But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

But the fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace.

You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it.

You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure.

Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us?

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

One only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able to save and to destroy: but who art thou that judgest thy neighbor?

Come now, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we are going to such and such a city; we shall spend a year there trading and making money" ??14 you who know nothing about to-morrow! For what is your life? You are but a mist, which appears for a little and then vanishes.

Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air].

But the right thing to say would be, If it is the Lord's pleasure and if we are still living, we will do this and that.

But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days.

Look! The wages that you have [fraudulently] withheld from the laborers who have mowed your fields are crying out [against you for vengeance]; and the cries of the harvesters have come to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. You have stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day of slaughter has come.

You have given your decision against the upright man and have put him to death. He puts up no fight against you.

You must be patient, too; you must put iron into your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is close at hand.

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

The prayer offered in faith will save the man who is sick, and the Lord will raise him from his bed; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Elijah was only a man like ourselves, but, when he prayed fervently that it might not rain, no rain fell upon the land for three years and a half.

and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth put forth its fruit.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials,

so that the genuineness of your faith, more valuable than gold that is passing away, but is tested by fire, may be found to [result in] praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom though not now looking, but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory,

Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Therefore, {when you have prepared your minds for action} [by] being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

You [should] know that you were bought back [from Satan], from your useless way of life, inherited from your forefathers, not with such perishable things as silver and gold,

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

For all forms of flesh are similar to grass, and all the splendor of [a person's] flesh is like the flower [which blossoms] from the grass. [But as with] grass, [a person's flesh] withers, and its flower [i.e., his splendor] falls off.

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Having put aside, then, all evil, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speakings,

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

but chosen of God and precious, Ye also as living stones are built up, a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God thro' Jesus Christ.

Because it is contained in scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

but at present have obtain'd it. I exhort you, my dear brethren, as strangers and travellers to avoid all sensual passions, as destructive to your

Conduct yourselves properly before pagans; so that for all their slander of you as bad characters, they may come to glorify God when you are put upon your trial, by what they see of your good deeds.

Or unto governors, as, through him, sent - for vengeance on evil-doers, but praise to such as do good;

For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

For those of you who put up with such suffering unjustly, because of your close relationship to God, are to be commended.

For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate, not as inferior, but out of respect for the responsibilities entrusted to husbands and their accountability to God, and so partnering with them] so that even if some do not obey the word [of God], they may be won over [to Christ] without discussion by the godly lives of their wives,

Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of curling the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putting on apparel, But the hidden man of the heart,

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

For in this way in the olden time the holy women also, who put their trust in God, used to adorn themselves. They were ever in submission to their own husbands;

as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose children ye now are, if ye do well, and are not put in fear by any terror.

In the same way, you husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way [with great gentleness and tact, and with an intelligent regard for the marriage relationship], as with someone physically weaker, since she is a woman. Show her honor and respect as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered or ineffective.

Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

For [Psalm 39:12 says], "The person who loves [his] life and wants to have happy days, should avoid saying anything bad or deceptive.

“He must turn away from wickedness and do what is right.
He must search for peace [with God, with self, with others] and pursue it eagerly [actively—not merely desiring it].

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

but raised to life by the spirit, By which likewise he went and preached to the spirits in prison,

Who, in the days of Noah, went against God's orders; but God in his mercy kept back the punishment, while Noah got ready the ark, in which a small number, that is to say eight persons, got salvation through water:

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been put under his rule.

So that as Jesus was put to death in the flesh, do you yourselves be of the same mind; for the death of the flesh puts an end to sin;

That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

But they will [have to] give an account to Him who is ready to judge and pass sentence on the living and the dead.

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

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

but before all things having fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins;

Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

let a speaker deliver nothing but what is agreeable to the divine oracles: and let him that attends the poor, be active in proportion to the strength God has given him. amen.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at finding that that scorching flame of persecution is raging among you to put you to the test--as though some surprising thing were accidentally happening to you.

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

For the time of having the judgment begin from the house of God is come; but if first from us, what shall be the end of those who obey not the glad tidings of God?

For this reason let those who by the purpose of God undergo punishment, keep on in well-doing and put their souls into the safe hands of their Maker.

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,

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.

Do not give way to him but be strong in your faith, in the knowledge that your brothers who are in the world undergo the same troubles.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

But for this very reason also, using therewith all diligence, in your faith have also virtue, in virtue knowledge,

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Therefore, Brothers, do your best to put God's Call and Selection of you beyond all doubt; for, if you do this, you will never fall.

but an entrance will thus be richly afforded you into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

But I account it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance,

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

but I will use diligence, that after my departure ye should have also, at any time, in your power to call to mind these things.