For a time will come when they will not listen to wholesome instruction, but will overwhelm themselves with teachers to suit their whims and tickle their fancies,

and they will turn from listening to the truth and wander off after fictions.

Now the crown of uprightness awaits me, which the Lord, the upright judge, will award me on that Day, and not only me but also all who have loved and hoped for his appearing.

Alexander, the metal-worker, did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he did.

The Lord will rescue me from any harm and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it??ot to mention the fact that you owe me your very self besides.

I write you in full reliance upon your obedience; I know that you will do even more than I ask.

For to what angel did God ever say, "You are my Son! I have today become your Father"? Or again, "I will become his Father, and he shall become my Son"?

They will perish, but you continue! And they will all wear out like a coat,

And you will fold them up like a mantle, And change them as one changes his coat. But you are always the same, and your years will have no end!"

and say, "I will tell your name to my brothers, In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise";

and again "I will put my trust in God"; and again, "Here I am with the children that God has given me."

Since then it is still true that somebody will be admitted to it, and those who had a gospel preached to them before were not admitted because of their disobedience,

And we will advance if God permits it.

But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is thought worthless and almost cursed, and it will finally be burned.

and said, "I will certainly bless you richly, and greatly increase your numbers."

for God took no oath in appointing the old priests, but he made oath to his appointment, when he said to him, "The Lord has sworn it and he will not change; You are a priest forever!"

But in his dissatisfaction with them he says, " 'See! the time is coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will conclude a new agreement with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

'For this is the agreement that I will make with the house of Israel, In those later days,' says the Lord; 'I will put my laws into their minds, And write them on their hearts, And they will have me for their God, And I will have them for my people.

And they will not have to teach their townsmen and their brothers to know the Lord, For they will all know me, From the lowest to the highest.

For I will be merciful to their misdeeds, And I will no longer remember their sins.' "

how much more surely will the blood of the Christ, who with the eternal Spirit made himself an unblemished offering to God, purify our consciences from the old wrongdoing for the worship of the everliving God?

For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established,

for a will is valid only in the case of a person who is dead; it has no force as long as the testator is alive.

so the Christ too, after being offered in sacrifice once for all to carry away the sins of many, will appear again but without any burden of sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him to come and save them.

So I said, 'See, I have come! as the Book of the Law says of me, O God, to do your will!' "

At first he says, "You never wished or cared for sacrifices or offerings, or burnt-offerings or sacrifices for sin"??ll of which the Law prescribes??9 and then he adds, "See, I have come to do your will!" He is taking away the old to put the new in its place.

And it is through his doing of God's will that we have been once for all purified from sin through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ in sacrifice.

" 'This is the agreement that I will make with them In those later days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws into their minds, And write them upon their hearts,' " he goes on,

" 'And their sins and their misdeeds I will no longer remember.' "

How much worse a punishment do you think will anyone deserve who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and treats as worthless the blood of the agreement by which he has been purified, and outrages God's spirit of mercy?

For we know who it is that has said, "Vengeance belongs to me! I will pay back!" and in another place, "The Lord will be the judge of his people!"

You must not lose your courage, for it will be richly rewarded,

but you will need endurance if you are to carry out God's will and receive the blessing he has promised.

For "In a very little while He who is to come will come and not delay,

And he whom I accept as righteous will find life through his faith. But if a man draws back, my heart can take no pleasure in him."

But we will not draw back and perish, but we will have faith and save our souls.

for they could not bear the order, "Even a wild animal, if it touches the mountain, must be stoned to death,"

Then his voice shook the earth, but now his promise is, "But once more I will make not only the earth but the very heaven to tremble!"

Marriage should be respected by everyone, and the marriage relation kept sacred, for vicious and immoral people God will punish.

You must not be avaricious; you must be content with what you have, for God himself has said, "I will never let go of you or desert you!"

So that we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can men do to me?"

Jesus Christ is the same today that he was yesterday, and he will be so forever.

fit you by every blessing to do his will, and through Jesus Christ carry out in us what will please him. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

You must know that our brother Timothy has been released from prison. If he comes here soon, we will see you together.

If any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to everyone, and does not reproach one with it afterward, and he will give it to him.

but one who is rich ought to rejoice at being reduced in circumstances, for the rich will disappear like the wild flowers.

For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass, and the flowers wither, and all their beauty is gone. That is the way rich men will fade and die in the midst of their pursuits.

Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he stands the test, he will be given the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

But whoever looks at the faultless law that makes men free and keeps looking, so that he does not just listen and forget, but obeys and acts upon it, will be blessed in what he does.

For the merciless will be mercilessly judged; but mercy will triumph over judgment.

But someone may say, "You have faith, and I good deeds." Show me your faith without any good deeds, and I will show you my faith by my good deeds.

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

So the tongue is a little organ and yet very boastful. What a great forest a spark will set on fire!

For wherever jealousy and rivalry exist, there will be confusion and every low action.

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will fly from you.

Approach God, and he will approach you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Make your hearts pure, you doubters!

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will raise you up

when you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow! You are just a mist, which appears for a little while and then disappears.

This, instead of saying, "If it is the Lord's will, we shall live to do this or that."

your gold and silver are rusted, and their rust will testify against you and eat into your very flesh, for you have stored up fire for the last days.

You have condemned and murdered the upright. Will he make no resistance?

Do not complain of one another, brothers, or you will be judged. The judge is standing right at the door!

Above all, my brothers, do not swear an oath, either by heaven or by the earth, or by anything else; let your "Yes" be a plain Yes, and your "No" a plain No, or you will fall under condemnation.

and the prayer offered in faith will save the sick man; the Lord will restore him to health, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

you may be sure that whoever brings a sinner back from his misguided way will save the man's soul from death, and cover up a host of sins.

they are to show that your faith when tested is found to be more precious than gold, which though it is perishable is tested with fire, and they will bring you praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

But the word of the Lord will last forever," that is, the good news that has been brought to you.

and like new-born babes crave the pure spiritual milk that will make you grow up to salvation,

and build yourselves up as living stones into a spiritual house for a consecrated priesthood, so as to offer spiritual sacrifices that through Jesus Christ will be acceptable to God.

For it says in Scripture, "Here I lay a choice stone in Zion, a costly cornerstone; No one who believes in it will ever be disappointed!"

and "A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip them up." They stumble over the message because they will not obey it; that is their destiny.

For it is the will of God that by doing right you should silence the ignorant charges of foolish people.

For it is better to suffer for doing right, if that should be God's will, than for doing wrong.

but they will have to answer for it to him who is ready to judge living and dead.

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

If it is hard for the upright man to be saved, what will become of the godless and sinful?

Therefore, those who suffer by the will of God must intrust their souls to a Creator who is faithful, and continue to do what is right.

I appeal therefore to those who are elders among you; I am their brother-elder and a witness to what the Christ suffered, and I am to share in the glory that is to be revealed??2 be shepherds of the flock of God that is among you, not as though it were forced upon you but of your own free will, and not from base love of gain but freely,

and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the glorious wreath that will never fade.

And God, the giver of all mercy, who through your union with Christ has called you to his eternal glory, after you have suffered a little while will himself make you perfect, steadfast, and strong.

For if you have these qualities in their fulness, they will make you neither idle nor unproductive when it comes to the understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brothers, make all the greater efforts to make God's call and choice of you certain. For if you have these qualities, you will never stumble,

for then you will be triumphantly admitted to the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore I will always remind you of this, although you know it and are firmly grounded in the truth that you have.

I will also take care that after I am gone you will be able at any time to call these things to mind.

for no prophecy ever originated in the human will, but under the influence of the holy Spirit men spoke for God.

There were false prophets too among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive sects and deny the Master who has bought them, thus bringing on themselves swift destruction.

Many people will follow their immoral ways, and they will cause the true way to be maligned.

In their greed they will exploit you with pretended arguments. From of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not slumbered.

These men, like unreasoning animals, mere creatures of instinct created to be caught and killed, abuse what they do not understand and will be destroyed like animals,

First of all, you must understand this, that in the last days mockers will come with their mockeries, going where their passions lead

The Day of the Lord will come like a thief; on it the heavens will pass away with a roar, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth and all its works will melt away.

while you await and hasten the coming of the Day of God, which will cause the heavens to burn up and dissolve and the heavenly bodies to blaze and melt.

In fulfilment of his promise we expect new heavens and a new earth, where uprightness will prevail.

My dear children, I am writing you this so that you may not sin; yet if anyone does sin, we have in Jesus Christ one who is upright and will intercede for us with the Father.

and the world with its cravings is passing away, but whoever does God's will will endure forever.

Keep what you have heard from the beginning in your hearts; then you will always be in union with the Son and the Father.

We are God's children. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not a child of God will not listen to us. In this way we can tell what is inspired by truth from what is inspired by error.

Whoever believes in the Son of God possesses that testimony in his heart. Anyone who will not believe God has made him a liar, for he has refused to believe the testimony that God has borne to his Son.