For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing from the Lord,

But let the brother that is humble rejoice in his exaltation,

Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruit of his creatures.

But he that looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of work, he shall be blessed in his doing.

But if any one among you thinks he is religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his mind, that man's religion is vain.

For he that said, You shall not commit adultery, said also, You shall not kill; and if you do not commit adultery, but kill, you are a transgressor of the law.

You believe that there is one God? You do well; demons also believe and tremble.

But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

You see that faith cooperated with his works, and by works was faith made perfect,

You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.

BE not many of you teachers, my brothers, knowing that we shall receive a severer judgment.

But we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, and direct their whole body;

Whence come wars and contentions among you? Come they not thence, from your pleasures that war in your members?

Adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity against God? Whoever therefore wishes to be a friend of the world, is made an enemy of God.

Or do you suppose that the Scripture says in vain, The spirit which dwells in us desires to envy?

Speak not one against one another, brothers. He that speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

There is one law-giver and judge, who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you that judge a neighbor?

Come now, you that say, To-day and to-morrow we will go to such a city and engage in business there a year, and trade and make profits,

who know not what will be on the morrow; for what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes away;

for you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall both live and do this or that.

He therefore that knows how to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.

Complain not, brothers, against one another, that you be not judged; behold, the judge stands before the doors.

Behold, we account them blessed who are patient. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you know the purpose of the Lord, that he is very merciful and compassionate.

Above all things, my brothers, swear not, neither by heaven, nor the earth, nor any other oath. But let your yes be yes, and your no, no, that you may not fall under condemnation.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be cured, for the prayer of the righteous operates with great power.

Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed that it might not rain, and it rained not on the land for three years and six months;

let him know that he who converts a sinner from an error of [his] way, shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.

that the trial of your faith, which is much more precious than gold that is destroyed but proved by fire, may be found to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

to whom it was revealed that they ministered not to themselves but to us those things which have now been declared to you by those who preached to you the good news, with the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, into which the angels desire to look.

but as he that called you is holy be you also holy in all [your] conduct,

knowing that you were not redeemed from your vain mode of life received by tradition from your fathers, with destructible things, silver or gold,

who through him believed in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope may be in God.

as new born babes desire earnestly the pure milk of the word, that you may grow by it to salvation,

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

for it is said in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious, and he that believes on him shall not be ashamed.

But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should declare the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his glorious light;

having your conduct honorable among the gentiles, that wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, from the good works which they see they may glorify God in the day of visitation,

for this is the will of God, that by well-doing you may silence the ignorance of foolish men;

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you a copy that you should follow his steps,

who being reviled reviled not, suffering threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously,

who himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we having died to sins, may live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.

In like manner let the women be subject to their husbands, that even if some disobey the word, they may be gained through the conduct of their wives without the word,

In like manner let the husbands [do], living together in knowledge with the wife as with a vessel of less strength, deeming them precious, co-heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

not returning evil for evil or railing for railing, but on the contrary blessing [your enemies], because to this you are called, that you may inherit blessing.

For he that will love life and see good days, let him withhold his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit,

for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

And who is he that will injure you if you are followers of what is good?

and sanctify the anointed Lord in your hearts, and be always ready with a defense to every one that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you; but with meekness and fear,

having a good conscience, that in what they speak evil of you they may be ashamed who slander your good conduct in Christ.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might lead us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

who were formerly disobedient when the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved by water.

Christ therefore having suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

that you may no longer live the rest of your time in the flesh according to the desires of men, but according to the will of God.

in which they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excessive intemperance, blaspheming,

who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the living and dead.

And for this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.

If any one speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God, if any one serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the power for ever and ever; amen.

but as you partake of the sufferings of Christ rejoice, that you may also rejoice exulting at the revelation of his glory.

For it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it first begins with us, what will the end be of those that obey not the gospel of God?

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;

whom resist, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished by your brothers in the world.

I have written to you in a few words by Silvanus [Silas], a faithful brother as I suppose, exhorting you, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

As his divine power has given us all things which pertain to life and piety, through the knowledge of him that has called us to his own glory and virtue,

through which have been given us very great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption which is in the world by inordinate desire,

for a man that is without these is blind, not seeing to a distance, and has forgotten the purification from his former errors.

knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle is at hand, as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

But I will also be diligent and especially that you may be able to make mention of these things after my departure.

knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of its own solution.

But there were also false prophets among the people, as there shall also be false teachers among you, who shall bring in by stealth destructive heresies, even denying the master that bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction;

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but plunging them into Tartarus delivered them up in chains to be kept in darkness till the judgment,

and delivered righteous Lot, vexed by the lewd conduct of the wicked;??8 for that righteous man living among them vexed his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their wicked deeds;??9 the Lord knows how to deliver the pious from trial, and to keep the wicked to the day of judgment to be punished,

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog returned to his vomit, and the swine that was washed to wallowing in filth.

knowing this first, that in the last days scoffers shall come with scoffing walking after their inordinate desires,

For of this they are willingly ignorant, that the heavens were of old, and the earth was made of water and by water by the word of God,

by which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, was destroyed.

But let not this one thing escape you, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slow in respect to his promise, as some men account slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to a change of mind.

Wherefore, beloved, looking for these things, be diligent that you may be found in him without a spot and blemish, in peace,

THAT which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld and our hands felt, concerning the Word of life,??2 and the life was made manifest, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us,??3 that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And these things we write to you, that your joy may be complete.

And this is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you, That God is light, and with him there is no darkness.

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and observe not the truth;

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. But if any one has sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,

And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments.

He that says, I have known him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly is the love of God perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

He that says he continues in him, ought also himself so to walk as he walked.

He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness till now.

He that loves his brother continues in the light, and there is no offense in him;

but he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I wrote to you, little children, because you have known the Father.

I wrote to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God continues in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

for all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passes away, and its desires; but he that does the will of God continues for ever.

Little children, it is the last time; and as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many have become anti-christs; whence we know that it is the last time.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us they would have continued with us; but [they went out from us] that they might be manifest that they are not all of us.

Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the anti-christ, [the man that] denies the Father and the Son.

No one that denies the Son has the Father; he that confesses the Son has the Father also.

Let that which you heard from the beginning continue in you. If that which you heard from the beginning continues in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.