It must be so, because the Scriptures say: "Here now I lay in Zion a chosen stone, a costly cornerstone, And not a single one who puts his trust in Him will ever be put to shame."

and: "A stone for them to stumble over and a rock to trip them up." They keep on stumbling over the message, because they are disobedient to it, and this is their appointed doom.

Dearly beloved, I beg you as aliens and exiles to keep on abstaining from the evil desires of your lower nature, because they are always at war with the soul.

Indeed, it was to this kind of living that you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow His footsteps.

never returning evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but blessing instead, because it was for this that you were called, to obtain the blessing of heirs.

Because the eyes of the Lord are on upright men, and His ears listen to their pleading cries, but His face is against them that do wrong."

Above everything else keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers up a multitude of sins.

If you are suffering abuse because you bear the name of Christ, you are happy, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

Because the time has come for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will the end be of those who are rejecting God's good news?

You younger men, on your part, must be submissive to the elders. And you must all put on the servant's apron of humility to one another, because God opposes the haughty but bestows His unmerited favor on the humble.

Cast every worry you have upon Him, because He cares for you.

Resist him and be strong in faith, because you know that your brotherhood all over the world is experiencing the same sort of sufferings.

because His divine power has given us everything that is needful for life and piety, through our full knowledge of Him who through His glory and excellence has called us to Him.

It is through these that He has given us His precious and glorious promises, so that through them, after you have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires, you may come to share in the divine nature.

because I know that the removal of my bodily tent is to be very soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.

because you recognize this truth above all else, that no prophecy in Scripture is to be interpreted by one's own mind,

Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the true Way will be abused,

The Lord is not slow about His promise, in the sense in which some think of slowness, but He is really dealing patiently with you, because He is not willing for any to perish but for all to have an opportunity to repent?

Yet it is a new command that I am writing you; it is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

But whoever continues to hate his brother is in darkness and is living in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I am writing to you, dear children, because for His sake your sins have been forgiven.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and God's message is always in your hearts, and you have conquered the evil one.

because everything that is in the world, the things that our lower nature and eyes are longing for, and the proud pretensions of life, do not come from the Father, but from the world;

I do not write to you because you do not know it, but because you do know it.

See what wonderful love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are! This is why the world does not know what we are, because it has never come to know Him.

Dearly beloved, we are now God's children, but what we are going to be has not been unveiled. We know that if it is unveiled, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

Whoever practices sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has practiced sin from the beginning. This is why the Son of God appeared, to undo the devil's works.

No one who is born of God makes a practice of sinning, because the God-given life-principle continues to live in him, and so he cannot practice sinning, because he is born of God.

it is so because the message that you have heard from the beginning is this: We should love one another.

We must not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and butchered his brother. And why did he butcher him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's upright.

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love our brothers. Whoever does not continue to love continues still in death.

because if our consciences do condemn us, God is greater than our consciences, and He knows everything.

and we obtain from Him whatever we ask for, because we practice obedience to His commands and do what pleases Him.

Dearly beloved, stop believing every so-called spiritual utterance, but keep testing them to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

You are children of God, dear children, and you have conquered these men, because He who is in our hearts is greater than he who is in the world.

Dearly beloved, let us practice loving one another, because love originates with God, and everyone who practices loving is a child of God and knows God by experience.

Whoever does not love has never come to know God by experience, because God is love.

Our love attains perfection through our having perfect confidence about the day of judgment, because here in this world we are living as He did.

There is no fear in love, and perfect love drives out fear, because fear pertains to punishment, and no one who is subject to fear has attained perfection in love.

We love, because He loved us first.

He is the One who came through water and blood -- Jesus Christ; not through water only but through water and blood. The Spirit also testifies to this, because the Spirit is truth.

Because there are three that testify to it, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three agree.

If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is stronger still; because this is the testimony that God has borne to His Son.

Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his own heart. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has borne to His Son.

because of the truth that lives on in our hearts and will be with us forever:

Alas for them, because they have trod the road that Cain did; for gain they have rushed into Balaam's error and have perished in rebellion like that of Korah!

because they said to you, "In the last times there will be mockers who will live to satisfy their own godless passions."

Because you have kept my message with the patient endurance that I give you, I also will keep you from the time of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test the inhabitants of the earth.

As it is, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.

Because you say, 'I am rich, I have already become rich, I need nothing,' and you do not know that you are the very one that is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked;

Then I began to weep bitterly because no one could be found deserving to open the book or look into it.

Then they sang a new song: "You deserve to take the book and break its seals, because you have been slaughtered, and with your blood have bought men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation,

because the great day of their anger has come, and who can stand it?"

because the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will be their Shepherd, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

The star is called Absinthus, that is, Wormwood. So one-third of the waters turned to wormwood, and great numbers of people died of the waters, because they had turned bitter.

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-air say in a loud voice, "Alas! Alas! Alas for the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the three angels who are going to blow their trumpets!"

but leave off the court outside the temple; do not measure it, because it has been given over to the heathen, and for forty-two months they will trample the city underfoot.

The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate with feasts and the sending of gifts to one another, because these two prophets had tormented the inhabitants of the earth.

saying: "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and were, because you have assumed your great power and begun to reign.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "The salvation, power, and kingdom of our God, and the sovereignty of His Christ, have already come, because the accuser of our brothers, who always day and night accuses them before our God, has been hurled down.

But they have conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the message to which they bore testimony, because they did not cling to life but courted death.

So celebrate your triumph, you heavens and you who live in them! Alas for the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you in a great rage, since he knows that his time is short!"

He leads the inhabitants of the earth astray because of the wonders he is permitted to perform in the presence of the wild beast, telling the inhabitants of the earth to erect a statue to the wild beast that bears the sword-thrust and yet has lived.

He cried in a loud voice, "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him who made heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water."

Then another angel came out of the temple and cried in a loud voice to Him who was seated on the cloud, "Put forth your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, because the earth's harvest is ripe."

And another angel came from the altar, who had power over the fire, and he called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Put forth your sharp sickle, and gather the bunches of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are fully ripe."

Then I saw another symbol in heaven, great and wonderful: seven angels bringing seven plagues which are to be the last, because with them God's wrath is completely expressed.

Who will not fear and glorify your name, O Lord? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship you, because the justice of your sentences has now been shown."

Because they have shed the blood of your people and prophets, you have given them blood to drink; they deserve it."

and cursed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and sores, but they would not repent of what they had done.

huge hailstones as heavy as talents fell on men from heaven, and men cursed God for the plague of hail, because the torture of it was severe.

They will make war upon the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, and His chosen, elect, and faithful followers will conquer with Him, too, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings."

because all the nations have fallen by drinking the raging wine of her immorality; the kings of the earth have joined her in her immorality, and the businessmen of the earth have grown rich from the wealth of her luxury."

To the same degree in which she has lived in splendor and luxury, give her torture and tears. Because she is always boasting in her heart, 'I sit enthroned as queen; I am not a widow, I shall never experience any sorrow' --

for this very reason her plagues will overtake her in a single day, death, grief, and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; because the Lord who has judged her is mighty.

They will stand a long way off for fear of her torture, saying, 'Alas! Alas for the great city, for Babylon the mighty city, because in a single day your judgment has overtaken you!'

The businessmen of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one can buy their cargoes anymore --

because in a single hour a wealth so vast has been destroyed!' All ship pilots and all who travel by sea, sailors and seafaring men, stood a long way off

Celebrate over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets too, because God has taken vengeance on her for you."

because His judgments are true and just. Because He has passed judgment on the notorious prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and for the blood of His slaves He has taken vengeance upon her!"

Let us be glad and shout for joy and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.