It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaventhings into which angels long to look.

but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct;

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your exile on earth.

Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."

To you therefore who believe, this is precious, but for those who do not believe, "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,"

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are overbearing.

when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he uttered no threats, but he trusted himself to him who judges justly.

For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, and were submissive to their own husbands;

For, "He who would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect;

and keep a clear conscience, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

who formerly did not obey, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels and authorities and powers subject to him.

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

For this reason the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they might live in the spirit according to the will of God.

Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belongs the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you.

She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.

For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter;

and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men

and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desire and despise authority. Bold and willful, they are not afraid to revile the glorious ones,

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error.

He who says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

he who says he abides in him ought to walk as he walked.

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still.

He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

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

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I wrote to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

These things I have written to you about those who try to deceive you.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does right is born of him.

And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

No one who abides in him sins. No one who sins has either seen him or known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

No one who is of God practices sin, for God's seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother.

and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

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

Now those who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us; he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. And he who fears is not made perfect in love.

If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And this commandment we have from him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.

Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is he who came by water and bloodJesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood.

And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.

He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given of his Son.

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

We know that anyone born of God does not sin; but he who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth,

For many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Anyone who runs ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

for he who greets him shares in his wicked work.

The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.

So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping against us with evil words. And not satisfied with that, he refuses himself to welcome the brethren, and also stops those who want to welcome them and puts them out of the church.

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

For certain persons have crept in secretly, those who were long ago marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that the Lord who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

And the angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

These are the men who are blemishes in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted;

wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.

And have mercy on some, who doubt;

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with great joy,

who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

Blessed is he who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so. Amen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands: