For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

For what credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it you patiently endure? But if when you do right and suffer for it you patiently endure, you have favor with God.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

For you were straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you.

With the help of Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

And we have the prophetic word made more sure, and you will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

They have eyes full of adultery, that never cease from sin; they entice unstable souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

This is now the second letter that I have written to you, beloved, and in both of them I have aroused your sincere mind by way of reminder;

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life,

the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us

that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

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

My little children, I write this to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.

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

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come; by this we know that it is the last hour.

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 that it might be plain that none of them were of us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

These things I have written to you about those who try to deceive you.

But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.

In this love is perfected among us, that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment, because as he is so are we in this world.

And this commandment we have from him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father.

And now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in love.

For many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.

Anyone who runs ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Though I have much to write to you, I do not want to use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

For certain persons have crept in secretly, those who were long ago marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for the sake of gain they have rushed headlong into the Balaam's error, and perished in Korah's rebellion.

to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

And have mercy on some, who doubt;

save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

and the Living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore! And I have the keys of death and Hades.

Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place after this.

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot bear evil men, but you have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false;

I know you have persevered and have endured for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Remember then from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful even until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to practice sexual immorality.

So you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Nevertheless I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I will not lay upon you any other burden;

only hold fast what you have until I come.

just as I also have received from my Father; and I will give him the morning star.

"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead.

Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God.

Remember therefore what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. But if you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.

Yet you have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word, and have not denied my name.

Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lielook, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and know that I have loved you.

Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may take your crown.

You say, "I am rich; I have become wealthy, and have need of nothing"and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth."

saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and where have they come from?"

I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those of mankind who have not the seal of God on their foreheads.

They have tails like scorpions, and stings, and their power to hurt men for five months lies in their tails.

They have as king over them the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.

And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down."

These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.

saying, "We give thanks to you, O Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.

One of its heads seemed to have a fatal wound, but its fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder.

These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.