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

So let those who are suffering by the will of God trust their souls to him, their faithful Creator, as they continue to do right.

let all your anxieties fall upon him, for his interest is in you.

Resist him; keep your foothold in the faith, and learn to pay the same tax of suffering as the rest of your brotherhood throughout the world.

Inasmuch as his power divine has bestowed on us every requisite for life and piety by the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence ??4 bestowing on us thereby promises precious and supreme, that by means of them you may escape the corruption produced within the world by lust, and participate in the divine nature ??5 for this very reason, do you contrive to make it your whole concern to furnish your faith with resolution, resolution with intelligence,

whereas he who has not these by him is blind, shortsighted, oblivious that he has been cleansed from his erstwhile sins.

when he was invested with honour and glory by God the Father, and when the following voice was borne to him from the sublime Glory, "This is my son, the Beloved, in whom I delight."

That voice borne from heaven we heard, we who were beside him on the sacred hill,

By talking arrogant futilities they beguile with the sensual lure of fleshly passion those who are just escaping from the company of misconduct ??19 promising them freedom, when they are themselves enslaved to corruption (for a man is the slave of whatever overpowers him).

Then, beloved, as you are expecting this, be eager to be found by him unspotted and unblemished in serene assurance.

And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord means salvation; as indeed our beloved brother Paul has written to you out of the wisdom vouchsafed to him,

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.

Here is the message we learned from him and announce to you: 'God is light and in him there is no darkness, none.'

If we say, 'We have fellowship with him,' when we live and move in darkness, then we are lying, we are not practising the truth;

if we say, "We have not sinned," we make him a liar and his word is not within us.

This is how we may be sure we know him, by obeying his commands.

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:

he who says he 'remains in him' ought to live as he lived.

And yet it is a new command I am writing to you ??realized in him and also in yourselves, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

fathers, I am writing to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I am writing to you, because you have conquered the evil One. Children, I have written to you, because you know the Father:

fathers, I have written to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I have written to you, because you are strong, and the word of God remains within you, and you have conquered the evil One.

Love not the world, nor yet what is in the world; if anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

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.

Remain within him now, my dear children, so that when he appears we may have confidence, instead of shrinking from him in shame at his arrival.

As you know he is just, be sure that everyone who practises righteousness is born of him.

'Born of him!' Think what a love the Father has for us, in letting us be called 'children of God!' That is what we are. The world does not recognize us? That is simply because it did not recognize him.

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.

And everyone who rests this hope on him, purifies himself as he is pure.

and you know he appeared to take [our] sins away. In him there is no sin;

anyone who remains in him does not sin ??anyone who sins has neither seen nor known him.

Anyone who is born of God does not commit sin, for the offspring of God remain in Him, and they cannot sin, because they are born of God.

we are not to be like Cain, who belonged to the evil One and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's just.

Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining within him.

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?

and we get from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

he who obeys his commands remains within him ??and He remains within him. And this is how we may be sure he remains within us, by means of the Spirit he has given us.

This is how the love of God has appeared for us, by God sending his only Son into the world, so that by him we might live.

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.

This is how we may be sure we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us a share in his own Spirit;

Whoever confesses that 'Jesus is the Son of God,' in him God remains, and he remains in God;

well, we do know, we have believed, the love God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

And we get this command from him, that he who loves God is to love his brother as well.

Everyone who believes Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and everyone who loves the Father, loves the sons born of him.

Now the confidence we have in him is this, that he listens to us whenever we ask anything in accordance with his will;

and if we know he listens to whatever we ask, we know we obtain the requests we have made to him.

If anyone notices his brother committing a sin which is not deadly, he will ask and obtain life for him ??for anyone who does not commit a deadly sin. There is such a thing as deadly sin; I do not mean he is to pray for that.

We know that anyone who is born of God does not sin; He who was born of God preserves him, and the evil One never catches him.

We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us insight to know Him who is the Real God; and we are in Him who is real, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the real God, this is life eternal.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not admit him to the house ??do not even greet him,

for he who greets him shares in his wicked work.

Everybody testifies to Demetrius, and so does the Truth itself: I testify to him too, and you know my testimony is true.

while the angels who abandoned their own domain, instead of preserving their proper rank, are reserved by him within the nether gloom, in chains eternal, for the doom of the great Day ??7 just as Sodom and Gomorra and the adjacent cities, which similarly glutted themselves with vice and sensual perversity, are exhibited as a warning of the everlasting fire they are sentenced to suffer.

Now the very archangel Michael, when he disputed the body of Moses with Satan, did not dare to condemn him with scoffs; what he said was, The Lord rebuke you!

to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the impious of all the impious deeds they have committed, and of all the harsh things said against him by impious sinners.

Now to him who is able to keep you from slipping and to make you stand unblemished and exultant before his glory ??25 to the only God, our saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for all time: Amen.

A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God granted him for his servants, to show them what must come to pass very soon; he disclosed it by sending it through his angel to his servant John,

and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, and the prince over the kings of earth; to him who loves us and has loosed us from our sins by shedding his blood ??6 he has made us a realm of priests for his God and Father, ??to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever: Amen.

Lo, he is coming on the clouds, to be seen by every eye, even by those who impaled him, and all the tribes of earth will wail because of him: even so, Amen.

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,

To the angel of the church at Ephesus write thus: ??These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who moves among the seven golden lampstands:

Then to the angel of the church at Pergamum write thus: ??These are the words of him who wields the sharp sword with the double edge:

Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches: 'The conqueror I will allow to share the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, unknown to any except him who receives it.'

'And the conqueror, he who till the end lays to heart what I enjoin, I will give him authority over the nations ??27 aye, he will shepherd them with an iron flail, shattering them like a potter's jars ??as I myself have received authority from my Father;

also I will grant him to see the Morning-star.'

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.'

'As for the conqueror, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God (nevermore shall he leave it), and I will inscribe on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God), and my own new name.'

Lo, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me.

And whenever the living Creatures render glory and honour and thanksgiving to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,

the four and twenty Presbyters fall down before him who is seated on the throne, worshipping him who lives for ever and ever, and casting their crowns before the throne, with the cry,

Then I saw lying on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll with writing on the back, as well as inside, sealed with seven seals.

and it went and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth crying, "Blessing and honour and glory and dominion for ever and ever, to him who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!"

So I looked, and there was a livid horse; its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. They were given power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill men with sword and famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.

calling to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb;

I said to him, "You know, my lord." So he told me, "These are the people who have come out of the great Distress, who washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For this they are now before the throne of God, serving him day and night within his temple. and he who is seated on the throne shall overshadow them.

and swore by Him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, "There shall be no more delay;

So the huge dragon was thrown down ??that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, the seducer of the whole world ??thrown down to the earth, and his angels thrown down along with him.

But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they had to die for it, but they did not cling to life.

The Beast I saw resembled a leopard, his feet were like a bear's, and his mouth like a lion's. To him the dragon gave his own power and his own throne and great authority.

One of his heads looked as if it had been slain and killed, but the deadly wound was healed, and the whole earth went after him in wonder,

worshipping the dragon for having given authority to the Beast, and worshipping the Beast with the cry, "Who is like the Beast? Who can fight with him?"

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on mount Sion, and along with him a hundred and forty-four thousand bearing his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads!

he cried aloud, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water."

And another angel came out of the temple, shouting aloud to him who sat upon the cloud, "Thrust your sickle in and reap, the time has come to reap, the harvest of earth is ripe and ready."

till men, scorched by the fierce heat, blasphemed the name of the God who had control of these plagues; yet they would not repent and give him glory.

They will wage war on the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings ??the Lamb and the elect, the chosen, the faithful who are with him."

And a voice came from the throne, "Extol our God, all ye his servants, ye who reverence him, low and high!"

Let us rejoice and triumph, let us give him the glory! For now comes the marriage of the Lamb; his bride has arrayed herself,

Then I fell before his feet to worship him; but he said to me, "No, not that! I am but a servant like yourself and your brothers, who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God" (for the testimony borne by Jesus is the breath of all prophecy).

and the troops of heaven follow him on white horses, arrayed in pure white linen.

And I saw the Beast and the kings of earth and their troops mustered to wage war on him who was seated on the horse and on his troops.

while the rest were killed by the sword of him who is seated on the horse, by the sword that issues from his lips. And all the birds were glutted with their flesh.

he gripped the dragon, that old serpent (who is the devil and Satan), and bound him for a thousand years,

flinging him into the abyss and shutting and sealing it on the top of him, to prevent him seducing the nations again until the thousand years were completed ??after which he has to be released for a little while.

Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection; over such the second death has no power, they shall be priests of God and the Christ, and reign along with him during the thousand years.

None who is accursed will be there; but the throne of God and the Lamb will be within it, his servants will serve and worship him,