be on your guard against all covetousness, for no one's life consists in the superabundance of his possessions."

²⁶ "If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine. ²⁷ No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine. ²⁸ "Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate the cost, asking if he has the means to finish it? -- ²⁹ lest perhaps, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to finish, all who see it shall begin to jeer at him, ³⁰ saying, 'This man began to build, but could not finish.' ³¹ Or what king, marching to encounter another king in war, does not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand men to meet the one who is advancing against him with twenty thousand? ³² If not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers and sues for peace. ³³ Just as no one of you who does not detach himself from all that belongs to him can be a disciple of mine.

²⁸ For I have five brothers. Let him earnestly warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'

²² On receiving this answer Jesus said to him, "There is still one thing wanting in you. Sell everything you possess and give the money to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; and then come, follow me." ²³ But on hearing these words he was deeply sorrowful, for he was exceedingly rich. ²⁴ Jesus saw his sorrow, and said, "With how hard a struggle do the possessors of riches ever enter the Kingdom of God! ²⁵ Why, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

³⁴ "But take heed to yourselves, lest your souls be weighed down with self-indulgence and drunkenness or the anxieties of this life, and that day come upon you, suddenly, like a falling trap;

³² What He has seen and heard, to that He bears witness; but His testimony no one receives.

³⁹ Of the Samaritan population of that town a good many believed in Him because of the woman's statement when she declared, "He has told me all that I have ever done."

⁴⁴ though Jesus Himself declared that a Prophet has no honour in his own country.

⁷ to those on the one hand who, by lives of persistent right-doing, are striving for glory, honour and immortality, the Life of the Ages;

³ And not only so: we also exult in our sufferings, knowing as we do, that suffering produces fortitude; ⁴ fortitude, ripeness of character; and ripeness of character, hope; ⁵ and that this hope never disappoints, because God's love for us floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

²⁴ It is *in hope* that we have been saved. But an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it? ²⁵ But if we hope for something which we do not see, then we eagerly and patiently wait for it.

¹² full of joyful hope, patient under persecution, earnest and persistent in prayer.

¹¹ Carry out these injunctions because you know the critical period at which we are living, and that it is now high time, to rouse yourselves from sleep; for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first became believers. ¹² The night is far advanced, and day is about to dawn. We must therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness, and clothe ourselves with the armour of Light. ¹³ Living as we do in broad daylight, let us conduct ourselves becomingly, not indulging in revelry and drunkenness, nor in lust and debauchery, nor in quarrelling and jealousy. ¹⁴ On the contrary, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for gratifying your earthly cravings.

²⁴ Do you not know that in the foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You must run like him, in order to win with certainty. ²⁵ But every competitor in an athletic contest practices abstemiousness in all directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish. ²⁶ That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air, ²⁷ but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected.

¹ Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God.

⁷ You were running the race nobly! Who has interfered and caused you to swerve from the truth?

²² to put away, in regard to your former mode of life, your original evil nature which is doomed to perish as befits its misleading impulses, ²³ and to get yourselves renewed in the temper of your minds and clothe yourselves ²⁴ with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.

¹⁶ holding out to them a Message of Life. It will then be my glory on the day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain nor toil in vain.

¹⁰ I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings and die even as He died; ¹¹ in the hope that I may attain to the resurrection from among the dead. ¹² I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me, ¹⁴ with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.

⁵ Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations--fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry. ⁶ It is on account of these very sins that God's anger is coming, ⁷ and you also were once addicted to them, while you were living under their power. ⁸ But now you must rid yourselves of every kind of sin--angry and passionate outbreaks, ill-will, evil speaking, foul-mouthed abuse--so that these may never soil your lips.

⁹ But people who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many unwise and pernicious ways which sink mankind in destruction and ruin. ¹⁰ For from love of money all sorts of evils arise; and some have so hankered after money as to be led astray from the faith and be pierced through with countless sorrows.

⁴ Every one who serves as a soldier keeps himself from becoming entangled in the world's business--so that he may satisfy the officer who enlisted him.

⁷ I have gone through the glorious contest; I have run the race; I have guarded the faith.

¹⁵ And so, as the result of patient waiting, our forefather obtained what God had promised.

³⁵ Therefore do not cast from you your confident hope, for it will receive a vast reward. ³⁶ For you stand in need of patient endurance, so that, as the result of having done the will of God, you may receive the promised blessing. ³⁷ For there is still but a short time and then "THE COMING ONE WILL COME AND WILL NOT DELAY. ³⁸ BUT IT IS BY FAITH THAT MY RIGHTEOUS SERVANT SHALL LIVE; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL TAKES NO PLEASURE IN HIM." ³⁹ But we are not people who shrink back and perish, but are among those who believe and gain possession of their souls.

² For by it the saints of old won God's approval. ³ Through faith we understand that the worlds came into being, and still exist, at the command of God, so that what is seen does not owe its existence to that which is visible. ⁴ Through faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain did, and through this faith he obtained testimony that he was righteous, God giving the testimony by accepting his gifts; and through it, though he is dead, he still speaks. ⁵ Through faith Enoch was taken from the earth so that he did not see death, and he could not be found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken we have evidence that he truly pleased God. ⁶ But where there is no faith it is impossible truly to please Him; for the man who draws near to God must believe that there is a God and that He proves Himself a rewarder of those who earnestly try to find Him. ⁷ Through faith Noah, being divinely taught about things as yet unseen, reverently gave heed and built an ark for the safety of his family, and by this act he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which depends on faith. ⁸ Through faith Abraham, upon being called to leave home and go into a land which he was soon to receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he was going to. ⁹ Through faith he came and made his home for a time in a land which had been promised to him, as if in a foreign country, living in tents together with Isaac and Jacob, sharers with him in the same promise; ¹⁰ for he continually looked forward to the city which has the foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ Through faith even Sarah herself received strength to become a mother--although she was past the time of life for this--because she judged Him faithful who had given the promise. ¹² And thus there sprang from one man, and him practically dead, a nation like the stars of the sky in number, and like the sands on the sea shore which cannot be counted. ¹³ All these died in the possession of faith. They had not received the promised blessings, but had seen them from a distance and had greeted them, and had acknowledged themselves to be foreigners and strangers here on earth; ¹⁴ for men who acknowledge this make it manifest that they are seeking elsewhere a country of their own. ¹⁵ And if they had cherished the remembrance of the country they had left, they would have found an opportunity to return; ¹⁶ but, as it is, we see them eager for a better land, that is to say, a heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has now prepared a city for them. ¹⁷ Through faith Abraham, as soon as God put him to the test, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had joyfully welcomed the promises was on the point of sacrificing his only son ¹⁸ with regard to whom he had been told, "IT IS THROUGH ISAAC THAT YOUR POSTERITY SHALL BE TRACED." ¹⁹ For he reckoned that God is even able to raise a man up from among the dead, and, figuratively speaking, it was from among the dead that he received Isaac again. ²⁰ Through faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even in connexion with things soon to come. ²¹ Through faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and, leaning on the top of his staff, worshipped God. ²² Through faith Joseph, when he was near his end, made mention of the departure of the descendants of Israel, and gave orders about his own body. ²³ Through faith the child Moses was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw his rare beauty; and the king's edict had no terror for them. ²⁴ Through faith Moses, when he grew to manhood, refused to be known as Pharaoh's daughter's son, ²⁵ having determined to endure ill-treatment along with the people of God rather than enjoy the short-lived pleasures of sin; ²⁶ because he deemed the reproaches which he might meet with in the service of the Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt; for he fixed his gaze on the coming reward. ²⁷ Through faith he left Egypt, not being frightened by the king's anger; for he held on his course as seeing the unseen One. ²⁸ Through faith he instituted the Passover, and the sprinkling with blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. ²⁹ Through faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing over dry land, but the Egyptians, when they tried to do the same, were swallowed up. ³⁰ Through faith the walls of Jericho fell to the ground after being surrounded for seven days. ³¹ Through faith the notorious sinner Rahab did not perish along with the disobedient, for she had welcomed the spies and had sheltered them. ³² And why need I say more? For time will fail me if I tell the story of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and of David and Samuel and the Prophets; ³³ men who, as the result of faith, conquered whole kingdoms, brought about true justice, obtained promises from God, stopped lions' mouths, ³⁴ deprived fire of its power, escaped being killed by the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put to flight foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dear ones alive from the dead; and others were put to death with torture, refusing the deliverance offered to them--that they might secure a better resurrection. ³⁶ Others again were tested by cruel mockery and by scourging; yes, and by chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword. They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins, enduring want, oppression and cruelty. ³⁸ (They were men of whom the world was not worthy.) They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.

³ Be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance.

⁷ Be patient therefore, brethren, until the Coming of the Lord. Notice how eagerly a farmer waits for a valuable crop! He is patient over it till it has received the early and the later rain. ⁸ So you also must be patient: keeping up your courage; for the Coming of the Lord is now close at hand. ⁹ Do not cry out in condemnation of one another, brethren, lest you come under judgement. I tell you that the Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰ In illustration, brethren, of persecution patiently endured take the Prophets who have spoken as messengers from the Lord. ¹¹ Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. You have also heard of Job's patient endurance, and have seen the issue of the Lord's dealings with him--how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.

¹ Rid yourselves therefore of all ill-will and all deceitfulness, of insincerity and envy, and of all evil speaking.

² that in future you may spend the rest of your earthly lives, governed not by human passions, but by the will of God.

¹² I send this short letter by Silas, our faithful brother--for such I regard him--in order to encourage you, and to bear witness that what I have told you is the true grace of God. In it stand fast.

⁶ along with knowledge, self-control; along with self-control, power of endurance;

¹⁵ Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, there is no love in his heart for the Father. ¹⁶ For the things in the world--the cravings of the earthly nature, the cravings of the eyes, the show and pride of life--they all come, not from the Father, but from the world.

⁹ I John, your brother, and a sharer with you in the sorrows and Kingship and patient endurance of Jesus, found myself in the island of Patmos, on account of the Word of God and the truth told us by Jesus.

¹⁰ Because in spite of suffering you have guarded My word, I in turn will guard you from that hour of trial which is soon coming upon the whole world, to put to the test the inhabitants of the earth.

¹⁰ If any one is eager to lead others into captivity, he must himself go into captivity. If any one is bent on killing with the sword, he must himself be killed by the sword. Here is an opportunity for endurance, and for the exercise of faith, on the part of God's people.

¹⁶ "I Jesus have sent My angel for him solemnly to declare these things to you among the Churches. I am the Root and the offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.

²¹ From this time Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer much cruelty from the Elders and the High Priests and the Scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day be raised to life again.

¹⁸ "We are going up to Jerusalem, and there the Son of Man will be betrayed to the High Priests and Scribes. They will condemn Him to death, ¹⁹ and hand Him over to the Gentiles to be made sport of and scourged and crucified; and on the third day He will be raised to life." ²⁰ Then the mother of the sons of Zabdi came to Him with her sons, and knelt before Him to make a request of Him.

²⁸ just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as the redemption-price for many."

⁶⁷ Then they spat in His face, and struck Him--some with the fist, some with the open hand-- ⁶⁸ while they taunted Him, saying, "Christ, prove yourself a Prophet by telling us who it was that struck you."

²⁷ Then the Governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and called together the whole battalion to make sport of Him. ²⁸ Stripping off His garments, they put on Him a general's short crimson cloak. ²⁹ They twisted a wreath of thorny twigs and put it on His head, and they put a sceptre of cane in His right hand, and kneeling to Him they shouted in mockery, "Long live the King of the Jews!" ³⁰ Then they spat upon Him, and taking the cane they repeatedly struck Him on the head with it. ³¹ At last, having finished their sport, they took off the cloak, clothed Him again in His own garments, and led Him away for crucifixion. ³² Going out they met a Cyrenaean named Simon; whom they compelled to carry His cross, ³³ and so they came to a place called Golgotha, which means 'Skull-ground.' ³⁴ Here they gave Him a mixture of wine and gall to drink, but having tasted it He refused to drink it. ³⁵ After crucifying Him, they divided His garments among them by lot, ³⁶ and sat down there on guard. ³⁷ Over His head they placed a written statement of the charge against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁸ At the same time two robbers were crucified with Him, one at His right hand and the other at His left. ³⁹ And the passers-by reviled Him. They shook their heads at Him ⁴⁰ and said, "You who would pull down the Sanctuary and build a new one within three days, save yourself. If you are God's Son, come down from the cross." ⁴¹ In like manner the High Priests also, together with the Scribes and the Elders, taunted Him. ⁴² "He saved others," they said, "himself he cannot save! He is the King of Israel! Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ His trust is in God: let God deliver him now, if He will have him; for he said, 'I am God's Son.'" ⁴⁴ Insults of the same kind were heaped on Him even by the robbers who were being crucified with Him. ⁴⁵ Now from noon until three o'clock in the afternoon there was darkness over the whole land; ⁴⁶ but about three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is to say, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?" ⁴⁷ "The man is calling for Elijah," said some of the bystanders. ⁴⁸ One of them ran forthwith, and filling a sponge with sour wine put it on the end of a cane and offered it Him to drink; ⁴⁹ while the rest said, "Let us see whether Elijah is coming to deliver him." ⁵⁰ But Jesus uttered another loud cry and then yielded up His spirit.

¹² "Elijah," He replied, "does indeed come first and reforms everything; but how is it that it is written of the Son of Man that He will endure much suffering and be held in contempt?

²⁴ Immediately the father cried out, "I do believe: strengthen my weak faith."

³⁶ and He said, "Abba! my Father! all things are possible for Thee: take this cup of suffering away from me: and yet not what I desire, but what Thou desirest."

⁵ And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Give us faith."

¹¹ Then, laughing to scorn the claims of Jesus, Herod (and his soldiers with him) made sport of Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous costume, and sent Him back to Pilate.

³⁵ and the people stood looking on. The Rulers, too, repeatedly uttered their bitter taunts. "This fellow," they said, "saved others: let him save himself, if he is God's Anointed, the Chosen One." ³⁶ And the soldiers also made sport of Him, coming and offering Him sour wine and saying, ³⁷ "Are *you* the King of the Jews? Save yourself, then!" ³⁸ There was moreover a writing over His head: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁹ Now one of the criminals who had been crucified insulted Him, saying, "Are not you the Christ? Save yourself and us."

²⁶ Was there not a necessity for the Christ thus to suffer, and then enter into His glory?"

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and exclaimed, "Look, that is the Lamb of God who is to take away the sin of the world!

⁴⁰ For this is my Father's will, that every one who fixes his gaze on the Son of God and believes in Him should have the Life of the Ages, and I will raise him to life on the last day."

⁵⁶ Abraham your forefather exulted in the hope of seeing my day: and he saw it, and was glad."

²⁴ In most solemn truth I tell you that unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains what it was--a single grain; but that if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.

²⁷ Now is my soul full of trouble; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Thy name." Thereupon there came a voice from the sky, "I have glorified it and will also glorify it again."

³² And I-- if I am lifted up from the earth--will draw all men to me."

³ although He knew that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was now going to God,

³¹ So when he was gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. ³² Moreover God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him without delay.

¹ When Jesus had thus spoken, He raised his eyes towards Heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee; ² even as Thou hast given Him authority over all mankind, so that on all whom Thou hast given Him He may bestow the Life of the Ages. ³ And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. ⁴ I have glorified Thee on earth, having done perfectly the work which by Thine appointment has been mine to do.

²⁵ For David says in reference to Him, "'I CONSTANTLY FIXED MY EYES UPON THE LORD, BECAUSE HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND IN ORDER THAT I MAY CONTINUE UNSHAKEN. ²⁶ FOR THIS REASON MY HEART IS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTS. MY BODY ALSO SHALL REST IN HOPE.

³⁶ "Therefore let the whole House of Israel know beyond all doubt that God has made Him both LORD and CHRIST--this Jesus whom you crucified."

³¹ God has exalted Him to His right hand as Chief Leader and as Saviour, to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.

⁴¹ They, therefore, left the Sanhedrin and went their way, rejoicing that they had been deemed worthy to suffer disgrace on behalf of the NAME.

⁷ so that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁶ thus effecting peace, and to reconcile Jews and Gentiles in one body to God, by means of His cross--slaying by it their mutual enmity.

² And live and act lovingly, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up to death on our behalf as an offering and sacrifice to God, yielding a fragrant odor.

⁶ For of this I am confident, that He who has begun a good work within you will go on to perfect it in preparation for the day of Jesus Christ.

⁸ And being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross. ⁹ It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other, ¹⁰ in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

²⁰ We, however, are free citizens of Heaven, and we are waiting with longing expectation for the coming from Heaven of a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,

⁸ From this time onward there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who love the thought of His Appearing.

¹³ in expectation of the fulfilment of our blessed hope--the Appearing in glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to purchase our freedom from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people who should be specially His own, zealous for doing good works.

³ He brightly reflects God's glory and is the exact representation of His being, and upholds the universe by His all-powerful word. After securing man's purification from sin He took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

¹³ To which of the angels has He ever said, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND TILL I MAKE THY FOES A FOOTSTOOL FOR THY FEET"?

⁷ THOU HAST MADE HIM ONLY A LITTLE INFERIOR TO THE ANGELS; WITH GLORY AND HONOUR THOU HAST CROWNED HIM, AND HAST SET HIM TO GOVERN THE WORKS OF THY HANDS. ⁸ THOU HAST PUT EVERYTHING IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET." For this subjecting of the universe to man implies the leaving nothing not subject to him. But we do not as yet see the universe subject to him. ⁹ But Jesus--who was made a little inferior to the angels in order that through God's grace He might taste death for every human being--we already see wearing a crown of glory and honour because of His having suffered death. ¹⁰ For it was fitting that He for whom, and through whom, all things exist, after He had brought many sons to glory, should perfect by suffering the Prince Leader who had saved them.

⁹ and so, having been made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the source and giver of eternal salvation.

¹⁹ for the Law brought no perfect blessing--but on the other hand we have the bringing in of a new and better hope by means of which we draw near to God.

¹ Now in connexion with what we have been saying the chief point is that we have a High Priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God's Majesty in the heavens,

²⁸ so the Christ also, having been once offered in sacrifice in order that He might bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, separated from sin, to those who are eagerly expecting Him, to make their salvation complete.

⁵ That is why, when He comes into the world, He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU HAS NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY THOU HAST PREPARED FOR ME. ⁶ IN WHOLE BURNT-OFFERINGS AND IN SIN-OFFERINGS THOU HAST TAKEN NO PLEASURE. ⁷ THEN I SAID, 'I HAVE COME--IN THE ROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN CONCERNING ME--TO DO THY WILL, O GOD.'" ⁸ After saying the words I have just quoted, "SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS OR WHOLE BURNT-OFFERINGS AND SIN-OFFERINGS THOU HAST NOT DESIRED OR TAKEN PLEASURE IN" --all such being offered in obedience to the Law-- ⁹ He then adds, "I HAVE COME TO DO THY WILL." He does away with the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ It is through that divine will that we have been set free from sin, through the offering of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice once for all. ¹¹ And while every priest stands ministering, day after day, and constantly offering the same sacrifices--though such can never rid us of our sins-- ¹² this Priest, on the contrary, after offering for sins a single sacrifice of perpetual efficacy, took His seat at God's right hand,

¹⁴ For by a single offering He has for ever completed the blessing for those whom He is setting free from sin.

³³ This was partly through allowing yourselves to be made a public spectacle amid reproaches and persecutions, and partly through coming forward to share the sufferings of those who were thus treated.

³⁶ Others again were tested by cruel mockery and by scourging; yes, and by chains and imprisonment.

³ Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted, compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured such hostility directed against Him by sinners.

¹³ Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, sharing the insults directed against Him.

¹¹ They were eager to know the time which the Spirit of Christ within them kept indicating, or the characteristics of that time, when they solemnly made known beforehand the sufferings that were to come upon Christ and the glories which would follow.

²³ When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge. ²⁴ The burden of our sins He Himself carried in His own body to the Cross and bore it there, so that we, having died so far as our sins are concerned, may live righteous lives. By His wounds yours have been healed.

¹⁸ because Christ also once for all died for sins, the innocent One for the guilty many, in order to bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

²² who is at God's right hand, having gone into Heaven, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

¹⁴ You are to be envied, if you are being reproached for bearing the name of Christ; for in that case the Spirit of glory-- even the Spirit of God--is resting upon you. ¹⁵ But let not one of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evil-doer, or as a spy upon other people's business. ¹⁶ If, however, any one suffers because he is a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God for being permitted to bear that name.

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have listened to, which we have seen with our own eyes, and our own hands have handled concerning the Word of Life-- ² the Life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and we declare unto you the Life of the Ages which was with the Father and was manifested to us-- ³ that which we have seen and listened to we now announce to you also, in order that you also may have fellowship in it with us, and this fellowship with us is fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

²¹ must keep yourselves safe in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which will result in the Life of the Ages.

⁸ "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "He who is and was and evermore will be--the Ruler of all."

¹¹ It said, "Write forthwith in a roll an account of what you see, and send it to the seven Churches--to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyateira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."

¹⁷ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand upon me and said, "Do not be afraid: I am the First and the Last, and the ever-living One.

⁸ "To the minister of the Church at Smyrna write as follows: "'This is what the First and the Last says--He who died and has returned to life.

²⁴ "The learner is never superior to his teacher, and the servant is never superior to his master. ²⁵ Enough for the learner to be on a level with his teacher, and for the servant to be on a level with his master. If they have called the master of the house Baal-zebul, how much more will they slander his servants?

¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they exclaim, 'See this man! --given to gluttony and tippling, and a friend of tax-gatherers and notorious sinners!' And yet Wisdom is vindicated by her actions."

²⁴ The Pharisees heard it and said, "This man only expels demons by the power of Baal-zebul, the Prince of demons."

² "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders by not washing their hands before meals?"

¹⁵ But when the High Priests and the Scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done and the children who were crying aloud in the Temple, "GOD SAVE THE SON OF DAVID," they were filled with indignation. ¹⁶ "Do you hear," they asked Him, "what these children are saying?" "Yes," He replied; "have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF INFANTS AND OF BABES AT THE BREAST THOU HAST BROUGHT FORTH THE PRAISE WHICH IS DUE'?"

²³ He entered the Temple; and while He was teaching, the High Priests and the Elders of the people came to Him and asked Him, "By what authority are you doing these things? and who gave you this authority?"

⁴⁶ but though they were eager to lay hands upon Him, they were afraid of the people, for by them He was regarded as a Prophet.

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and consulted together how they might entrap Him in His conversation.

³⁴ Symeon blessed them and said to Mary the mother, "This child is appointed for the falling and the uprising of many in Israel and for a token to be spoken against;

²⁸ Then all in the synagogue, while listening to these words, were filled with fury. ²⁹ They rose, hurried Him outside the town, and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, to throw Him down the cliff;

²¹ Then the Scribes and Pharisees began to cavil, asking, "Who is this, uttering blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?"

¹⁵ But some among them said, "It is by the power of Baal-zebul, the Prince of the demons, that he expels the demons." ¹⁶ Others, to put Him to the test, asked Him for a sign in the sky.

⁵³ After He had left the house, the Scribes and Pharisees commenced a vehement attempt to entangle Him and make Him give off-hand answers on numerous points, ⁵⁴ lying in wait to catch some unguarded expression from His lips.

¹³ And He put His hands on her, and she immediately stood upright and began to give glory to God. ¹⁴ Then the Warden of the Synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured her on a Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days in the week on which people ought to work. On those days therefore come and get yourselves cured, and not on the Sabbath day."

¹ One day--it was a Sabbath--He was taking a meal at the house of one of the Rulers of the Pharisee party, while they were closely watching Him.

² and this led the Pharisees and the Scribes indignantly to complain, saying, "He gives a welcome to notorious sinners, and joins them at their meals!"

¹⁴ To all this the Pharisees listened, bitterly jeering at Him; for they were lovers of money.

³⁹ Thereupon some of the Pharisees in the crowd appealed to Him, saying, "Rabbi, reprove your disciples." ⁴⁰ "I tell you," He replied, "that if *they* became silent, the very stones would cry out."

¹⁶ and on this account the Jews began to persecute Jesus--because He did these things on the Sabbath.

¹² Among the mass of the people there was much muttered debate about Him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "Not so: he is imposing on the people."

¹³ "You are giving testimony about yourself," said the Pharisees; "your testimony is not true."

⁴⁸ "Are we not right," answered the Jews, "in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon?" ⁴⁹ "I am not possessed by a demon," replied Jesus. "On the contrary I honour my Father, and you dishonour me.

⁵² "Now," exclaimed the Jews, "we know that you are possessed by a demon. Abraham died, and so did the Prophets, and yet *you* say, 'If any one shall have obeyed my teaching, he shall in no case ever taste death.'

⁵⁹ Thereupon they took up stones with which to stone Him, but He hid Himself and went away out of the Temple.

⁴⁰ These words were heard by those of the Pharisees who were present, and they asked Him, "Are *we* also blind?"

²⁰ Many of them said, "He is possessed by a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him?"

³¹ Again the Jews brought stones with which to stone Him. ³² Jesus remonstrated with them. "Many good deeds," He said, "have I shown you as coming from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" ³³ "For no good deed," the Jews replied, "are we going to stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God." ³⁴ "Does it not stand written in your Law," replied Jesus, "'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'? ³⁵ If those to whom God's word was addressed are called gods (and the Scripture cannot be annulled), ³⁶ how is it that you say to one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am God's Son'? ³⁷ If the deeds I do are not my Father's deeds, do not believe me. ³⁸ But if they are, then even if you do not believe me, at least believe the deeds, that you may know and see clearly that the Father is in me, and that I am in the Father." ³⁹ This made them once more try to arrest Him, but He withdrew out of their power.

⁹ Now it became widely known among the Jews that Jesus was there; but they came not only on His account, but also in order to see Lazarus whom He had brought back to life. ¹⁰ The High Priests, however, consulted together to put Lazarus also to death,

¹⁸ If the world hates you, remember that it has first had me as the fixed object of its hatred. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own property. But because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world--for that reason the world hates you. ²⁰ Bear in mind what I said to you, 'A servant is not superior to his master.' If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ But they will inflict all this suffering upon you on account of your bearing my name--because they do not know Him who sent me. ²² "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin; but as the case stands they are without excuse for their sin. ²³ He who hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them, as I have, such miracles as no one else ever did, they would have had no sin; but they have in fact seen and also hated both me and my Father.

²² Upon His saying this, one of the officers standing by struck Him with his open hand, asking Him as he did so, "Is that the way you answer the High Priest?"

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brethren, be firm, unmovable, busily occupied at all times in the Lord's work, knowing that your toil is not fruitless in the Lord.

¹ Therefore, being engaged in this service and being mindful of the mercy which has been shown us, we are not cowards.

¹⁶ Therefore we are not cowards. Nay, even though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day.

⁹ Let us not abate our courage in doing what is right; for in due time we shall reap a reward, if we do not faint.

¹³ But you, brethren, must not grow weary in the path of duty;

⁷ Mark well what I am saying: the Lord will give you discernment in everything. ⁸ Never forget that Jesus Christ has risen from among the dead and is a descendant of David, as is declared in the Good News which I preach.

¹ Therefore, holy brethren, sharers with others in a heavenly invitation, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whose followers we profess to be.

² simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself-- where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God.

⁵ and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as sons, and which say, "MY SON, DO NOT THINK LIGHTLY OF THE LORD'S DISCIPLINE, AND DO NOT FAINT WHEN HE CORRECTS YOU;

³ And you endure patiently and have borne burdens for My sake and have never grown weary.

⁹ "At that time they will deliver you up to punishment and will put you to death; and you will be objects of hatred to all the nations because you are called by my name.

¹³ No temptation has you in its power but such as is common to human nature; and God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. But, when the temptation comes, He will also provide the way of escape; so that you may be able to bear it.

⁶ I for my part am like a drink-offering which is already being poured out; and the time for my departure is now close at hand. ⁷ I have gone through the glorious contest; I have run the race; I have guarded the faith.

³² But continually recall to mind the days now past, when on being first enlightened you went through a great conflict and many sufferings. ³³ This was partly through allowing yourselves to be made a public spectacle amid reproaches and persecutions, and partly through coming forward to share the sufferings of those who were thus treated. ³⁴ For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned, but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain.

¹³ Satan's throne is there; and yet you are true to Me, and did not deny your faith in Me, even in the days of Antipas My witness and faithful friend, who was put to death among you, in the place where Satan dwells.

⁹ When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed because of the word of God and of the testimony which they had given. ¹⁰ And now in loud voices they cried out, saying, "How long, O Sovereign Lord, the holy One and the true, dost Thou delay judgment and the taking of vengeance upon the inhabitants of the earth for our blood?" ¹¹ And there was given to each of them a long white robe, and they were bidden to wait patiently for a short time longer, until the full number of their fellow bondservants should also complete--namely of their brethren who were soon to be killed just as they had been.

¹¹ But they have gained the victory over him because of the blood of the Lamb and of the testimony which they have borne, and because they held their lives cheap and did not shrink even from death.

⁶ And I saw the woman drinking herself drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her I was filled with utter astonishment.

²⁴ And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of God's people and of all who had been put to death on the earth."

⁹ Do you not yet understand? nor even remember the 5,000 and the five loaves, and how many basketfuls you carried away, ¹⁰ nor the 4,000 and the seven loaves, and how many hampers you carried away?

⁶ He is not here. He has come back to life. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,

⁸ Then they remembered His words,

³² But when we are judged by the Lord, chastisement follows, to save us from being condemned along with the world.

⁸ We are hard pressed, yet never in absolute distress; perplexed, yet never utterly baffled; ⁹ pursued, yet never left unsuccoured; struck to the ground, yet never slain;

⁹ but His reply has been, "My grace suffices for you, for power matures in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I boast of my infirmities rather than complain of them--in order that Christ's power may overshadow me. ¹⁰ In fact I take pleasure in infirmities, in the bearing of insults, in distress, in persecutions, in grievous difficulties--for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

³ Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted, compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured such hostility directed against Him by sinners. ⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted so as to endanger your lives;

⁷ The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

¹² Blessed is he who patiently endures trials; for when he has stood the test, he will gain the victor's crown--even the crown of Life--which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

¹⁹ All whom I hold dear, I reprove and chastise; therefore be in earnest and repent.

⁷ The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards, and not true sons.

¹¹ Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. You have also heard of Job's patient endurance, and have seen the issue of the Lord's dealings with him--how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.

²² Everywhere they strengthened the disciples by encouraging them to hold fast to the faith, and warned them saying, "It is through many afflictions that we must make our way into the Kingdom of God."

⁶ FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES: AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE ACKNOWLEDGES."

⁹ Withstand him, firm in your faith; knowing that your brethren in other parts of the world are passing through just the same experiences. ¹⁰ And God, the giver of all grace, who has called you to share His eternal glory, through Christ, after you have suffered for a short time, will Himself make you perfect, firm, and strong.

⁶ Whatever has been born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever has been born of the Spirit is spirit.

³⁰ Being a Prophet, however, and knowing that God had solemnly sworn to him to seat a descendant of his upon his throne,

³ who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,

³ For I could pray to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brethren, my human kinsfolk--for such the Israelites are.

⁵ To them the Patriarchs belong, and from them in respect of His human lineage came the Christ, who is exalted above all, God blessed throughout the Ages. Amen.

¹ Children, be obedient to your parents as a Christian duty, for it is a duty. ² "HONOUR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER" --this is the first Commandment which has a promise added to it-- ³ "SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH." ⁴ And you, fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up tenderly with true Christian training and advice.

⁷ Submit therefore to God: resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

⁶ Humble yourselves therefore beneath the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time He may set you on high.

²⁴ with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.

²⁶ in order to make her holy, cleansing her with the baptismal water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle or any other defect, but to be holy and unblemished.

²² He has now, in His human body, reconciled to God by His death, to bring you, holy and faultless and irreproachable, into His presence;

¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to purchase our freedom from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people who should be specially His own, zealous for doing good works.

⁵ and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as sons, and which say, "MY SON, DO NOT THINK LIGHTLY OF THE LORD'S DISCIPLINE, AND DO NOT FAINT WHEN HE CORRECTS YOU; ⁶ FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES: AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE ACKNOWLEDGES."

¹⁵ but--in imitation of the holy One who has called you--you also must be holy in all your habits of life. ¹⁶ Because it stands written, "YOU ARE TO BE HOLY, BECAUSE I AM HOLY."

⁵ And be yourselves also like living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house, to become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a priesthood of kingly lineage, a holy nation, a people belonging specially to God, that you may make known the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

⁴ It is by means of these that He has granted us His precious and wondrous promises, in order that through them you may, one and all, become sharers in the very nature of God, having completely escaped the corruption which exists in the world through earthly cravings.

¹⁷ For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of right conduct, peace and joy, through the Holy Spirit;

¹⁷ For this our light and transitory burden of suffering is achieving for us a preponderating, yes, a vastly preponderating, and eternal weight of glory;

²² The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence; ²³ good faith, meekness, self-restraint.

⁷ But worldly stories, fit only for credulous old women, have nothing to do with. ⁸ Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect, possessing, as it does, the promise of Life now and of the Life which is soon coming.

¹⁴ Such persons are mere babes. But solid food is for adults--that is, for those who through constant practice have their spiritual faculties carefully trained to distinguish good from evil.

¹⁰ It is true that they disciplined us for a few years according as they thought fit; but He does it for our certain good, in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character.

¹⁷ The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceful, courteous, not self-willed, full of compassion and kind actions, free from favouritism and from all insincerity. ¹⁸ And peace, for those who strive for peace, is the seed of which the harvest is righteousness.

⁶ Rejoice triumphantly in the prospect of this, even if now, for a short time, you are compelled to sorrow amid various trials.

¹⁴ Their very eyes are full of adultery--being eyes which never cease from sin. These men set traps to catch unstedfast souls, their own hearts being well trained in greed. They are fore-doomed to God's curse!

¹⁴ And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the unruly, comfort the timid, sustain the weak, and be patient towards all.

⁵ EVERY RAVINE SHALL BE FILLED UP, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL LEVELLED DOWN, THE CROOKED PLACES SHALL BE TURNED INTO STRAIGHT ROADS, AND THE RUGGED WAYS INTO SMOOTH;

¹ Brethren, if anybody be detected in any misconduct, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. And let each of you keep watch over himself, lest he also fall into temptation.

¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be cured. The heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence.

²² Some, when they argue with you, you must endeavor to convince; ²³ others you must try to save, as brands plucked from the flames; and on others look with pity mingled with fear, while you hate every trace of their sin.

⁸ "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. ⁹ "Blessed are the peacemakers, for it is they who will be recognized as sons of God.

⁵⁰ Salt is a good thing, but if the salt should become tasteless, what will you use to give it saltness? Have salt within you and live at peace with one another."

⁷⁵ In piety and uprightness before Him all our days.

²² But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result.

¹⁸ If you can, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with all the world.

¹⁹ Therefore let us aim at whatever makes for peace and mutual upbuilding of character.

¹⁰ Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.

¹² For the present we see things as if in a mirror, and are puzzled; but then we shall see them face to face. For the present the knowledge I gain is imperfect; but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹⁷ Therefore, "'COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND SEPARATE YOURSELVES,' SAYS THE LORD, 'AND TOUCH NOTHING IMPURE; AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU, AND WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU,

²¹ God, however, is only one. Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? No, indeed; for if a Law had been given which could have conferred Life, righteousness would certainly have come by the Law.

¹ I, then, the prisoner for the Master's sake, entreat you to live and act as becomes those who have received the call that you have received-- ² with all lowliness of mind and unselfishness, and with patience, bearing with one another lovingly, and earnestly striving to maintain, ³ in the uniting bond of peace, the unity given by the Spirit. ⁴ There is but one body and but one Spirit, as also when you were called you had one and the same hope held out to you. ⁵ There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ and one God and Father of all, who rules over all, acts through all, and dwells in all. ⁷ Yet to each of us individually grace was given, measured out with the munificence of Christ. ⁸ For this reason Scripture says: "HE RE-ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."

⁵ For be well assured that no fornicator or immoral person and no money-grubber--or in other words idol-worshipper--has any share awaiting him in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

¹² I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me. ¹³ Thus He will build up your characters, so that you will be faultlessly holy in the presence of our God and Father at the Coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones.

⁷ God has not called us to an unclean life, but to one of purity.

¹⁵ See to it that no one ever repays another with evil for evil; but always seek opportunities of doing good both to one another and to all the world.

¹¹ But you, O man of God, must flee from these things; and strive for uprightness, godliness, good faith, love, fortitude, and a forgiving temper.

²² Keep a strong curb, however, on your youthful cravings; and strive for integrity, good faith, love, peace, in company with all who pray to the Lord with pure hearts.

¹¹ LET HIM TURN FROM EVIL, AND DO GOOD; LET HIM INQUIRE FOR PEACE AND GO IN PURSUIT OF IT.

¹³ And who will be able to harm you, if you show yourselves zealous for that which is good?

¹¹ Since all these things are thus pre-destined to dissolution, what sort of men ought you to be found to be in all holy living and godly conduct,

¹⁸ But be always growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory, both now and to the day of Eternity!

² Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. ³ And every man who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies himself so as to be as pure as He is.

¹¹ My dear friend, do not follow wrong examples, but right ones. He who habitually does what is right is a child of God: he who habitually does what is wrong has not seen God.

²⁴ The nations will live their lives by its light; and the kings of the earth are to bring their glory into it. ²⁵ And in the daytime (for there will be no night there) the gates will never be closed; ²⁶ and the glory and honor of the nations shall be brought into it. ²⁷ And no unclean thing shall ever enter it, nor any one who is guilty of base conduct or tells lies, but only they whose names stand recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.

³ "In future there will be no curse," he said, "but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in that city. And His servants will render Him holy service and will see His face, ⁴ and His name will be on their foreheads.

¹¹ Let the dishonest man act dishonestly still; let the filthy make himself filthy still; let the righteous practise righteousness still; and let the holy be made holy still." ¹² "I am coming quickly; and My reward is with Me, that I may requite every man in accordance with what his conduct has been. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes clean, that they may have a right to the Tree of Life, and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ The unclean are shut out, and so are all who practise magic, all fornicators, all murderers, and those who worship idols, and every one who loves falsehood and tells lies.

¹⁶ By their fruits you will easily recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from brambles? ¹⁷ Just so every good tree produces good fruit, but a poisonous tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a poisonous tree good fruit.

³² But *I* have prayed for *you* that your faith may not fail, and you, when at last you have come back to your true self, must strengthen your brethren."

³⁰ and that from among your own selves men will rise up who will seek with their perverse talk to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be on the alert; and remember that, night and day, for three years, I never ceased admonishing every one, even with tears.

⁶ It is no good thing--this which you make the ground of your boasting. Do you not know that a little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough?

¹² So then let him who thinks he is standing securely beware of falling.

⁸ Love never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if there are languages, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be brought to an end.

³³ Do not deceive yourselves: "Evil companionships corrupt good morals."

¹ And you also we, as God's fellow workers, entreat not to be found to have received His grace to no purpose.

⁵ Test yourselves to discover whether you are true believers: put your own selves under examination. Or do you not know that Jesus Christ is within you, unless you are insincere?

¹³ And along with him the other Jews also concealed their real opinions, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their lack of straightforwardness.

⁴ Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.

³ But fornication and every kind of impurity, or covetousness, let them not even be mentioned among you, for they ought not to be named among God's people.

⁵ Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations--fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.

¹⁶ But from irreligious and frivolous talk hold aloof, for those who indulge in it will proceed from bad to worse in impiety, ¹⁷ and their teaching will spread like a running sore. Hymenaeus and Philetus are men of that stamp.

¹ For this reason we ought to pay the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, for fear we should drift away from them. ² For if the message delivered through angels proved to be true, and every transgression and act of disobedience met with just retribution,

¹² see to it, brethren, that there is never in any one of you--as perhaps there may be--a sinful and unbelieving heart, manifesting itself in revolt from the ever-living God.

¹ Therefore let us be on our guard lest perhaps, while He still leaves us a promise of being admitted to His rest, some one of you should be found to have fallen short of it.

¹¹ Let it then be our earnest endeavour to be admitted to that rest, so that no one may perish through following the same example of unbelief.

¹¹ But we long for each of you to continue to manifest the same earnestness, with a view to your enjoying fulness of hope to the very End;

²³ Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our hope, for He is faithful who gave us the promises. ²⁴ And let us bestow thought on one another with a view to arousing one another to brotherly love and right conduct; ²⁵ not neglecting--as some habitually do--to meet together, but encouraging one another, and doing this all the more since you can see the day of Christ approaching. ²⁶ For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains in reserve any other sacrifice for sins. ²⁷ There remains nothing but a certain awful expectation of judgement, and the fury of a fire which before long will devour the enemies of the truth. ²⁸ Any one who bids defiance to the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much severer punishment, think you, will he be held to deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, has not regarded as holy that Covenant-blood with which he was set free from sin, and has insulted the Spirit from whom comes grace? ³⁰ For we know who it is that has said, "VENGEANCE BELONGS TO ME: I WILL PAY BACK;" and again, "THE LORD WILL BE HIS PEOPLE'S JUDGE." ³¹ It is an awful thing to fall into the hands of the ever-living God. ³² But continually recall to mind the days now past, when on being first enlightened you went through a great conflict and many sufferings. ³³ This was partly through allowing yourselves to be made a public spectacle amid reproaches and persecutions, and partly through coming forward to share the sufferings of those who were thus treated. ³⁴ For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned, but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain. ³⁵ Therefore do not cast from you your confident hope, for it will receive a vast reward.

¹⁰ For this reason, brethren, be all the more in earnest to make sure that God has called you and chosen you; for it is certain that so long as you practise these things, you will never stumble.

¹ But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be teachers of falsehood among you also, who will cunningly introduce fatal divisions, disowning even the Sovereign Lord who has redeemed them, and bringing on themselves swift destruction. ² And in their immoral ways they will have many eager disciples, through whom religion will be brought into disrepute.

¹⁸ For, while they pour out their frivolous and arrogant talk, they use earthly cravings--every kind of immorality--as a bait to entrap men who are just escaping from the influence of those who live in error.

¹⁴ Therefore, dear friends, since you have these expectations, earnestly seek to be found in His presence, free from blemish or reproach, in peace.

⁸ Keep guard over yourselves, so that you may not lose the results of your good deeds, but may receive back a full reward.

²⁰ But you, my dearly-loved friends, building yourselves up on the basis of your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ must keep yourselves safe in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which will result in the Life of the Ages.

²¹ For from within, out of men's hearts, their evil purposes proceed--fornication, theft, murder, adultery,

²⁰ Yet let us send them written instructions to abstain from things polluted by connexion with idolatry, from fornication, from meat killed by strangling, and from blood.

²⁹ You must abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. Keep yourselves clear of these things, and it will be well with you. Farewell."

¹ It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and of a kind unheard of even among the Gentiles--a man has his father's wife! ² And you, instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this deed of shame, are filled with self-complacency! ³ I for my part, present with you in spirit although absent in body, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has so acted. ⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are all assembled and my spirit is with you, together with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ I have handed over such a man to Satan for the destruction of his body, that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ It is no good thing--this which you make the ground of your boasting. Do you not know that a little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough?

⁹ I wrote to you in that letter that you were not to associate with fornicators; ¹⁰ not that in this world you are to keep wholly aloof from such as they, any more than from people who are avaricious and greedy of gain, or from worshippers of idols. For that would mean that you would be compelled to go out of the world altogether. ¹¹ But what I meant was that you were not to associate with any one bearing the name of "brother," if he was addicted to fornication or avarice or idol-worship or abusive language or hard-drinking or greed of gain. With such a man you ought not even to eat.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? No, indeed. ¹⁶ Or do you not know that a man who has to do with a prostitute is one with her in body? For God says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE." ¹⁷ But he who is in union with the Master is one with Him in spirit. ¹⁸ Flee from fornication. Any other sin that a human being commits lies outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your bodies are a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you--the Spirit whom you have from God? ²⁰ And you are not your own, for you have been redeemed at infinite cost. Therefore glorify God in your bodies.

⁸ Nor may we be fornicators, like some of them who committed fornication and on a single day 23,000 of them fell dead.

²¹ and that upon re-visiting you I may be humbled by my God in your presence, and may have to mourn over many whose hearts still cling to their old sins, and who have not repented of the impurity, fornication, and gross sensuality, of which they have been guilty.

¹⁹ Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery; ²⁰ enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions, envyings; ²¹ hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.

³ For this is God's will--your purity of life, that you abstain from fornication; ⁴ that each man among you shall know how to procure a wife who shall be his own in purity and honour; ⁵ that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings, like the Gentiles who have no knowledge of God; ⁶ and that in this matter there be no encroaching on the rights of a brother Christian and no overreaching him. For the Lord is an avenger in all such cases, as we have already taught you and solemnly warned you. ⁷ God has not called us to an unclean life, but to one of purity.

⁴ Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be unpolluted; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

²⁰ Yet I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and by her teaching leads astray My servants, so that they commit fornication and eat what has been sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I have given her time to repent, but she is determined not to repent of her fornication. ²² I tell you that I am about to cast her upon a bed of sickness, and I will severely afflict those who commit adultery with her, unless they repent of conduct such as hers. ²³ Her children too shall surely die; and all the Churches shall come to know that I am He who searches into men's inmost thoughts; and to each of you I will give a requital which shall be in accordance with what your conduct has been.

⁸ But as for cowards and the unfaithful, and the polluted, and murderers, fornicators, and those who practise magic or worship idols, and all liars--the portion allotted to them shall be in the Lake which burns with fire and sulphur. This is the Second Death."

¹⁵ The unclean are shut out, and so are all who practise magic, all fornicators, all murderers, and those who worship idols, and every one who loves falsehood and tells lies.

²³ "And then I will tell them plainly, "'I never knew you: begone from me, you doers of wickedness.'

¹¹ "Afterwards the other bridesmaids came and cried, "'Sir, Sir, open the door to us.' ¹² "'In solemn truth I tell you,' he replied, 'I do not know you.'

²⁴ "Strain every nerve to force your way in through the narrow gate," He answered; "for multitudes, I tell you, will endeavour to find a way in and will not succeed. ²⁵ As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and shut the door, and you have begun to stand outside and knock at the door and say, "'Sir, open the door for us' --"'I do not know you,' He answers; 'you are no friends of mine.' ²⁶ "Then you will plead, "'We have eaten and drunk in your company and you have taught in our streets.' ²⁷ "But He will reply, "'I tell you that you are no friends of mine. Begone from me, all of you, wrongdoers that you are.'

⁴ For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away-- ⁶ it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for, to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.

⁸ But if it only yields a mass of thorns and briers, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and in the end will be destroyed by fire.

²⁶ For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains in reserve any other sacrifice for sins. ²⁷ There remains nothing but a certain awful expectation of judgement, and the fury of a fire which before long will devour the enemies of the truth. ²⁸ Any one who bids defiance to the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much severer punishment, think you, will he be held to deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, has not regarded as holy that Covenant-blood with which he was set free from sin, and has insulted the Spirit from whom comes grace?

¹⁴ For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects not of Law, but of grace.

¹⁵ You have not for the second time acquired the consciousness of being--a consciousness which fills you with terror. But you have acquired a deep inward conviction of having been adopted as sons--a conviction which prompts us to cry aloud, "Abba! our Father!"

⁹ For if the service which pronounces doom had glory, far more glorious still is the service which tells of righteousness.

⁷ For the Spirit which God has given us is not a spirit of cowardice, but one of power and of love and of sound judgement.

⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incapable of decay, and *we* shall be changed.

¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a loud word of command, and with an archangel's voice and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

¹⁹ But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God. ²⁰ For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.

¹⁹ for it is by the Law that I have died to the Law, in order that I may live to God.

¹⁰ All who are depending upon their own obedience to the Law are under a curse, for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERY ONE WHO DOES NOT REMAIN FAITHFUL TO ALL THE PRECEPTS OF THE LAW, AND PRACTISE THEM."

³⁵ nor by the earth, for it is the footstool under His feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the City of the Great King.

¹⁶ "You," replied Simon Peter, "are the Christ, the Son of the ever-living God."

²⁶ AND IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, 'NO PEOPLE OF MINE ARE YOU,' THERE SHALL THEY BE CALLED SONS OF THE EVERLIVING GOD."

²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved. As is declared in Scripture, "FROM MOUNT ZION A DELIVERER WILL COME: HE WILL REMOVE ALL UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB;

²⁶ But the Jerusalem which is above is free, and *she* is *our* mother.

⁹ For when others speak of us they report the reception we had from you, and how you turned from your idols to God, to be bondservants of the true and ever-living God,

¹⁴ how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ, who strengthened by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God, free from blemish, purify your consciences from lifeless works for you to serve the ever-living God?

³¹ It is an awful thing to fall into the hands of the ever-living God.

¹⁰ for he continually looked forward to the city which has the foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹⁴ For we have no permanent city here, but we are longing for the city which is soon to be ours.

¹⁴ It was also about these that Enoch, who belonged to the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "The Lord has come, attended by myriads of His people, to execute judgement upon all,

¹² "'He who overcomes--I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he shall never go out from it again. And I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which is to come down out of Heaven from My God, and My own new name.

¹¹ And I looked, and heard what seemed to be the voices of countless angels on every side of the throne, and of the living creatures and the Elders. Their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹² and in loud voices they were singing, "It is fitting that the Lamb which has been offered in sacrifice should receive all power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."

² And I saw another angel coming from the east and carrying a seal belonging to the ever-living God. He called in a loud voice to the four angels whose work it was to injure the earth and the sea.

¹ Then I looked, and I saw the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 people, having His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads.

² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God and made ready like a bride attired to meet her husband.

¹⁰ So in the Spirit he carried me to the top of a vast, lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God,

¹⁹ and that if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take from him his share in the Tree of Life and in the holy city--the things described in this book.

³¹ "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then will He sit upon His glorious throne, ³² and all the nations will be gathered into His presence. And He will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and will make the sheep stand at His right hand, and the goats at His left. ³⁴ "Then the King will say to those at His right, "'Come, my Father's blessed ones, receive your inheritance of the Kingdom which has been divinely intended for you ever since the creation of the world.

²⁰ Nevertheless rejoice not at this, that the spirits submit to you; but rejoice that your names are registered in Heaven."

²⁷ And He has conferred on Him authority to act as Judge, because He is the Son of Man.

²⁸ "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has placed you to take the oversight for Him and act as shepherds to the Church of God, which He has bought with His own blood.

⁴⁹ And as we have borne a resemblance to the earthy one, let us see to it that we also bear a resemblance to the heavenly One.

⁵⁴ But when this perishable nature has put on what is imperishable, and this mortality has put on immortality, then will the words of Scripture be fulfilled, "DEATH HAS BEEN SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY."

⁸ So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord.

²² God has put all things under His feet, and has appointed Him universal and supreme Head of the Church, which is His Body,

²⁴ And just as the Church submits to Christ, so also married women should be entirely submissive to their husbands. ²⁵ Married men, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up to death for her;

²¹ For, with me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²² But since to live means a longer stay on earth, that implies more labour for me--and not unsuccessful labour; and which I am to choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am in a dilemma, my earnest desire being to depart and be with Christ, for that is far, far better.

¹² I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me, ¹⁴ with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Therefore let all of us who are mature believers cherish these thoughts; and if in any respect you think differently, that also God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ But whatever be the point that we have already reached, let us persevere in the same course. ¹⁷ Brethren, vie with one another in imitating me, and carefully observe those who follow the example which we have set you. ¹⁸ For there are many whom I have often described to you, and I now even with tears describe them, as being enemies to the Cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their bellies are their God, their glory is in their shame, and their minds are devoted to earthly things. ²⁰ We, however, are free citizens of Heaven, and we are waiting with longing expectation for the coming from Heaven of a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, in the exercise of the power which He has even to subject all things to Himself, will transform this body of our humiliation until it resembles His own glorious body.

³ Yes, and I beg you also, my faithful yoke-fellow, to help these women who have shared my toil in connection with the Good News, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are recorded in the book of Life.

¹² and give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the inheritance of God's people in Light.

²⁴ Now I can find joy amid my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my own person whatever is lacking in Christ's afflictions on behalf of His Body, the Church.

⁵ For these are a plain token of God's righteous judgement, which has in view your being deemed worthy of admission to God's Kingdom, for the sake of which, indeed, you are sufferers. ⁶ A plain token of God's righteous judgement, I say, since it is a righteous thing for Him to requite with affliction those who are now afflicting you; ⁷ and to requite with rest you who are suffering affliction now--rest with us at the re-appearing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven, attended by His mighty angels.

⁵ (If a man does not know how to rule his own household, how shall he have the Church of God given into his care?)

¹⁰ For God is not unjust so that He is unmindful of your labour and of the love which you have manifested towards Himself in having rendered services to His people and in still rendering them. ¹¹ But we long for each of you to continue to manifest the same earnestness, with a view to your enjoying fulness of hope to the very End; ¹² so that you may not become half-hearted, but be imitators of those who through faith and patient endurance are now heirs to the promises.

²⁷ And since it is reserved for all mankind once to die, and afterwards to be judged;

⁴ Through faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain did, and through this faith he obtained testimony that he was righteous, God giving the testimony by accepting his gifts; and through it, though he is dead, he still speaks.

⁴⁰ for God had provided for them and us something better, so that apart from us they were not to attain to full blessedness.

¹⁸ In accordance with His will He made us His children through the Message of the truth, so that we might, in a sense, be the Firstfruits of the things which He has created.

²³ When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge.

¹⁴ "My lord, you know," I replied. "They are those," he said, "who have just passed through the great distress, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ For this reason they stand before the very throne of God, and render Him service, day after day and night after night, in His sanctuary, and He who is sitting upon the throne will shelter them in His tent. ¹⁶ They will never again be hungry or thirsty, and never again will the sun or any scorching heat trouble them. ¹⁷ For the Lamb who is in front of the throne will be their Shepherd, and will guide them to watersprings of Life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

⁸ And all the inhabitants of the earth will be found to be worshipping him: every one whose name is not recorded in the Book of Life--the Book of the Lamb who has been offered in sacrifice ever since the creation of the world.

⁴ These are those who had not defiled themselves with women: they are as pure as virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men, as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

¹⁵ And if any one's name was not found recorded in the Book of Life he was thrown into the Lake of fire.

³⁵ that all the innocent blood shed upon earth may come on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.

²⁸ for this is my blood which is to be poured out for many for the remission of sins--the blood which ratifies the Covenant.

²⁴ "This is my blood," He said, "which is to be poured out on behalf of many--the blood which makes the Covenant sure.

⁵¹ Yes, I tell you that, from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the House, it shall all be required from the present generation.

²⁰ He gave them the cup in like manner, when the meal was over. "This cup," He said, "is the new Covenant ratified by my blood which is to be poured out on your behalf.

⁵ For there is but one God and but one Mediator between God and men--Christ Jesus, Himself man;

²² so much the more also is the Covenant of which Jesus has become the guarantor, a better covenant.

⁶ But, as a matter of fact, the ministry which Christ has obtained is all the nobler a ministry, in that He is at the same time the negotiator of a sublimer covenant, based upon sublimer promises.

⁸ For, being dissatisfied with His people, God says, "'THERE ARE DAYS COMING,' SAYS THE LORD, 'WHEN I WILL ESTABLISH WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH A NEW COVENANT--

¹⁵ And because of this He is the negotiator of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which has been promised to them.

²¹ And in the same way he also sprinkled blood upon the Tent of worship and upon all the vessels used in the ministry.

²² let us draw near with sincerity and unfaltering faith, having had our hearts sprinkled, once for all, from consciences oppressed with sin, and our bodies bathed in pure water.

²⁸ Through faith he instituted the Passover, and the sprinkling with blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.

²⁰ Now may God who gives peace, and brought Jesus, our Lord, up again from among the dead--even Him who, by virtue of the blood of the eternal Covenant, is the great Shepherd of the sheep--

² chosen in accordance with the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, with a view to their obedience and to their being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May more and more grace and peace be granted to you.

⁴ and Jesus said to him, "Be careful to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses appointed as evidence for them."

⁵ He was still speaking when a luminous cloud spread over them; and a voice was heard from within the cloud, which said, "This is My Son dearly beloved, in whom is My delight. Listen to Him."

³⁵ "The Moses whom they rejected, asking him, 'Who appointed you magistrate and judge?' --that same Moses we find God sending as a magistrate and a deliverer by the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and will turn aside to fables.

¹ For this reason we ought to pay the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, for fear we should drift away from them. ² For if the message delivered through angels proved to be true, and every transgression and act of disobedience met with just retribution, ³ how shall *we* escape if we are indifferent to a salvation as great as that now offered to us? This, after having first of all been announced by the Lord Himself, had its truth made sure to us by those who heard Him,

¹⁷ And with whom was God so greatly grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, and whose dead bodies fell in the Desert?

⁵ and serve a copy and type of the heavenly things, just as Moses was divinely instructed when about to build the tabernacle. For God said, "SEE THAT YOU MAKE EVERYTHING IN IMITATION OF THE PATTERN SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN."

⁷ Through faith Noah, being divinely taught about things as yet unseen, reverently gave heed and built an ark for the safety of his family, and by this act he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which depends on faith.

²² Now that, through your obedience to the truth, you have purified your souls for cherishing sincere brotherly love, you must love another heartily and fervently.

¹⁰ Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he exclaimed, "Oh, do not do that. I am a fellow bondservant of yours and a fellow bondservant of your brethren who have borne testimony to Jesus. Worship God." Testimony to Jesus is the spirit which underlies Prophecy.

⁹ But he said to me, "Oh, do not do that. I am a fellow bondservant of yours, and a fellow bondservant of your brethren the Prophets and of those who are mindful of the teachings of this book. Worship God."

²⁷ Here the words "Yet again, once for all" denote the removal of the things which can be shaken--created things--in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

³⁵ Earth and sky will pass away, but it is certain that my words will not pass away.

³¹ and those who use the world as not using it to the full. For the world as it now exists is passing away.

¹⁰ The day of the Lord will come like a thief--it will be a day on which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, the elements be destroyed in the fierce heat, and the earth and all the works of man be utterly burnt up. ¹¹ Since all these things are thus pre-destined to dissolution, what sort of men ought you to be found to be in all holy living and godly conduct,

¹⁵ The seventh angel blew his trumpet; and there followed loud voices in Heaven which said, "The sovereignty of the world now belongs to our Lord and His Christ; and He will be King until the Ages of the Ages."

¹ And I saw a new Heaven and a new earth; for the first Heaven and the first earth were gone, and the sea no longer exists.

³⁴ "Then the King will say to those at His right, "'Come, my Father's blessed ones, receive your inheritance of the Kingdom which has been divinely intended for you ever since the creation of the world.

³³ and He will be King over the House of Jacob for the Ages, and of His Kingdom there will be no end."

²⁰ Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, He answered, "The Kingdom of God does not so come that you can stealthily watch for it. ²¹ Nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' --for the Kingdom of God is within you."

²⁰ This is true; yet it was their unbelief that cut them off, and you only stand through your faith.

¹ I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassionsof God, to present all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship. ² And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.

⁶ to the praise of the splendour of His grace with which He has enriched us in the beloved One.

¹⁰ and learn in your own experiences what is fully pleasing to the Lord.

¹⁸ I have enough of everything--and more than enough. My wants are fully satisfied now that I have received from the hands of Epaphroditus the generous gifts which you sent me--they are a fragrant odor, an acceptable sacrifice, truly pleasing to God.

⁶ but Christ was faithful as a Son having authority over God's house, and we are that house, if we hold firm to the End the boldness and the hope which we boast of as ours.

¹⁶ Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need.

⁷ For Jesus during his earthly life offered up prayers and entreaties, crying aloud and weeping as He pleaded with Him who was able to bring Him in safety out of death, and He was delivered from the terror from which He shrank.

¹⁹ Since then, brethren, we have free access to the Holy place through the blood of Jesus,

²² let us draw near with sincerity and unfaltering faith, having had our hearts sprinkled, once for all, from consciences oppressed with sin, and our bodies bathed in pure water. ²³ Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our hope, for He is faithful who gave us the promises.

¹⁵ Through Him, then, let us continually lay on the altar a sacrifice of praise to God, namely, the utterance of lips that give thanks to His Name.

⁴ to an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading, which has been reserved in Heaven for you, ⁵ whom God in His power is guarding through faith for a salvation that even now stands ready for unveiling at the End of the Age.

¹⁷ And if you address as your Father Him who judges impartially in accordance with each man's actions, then spend in fear the time of your stay here on earth,

²⁰ If you do wrong and receive a blow for it, what credit is there in your bearing it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you bear it patiently, this is an acceptable thing with God.

⁶ and has formed us into a Kingdom, to be priests to God, His Father--to Him be ascribed the glory and the power until the Ages of the Ages. Amen.

¹⁰ And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests to our God, And they reign over the earth."

⁴ Who shall not be afraid, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy. All nations shall come and shall worship Thee, because the righteousness of all that Thou hast done has been made manifest."

⁸ He will come in flames of fire to take vengeance on those who have no knowledge of God, and do not obey the Good News as to Jesus, our Lord.

²⁷ There remains nothing but a certain awful expectation of judgement, and the fury of a fire which before long will devour the enemies of the truth.