Let two or three prophets speak, and the rest consider carefully what is said;

I had no rest of spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in my heart, to give me the light of the knowledge of God's glory, reflected on the face of Christ.

Now since I have the same spirit of faith as he who said in the Scriptures, "I believed, and so I spoke," I too believe, and so I speak,

And what agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they will be my people."

Therefore: "'Come out of company with them, and separate from them,' the Lord has said, 'And stop touching what is unclean; then I will welcome you,

I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters of mine,' The Lord Almighty said."

I do not mean this for your condemnation, because, as I have said before, you have such a place in my heart that I would live with you or die with you.

Indeed, if I have been doing some boasting of you to him, I have never been ashamed of it; but just as all I said to him was true, so now my boasting before Titus has been shown to be true.

Such people should consider this: When I arrive for action I shall do exactly what I said I would in my letters when far away.

but He said to me, "My spiritual strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed."

As I have said it before, so now I say it again, if anybody is preaching to you a good news that is contrary to the one which you have already received, a curse upon him!

But when I saw that they were not living up to the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas, and that before them all, "If you are living like a heathen and not like a Jew, although you are a Jew yourself, why do you try to make the heathen live like Jews?"

So it is said: "Wake up, sleeper; get up from the dead, and Christ will make day dawn on you."

If anyone refuses to obey what we have said in this letter, mark that person and stop having anything to do with him, so that he will feel ashamed of it.

One of them, a prophet of their own countrymen, has said, "Cretans are always liars, wicked brutes, lazy bellies."

For someone somewhere has solemnly said: "What is man that you should think of him, or the Son of Man that you should care for Him?

So I was indignant with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have never come to know my ways.'

For we who have believed are being admitted to that rest, just as He has said: "As in my anger I took oath, they shall not be admitted to my rest," although God's works had been completed at the creation of the world.

So Christ too did not take upon Himself the glory of being appointed High Priest, but it was God who said: "You are my Son; I have today become your Father,"

For He of whom this is said became a member of a different tribe no member of which ever officiated at the altar.

For it is very clear that our Lord sprang from Judah, a tribe about which Moses said nothing as to priests.

for the Levitical priests were appointed without His taking an oath, but He with His oath, when He said to Him: "The Lord took oath and will not change, You are a priest forever" --

and yet they officiate in a sanctuary that is a mere copy and shadow of the heavenly one, as Moses, when he was about to make the tent of worship, was warned, for, said He, "See to it that you make it all just like the pattern shown you on the mountain."

For, because He was dissatisfied with His people, He said: "'See; the time is coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

So, when Christ was coming into the world, He said:

Then I said, 'See, I have come, just as the Scripture writes about me in the book, O God, to do your will.'"

Although at first He said, "You never wished or took delight in sacrifices and offerings, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings" -- all of which are repeatedly offered in accordance with the law --

He afterward said, "See, I have come to do your will." He is taking away the first to let the second take its place.

For we know who it was that said, "Vengeance belongs to me, I will pay back!" and again, "The Lord will be His people's judge."

of whom it had been said, "Through Isaac your offspring must be traced."

and so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am terrified and terror-stricken!"

You must have a turn of mind that is free from avarice; you must be content with what you have, for God Himself has said, "I will never fail you, I will never forsake you."

For He who said, "You must not commit adultery," also said, "You must not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but you do commit murder, you are just the same a lawbreaker.

But the archangel Michael himself, when he disputed and argued with the devil about Moses' body, did not dare to bring against him a charge of blasphemy, but merely said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"

It was about such men also that Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied when he said: "See! The Lord comes with myriads of His people

to execute judgment upon all, to convict all the godless of their godless deeds which in their godlessness they have committed, and of all the harsh things that godless sinners have said against Him."

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

So when I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He laid His right hand upon me and said: "Do not be afraid any more. I am the First and the Last;

After this I had another vision: A door was standing open in heaven, and the first voice, like a trumpet, that I had heard speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place."

But one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping! See! The Lion who sprang from the tribe of Judah, who belongs to the line of David, has conquered, so that He can open the book and break its seven seals."

Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the elders fell down and worshiped.

And they said to the mountains and the rocks: "Fall on us and conceal us from the sight of Him who is seated on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb,

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

I answered him, "You know, my lord." He said to me: "These are the people who are coming through the great persecution, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

When the seven thunders had rumbled, I was going to write it down, but I heard a voice from heaven say: "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down!"

Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again, and said, "Go and take the little book that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

So I went up to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. And he said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey."

Then they said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

and worshiped the dragon for giving the wild beast his authority; they also worshiped the wild beast, and said, "Who is there like the wild beast? Who is there to make war on him?"

but the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will tell you the symbolical meaning of the woman, and the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns, that carries her.

He also said to me: "The waters that you saw, on which the prostitute was seated, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are they who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' These," he said to me, "are the true words of God."

Then I fell before his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must take care not to do that. I am only a fellow-slave of yours and of your brothers who hold to the testimony borne by Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony borne by Jesus is the inspiring spirit of prophecy."

Then He who was seated on the throne said, "See! I am making everything new." He continued, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He further said to me: "They have come true. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I myself, without cost, will give to anyone who is thirsty water from the springs of living water.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls that were full of the seven plagues came and talked with me, and said, "Come; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."

Then he said to me: "These words are trustworthy and true; the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His slaves what must soon take place.

But he said to me: "You must be careful not to do that; I am only a fellow-slave of yours, of your brothers the prophets, and of the people who practice the truths contained in this book. Worship God."

Then he said to me: "Do not seal up the words of prophecy contained in this book, for the time of their coming true is near.