but let one who is rich exult in being lowered; for the rich will pass away like the flower of the grass ??11 up comes the sun with the scorching wind and withers the grass, its flower drops off, and the splendour of it is ruined: so shall the rich fade away amid their pursuits.

Whereas he who gazes into the faultless law of freedom and remains in that position, proving himself to be no forgetful listener but an active agent, he will be blessed in his activity.

Whoever considers he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his religion is futile.

but if you pay servile regard to people, you commit a sin, and the Law convicts you of transgression.

He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not kill. Now if you do not commit adultery but if you kill, you have transgressed the Law.

But will you understand, you senseless fellow, that faith without deeds is dead?

We all make many a slip, but whoever avoids slips of speech is a perfect man; he can bridle the whole of the body as well as the tongue.

We put bridles into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, and so, you see, we can move the whole of their bodies.

So the tongue is a small member of the body, but it can boast of great exploits. What a forest is set ablaze by a little spark of fire!

But if you are cherishing bitter jealousy and rivalry in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on that ??and be false to the truth.

You crave, and miss what you want: you envy and covet, but you cannot acquire: you wrangle and fight ??you miss what you want because you do not ask God for it;

Yet he gives grace more and more: thus it is said, The haughty God opposes, but to the humble he gives grace.

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.

But here you are, boasting in your proud pretensions! All such boasting is wicked.

Elijah was a man with a nature just like our own; but he offered prayer that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain;

You never knew him, but you love him; for the moment you do not see him, but you believe in him, and you will thrill with an unspeakable and glorious joy

to them it was revealed that they got this intelligence not for themselves but for you, regarding all that has now been disclosed to you by those who preached the gospel to you through the holy Spirit sent from heaven. The very angels long to get a glimpse of this!

Brace up your minds, then, keep cool, and put your hope for good and all in the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

but by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb unblemished and unstained.

but the word of the Lord lasts for ever ??and that is the word of the gospel for you.

Now you believe, you hold him 'precious,' but as for the unbelieving ??the very stone the builders rejected is now the cornerstone,

But you are the elect race, the royal priesthood, the consecrated nation, the People who belong to Him, that you may proclaim the wondrous deeds of Him who has called you from darkness to his wonderful light ??10 you who once were no people and now are God's people, you who once were unpitied and now are pitied.

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.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with perfect respect, not simply to those who are kind and reasonable but to the surly as well ??19 for it is a merit when from a sense of God one bears the pain of unjust suffering.

he was reviled and made no retort, he suffered and never threatened, but left everything to Him who judges justly;

You were astray like sheep, but you have come back now to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

but inside, in the heart, with the immortal beauty of a gentle and modest spirit, which in the sight of God is of rare value.

never paying back evil for evil, never reviling when you are reviled, but on the contrary blessing. For this is your vocation, to bless and to inherit blessing;

For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry; but the face of the Lord is set against wrongdoers.

but reverence Christ as Lord in your own hearts. Always be ready with a reply for anyone who calls you to account for the hope you cherish, but answer gently and with a sense of reverence;

Christ himself died for sins, once for all, a just man for unjust men, that he might bring us near to God; in the flesh he was put to death but he came to life in the Spirit.

Baptism, the counterpart of that, saves you to-day (not the mere washing of dirt from the flesh but the prayer for a clean conscience before God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

but they will have to answer for that to Him who is prepared to judge the living and the dead

None of you must suffer as a murderer or a thief or a bad character or a revolutionary;

but if a man suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed, he must rather glorify God for that.

be shepherds to your flock of God; take charge of them willingly instead of being pressed to it, not to make a base profit from it but freely,

not by way of lording it over your charges but proving a pattern to the flock.

You younger men must also submit to the presbyters. Indeed you must all put on the apron of humility to serve one another, for the haughty God opposes, but to the humble he gives grace.

For if God did not spare angels who had sinned, but committing them to pits of the nether gloom in Tartarus, reserved them under punishment for doom:

if he did not spare the ancient world but kept Noah, the herald of righteousness, safe with seven others, when he let loose the deluge on the world of impious men:

but rescued righteous Lot who was sore burdened by the immoral behaviour of the lawless

But those people! ??like irrational animals, creatures of mere instinct, born for capture and corruption, they scoff at what they are ignorant of; and like animals they will suffer corruption and ruin,

they have gone wrong by leaving the straight road, by following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who liked the profits of evil-doing ??16 but he got reproved for his malpractice: a dumb ass spoke with human voice and checked the prophet's infatuation.

but the present heavens and earth are treasured up by the same word for fire, reserved for the day when the impious are doomed and destroyed.

The Lord is not slow with what he promises, according to certain people's idea of slowness; no, he is longsuffering for your sake, he does not wish any to perish but all to betake them to repentance.

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory now and to the day of eternity: Amen.

but if we live and move within the light, as he is within the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin.

My dear children, I am writing this to you that you may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father in Jesus Christ the just;

he is himself the propitiation for our sins, though not for ours alone but also for the whole world.

He who says, 'I know him,' but does not obey his commands, is a liar and the truth is not in him;

but whoever obeys his word, in him love to God is really complete. This is how we may be sure we are in him:

Beloved, I am not writing you any new command, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning: the old command is the word you have heard.

but he who hates his brother is in darkness, he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, for the darkness has blinded his eyes.

For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the proud glory of life, belongs not to the Father but to the world;

Children, it is the last hour. You have learned that 'Antichrist is coming.' Well, but many antichrists have appeared ??which makes us sure it is the last hour.

They withdrew from us, but they did not belong to us; had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us, but they withdrew to make it plain that they are none of us.

I am not writing to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and know that no lie has any connexion with the truth.

Who is the real liar? who but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is 'antichrist,' he who disowns the Father and the Son.

but the unction you received from him remains within you, and you really need no teaching from anyone; simply remain in him, for his unction teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie ??remain in him, as it has taught you to do.

We are children of God now, beloved; what we are to be is not apparent yet, but we do know that when he appears, we are to be like him ??for we are to see him as he is.

But whoever possesses this world's goods, and notices his brother in need, and shuts his heart against him, how can love to God remain in him?

My dear children, let us put our love not into words or into talk but into deeds, and make it real.

Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see if they come from God; for many false prophets have emerged in the world.

Love lies in this, not in our love for him but in his love for us ??in the sending of his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God no one has ever seen; but if we love one another, then God remains within us, and love for him is complete in us.

Who is the world's conqueror but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Jesus Christ, he it is who came by water, blood, and Spirit ??not by the water alone, but by the water and the blood.

All iniquity is sin, but there are sins which are not deadly.

The presbyter, to the elect Lady and her children whom I love in the Truth (and not only I but all who know the Truth)

Watch yourselves; you must not lose what you have been working for, but gain a full reward.

I have a great deal to write to you, but I do not mean to use ink and paper; I hope to visit you and have a talk with you, so that your joy may be unimpaired.

Beloved, do not imitate evil but good; he who does good belongs to God, he who does evil has never seen God.

I had a great deal to write to you, but I do not want to write to you with ink and pen;

Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you on the subject of our common salvation, but I am forced to write you an appeal to defend the faith which has once for all been committed to the saints;

But these people scoff at anything they do not understand; and whatever they do understand, like irrational animals, by mere instinct, that proves their ruin.

These people are stains on your love-feasts; they have no qualms about carousing in your midst, they look after none but themselves ??rainless clouds, swept along by the wind, trees in autumn without fruit, doubly dead and so uprooted,

But do you, beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith and pray in the holy Spirit,

When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man; but he laid his hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and Last,

But I have this against you: you have given up loving one another as you did at first.

I know your distress and your poverty (but you are rich!): I know how you are being slandered by those who style themselves Jews (no Jews are they, but a mere synagogue of Satan!).

Have no fear of what you are to suffer. The devil indeed is going to put some of you in prison, that you may be tested; you will have a distressful ten days. Be faithful, though you have to die for it, and I will give you the crown of Life.

But I have one or two things against you: you have some adherents there of the tenets of Balaam, who taught Balak how to set a pitfall before the sons of Israel by making them eat food which had been sacrificed to idols and give way to sexual vice.

I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual vice.

But for the rest of you at Thyatira, for all who do not hold these tenets, for those who have not (in their phrase) 'fathomed the deep mysteries of Satan' ??for you this is my word: I impose no fresh burden on you;

Then to the angel of the church at Sardis write thus: ??These are the words of him who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your doings, you have the name of being alive, but you are dead.

'The conqueror shall be clad in white raiment; I will never erase his name from the book of Life, but will own him openly before my Father and before his angels.'

Lo, I will make those who belong to that synagogue of Satan, who style themselves Jews (no Jews are they, but liars!) ??lo, I will have them come and do homage before your feet and learn that I did love you.

But no one was fit, either in heaven or on earth or underneath the earth, to open the scroll or look into it.

but one of the Presbyters told me, "Weep not; lo, the Lion of Judah's tribe, the Scion of David, he has won the power of opening the scroll and its seven seals."

Then I noticed a Lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living Creatures and the Presbyters; it seemed to have been slain, but it had seven horns and seven eyes (they are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth),

and I heard like a voice in the midst of the four living Creatures saying, "A shilling for a quart of wheat, a shilling for three quarts of barley; but harm not oil and wine!"

But they were each given a white robe, and told to remain quiet for a little longer, until their number was completed by their fellow-servants and their brothers who were to be killed like themselves.

The fifth angel blew, and I saw a Star which had dropped from heaven to earth; he was given the key of the pit of the abyss,

and he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke poured out of the pit, like the smoke of a huge furnace, till the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

but they were told not to harm the grass on earth nor any green thing nor any tree, only such human beings as had not the seal of God upon their foreheads;

these they were allowed, not to kill but to torture, for five months ??and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a man.

In those days men will seek death, but they will not find it: they will long to die, but death flies from them.

they had a king over them, the angel of the abyss ??his Hebrew name is Abaddon, but in Greek he is called Apollyon.

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands and give up worshipping daemons and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which cannot either see or hear or stir;

After the seven thunders had spoken, I was going to write it down; but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, do not write it."