Was not even Rahab the prostitute made upright for her good deeds, in entertaining the scouts and sending them off by a different road?

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

Even ships, great as they are, and driven by strong winds, are steered with a very small rudder wherever the pilot pleases.

And the tongue is a fire, a world of wrong the tongue proves in our bodies, soiling the whole body and setting fire to the whole round of nature, and set on fire itself by hell.

For every kind of animal and bird, reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by man,

What wise, intelligent man is there among you? Let him show by his good life that what he does is done in the humility of wisdom.

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

The harvest uprightness yields must be sown in peace, by peacemakers.

You renegades! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wishes to be the world's friend declares himself God's enemy.

Be miserable, grieve, and weep aloud! Turn your laughter into grief and your happiness into gloom.

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.

So be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer has to wait for the precious crop from the ground, and be patient with it, until it gets the early and the late rains.

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.

So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be cured. An upright man can do a great deal by prayer when he tries.

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.

whom God the Father has chosen and predestined by the consecration of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ, and to be sprinkled with his blood; God bless you and give you perfect peace.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has caused us to be born anew to a life of hope through Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead,

and you by God's power are being protected through faith to receive a salvation that is now ready to be disclosed at the last time.

Rejoice over this, although just now perhaps distressed by various trials;

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.

It was disclosed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in dealing with these things, which have now been told you by those who through the holy Spirit sent from heaven brought you the good news; things into which angels long to look!

for the Scripture says, "You must be holy, Because I am holy."

And if you address him as Father who judges everyone impartially by what he does, you must live reverently all the time you stay here,

Now that by obeying the truth you have purified your souls for sincere love of the brotherhood, you must love one another intensely and heartily,

Come to him, as to a living stone rejected by men, but chosen and prized in the sight of God,

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 to governors, as sent by him to punish evil-doers, and to encourage those who do right.

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

Live like free men, only do not make your freedom an excuse for doing wrong, but be slaves of God.

Treat everyone with respect. Love the brotherhood, be reverent to God, respect the emperor.

You servants must be submissive to your masters and perfectly respectful to them; not only to those who are kind and considerate, but also to those who are unreasonable.

He carried the burden of our sins in his own body on the cross, in order that we might die to sin and live for uprightness. By his wounds you have been healed.

You married women, in the same way, must be submissive to your husbands, so that any who refuse to believe the message may be won over without argument through the behavior of their wives

yours must be the inner beauty of character, the imperishable attraction of a quiet and gentle spirit, which has great value in the sight of God.

You married men also must be considerate in living with your wives. You must show deference to women as the weaker sex, sharing the gift of life with you, so that there may be nothing to interfere with your prayers.

Finally, you must all be harmonious, sympathizing, loving, tender-hearted, modest,

Even if you should suffer for uprightness, you are blessed. But do not be afraid of them, nor be troubled,

but reverence Christ in your hearts as Lord, and always be ready to make your defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that you have. But do so gently and respectfully,

and keep your conscience clear, so that those who abuse your upright Christian conduct may be made ashamed of their slanders.

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

who had once been disobedient, when in Noah's time God in his patience waited for the ark to be made ready, in which a few people, eight in all, were brought safely through the water.

and no longer lives by what men desire, but for the rest of his earthly life by what God wills.

But the end of all things is near. Be serious and collected, therefore, and pray.

Be ungrudgingly hospitable to one another.

If one preaches, let him do it like one who utters the words of God; if one does some service, let him do it as with strength which God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Dear friends, do not be surprised that a test of fire is being applied to you, as though a strange thing were happening to you,

but be glad that you are in a measure sharing the sufferings of the Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may be triumphantly happy.

but if a man suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed of it, but must do honor to God through that name.

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,

Be calm and watchful. Your opponent the devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, wanting to devour you.

Resist him and be strong in the faith, for you know that your brotherhood all over the world is having the same experience of suffering.

His be the dominion forever. Amen.

By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I think him, I have written you this short letter to encourage you and bear my testimony that this is what the true mercy of God means. Stand fast in it.

Your sister-church in Babylon, chosen like you, and Mark my son wish to be remembered to you.

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

Yet I think it right, as long as I live in my present tent, to arouse you by a reminder,

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

For when he was so honored and glorified by God the Father and from the supreme glory there were borne to him such words as these: "This is my Son, my Beloved! He is my Chosen!"??18 we heard these words borne from heaven when we were with him on that sacred mountain.

So we have the message of the prophets more fully guaranteed. Please pay attention to that message as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

You must understand this in the first place, that no prophecy in Scripture can be understood through one's own powers,

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.

and saved the upright Lot who was so distressed by the immoral conduct of unprincipled men??8 for as long as that upright man lived among them, day after day his upright soul was tormented by what he saw and heard of their lawless actions??9 then the Lord knows how to rescue God-fearing people from trial and to punish wrongdoers while they are being kept for the Day of Judgment,

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,

For if after men have escaped the corrupting influences of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome by them, their final condition is worse than their former one.

to remember the things foretold by the holy prophets, and the command of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

For they wilfully ignore the fact that long ago there existed heavens and an earth which had been formed at God's command out of water and by water,

by which also that world was destroyed, through being flooded with water.

But by the same command the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, and are kept for the day when godless men are to be judged and destroyed.

The Lord is not slow about his promise, in the sense that some men think; he is really showing his patience with you, because he does not want any to perish, but wishes all men to be brought to repentance.

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.

If all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what holy and pious lives you ought to lead,

Therefore, dear friends, while waiting for this, make every effort to be found by him unstained, irreproachable, and at peace.

So you, dear friends, now that you are forewarned, must be on your guard against being led away by the errors of unprincipled men and losing your present firmness.

If we acknowledge our sins, he is upright and can be depended on to forgive our sins and cleanse us from everything wrong.

This is how we can be sure that we know him??y obeying his commands.

but whoever obeys his message really has the love of God in perfection in his heart. This is the way we can be sure that we are in union with him;

Children, it is the last hour. You have heard that Antichrist is coming, and many Antichrists have indeed appeared. So we may be sure that it is the last hour.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth;

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

If you know that he is upright, you may be sure that everyone who acts uprightly is his child.

Think what love the Father has had for us, in letting us be called God's children, for that is what we are. This is why the world does not know what we are??ecause it has never come to know him.

Dear friends, we are God's children now; it has not yet been disclosed what we are to be. We know that if he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

This is how the children of God and those of the devil can be distinguished: No one who does not act uprightly or who does not love his brother is a child of God.

We must not be like Cain who was a child of the evil one, and butchered his brother. And why did he butcher him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's upright.

You must not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you!

From that we can be sure that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight,

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.

We have seen and can testify that the Father has sent the Son to be Savior of the world.

This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: it is by loving God and obeying his commands.

The Elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I truly love??nd not only I but all who know the truth??2 because of the truth that stays in our hearts and will be with us forever;

blessing, mercy, and peace be with us from God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, in truth and love.

It makes me exceedingly happy to find that some of your children are guided by truth, just as we have been commanded to be by the Father.

Love means this, that we be guided by his commands. The command, as you have heard from the beginning, is to be guided by love.