But the Scripture pictures all mankind as prisoners of sin, so that the promised blessing through faith in Christ might be given to those who have faith.

to ransom those who were subject to law, so that we might be adopted as sons.

For the cravings of the lower nature are just the opposite to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are just the opposite of those of the lower nature; these two are opposed to each other, so that you cannot do anything you please.

envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I now warn you, as I have done before, that those who practice such things shall not be heirs of the kingdom of God.

And those who belong to Jesus the Christ have crucified the lower nature with its passions and evil cravings.

Those who are taught the truth should share all their goods with the man who teaches them.

So remember that you were once heathen in a physical sense, called the uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcised -- though only in a physical sense, by human hands.

Now I want you to rest assured, brothers, that those things which have befallen me have actually resulted in the progress of the good news;

Look out for those dogs, those mischief-makers, those self-mutilators!

Follow my example, brothers, and keep your eyes on those who practice living by the pattern we have set you.

And I solemnly beg you, my true comrade, keep on cooperating with those two women, because they shared with me the struggle in spreading the good news, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

I want you to know what a battle I am fighting for you and for those in Laodicea, yes, for all who have never known me personally,

Also we do not want you to have any misunderstanding, brothers, about those who are falling asleep, so as to keep you from grieving over them as others do who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then through Jesus, God will bring back with Him those who have fallen asleep.

For on the Lord's own authority we say that those of us who may be left behind and are still living when the Lord comes back, will have no advantage at all over those who have fallen asleep.

then those of us who are still living will be caught up along with them on clouds in the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall be with the Lord forever.

For those who sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunken at night,

We beg you, brothers, to practice showing respect to those who labor among you, who are your leaders in the Lord's work, and who advise you;

indeed, it is right for God to repay with crushing sorrows those who cause you these crushing sorrows,

in a flame of fire, who will take vengeance on those who do not know God, that is, those who will not listen to the good news of our Lord Jesus.

Yet, mercy was shown me for the very purpose that in my case as the foremost of sinners Jesus might display His perfect patience, to make me an example to those who in the future might believe on Him to obtain eternal life.

For those who render good service win a good standing for themselves in their faith in Christ Jesus.

who forbid people to marry and teach them to abstain from certain sorts of food which God created for the grateful enjoyment of those who have faith and a clear knowledge of the truth.

Make it your habit to pay close attention to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in these things, for if you do you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.

Whoever fails to provide for his own relatives, and especially for those of his immediate family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Elders who do their duties well should be considered as deserving twice the salary they get especially those who keep on toiling in preaching and teaching.

Those who are guilty reprove in public, so that others may be warned.

Those who have Christian masters must not pay them less respect because they are brothers; they must serve them all the better, because those who get the benefit of their service are believers and so are dear to them. These are the things that you must continue to teach and urge them to do.

Keep on reminding men of these things. Solemnly charge them before God to stop petty debating, which does no good at all but brings destruction on those who hear it.

You must keep on fleeing from the evil impulses of youth, but ever strive for uprightness, faith, love, and peace, in association with those who call upon the Lord with pure hearts.

and a man who continues to cling to the trustworthy message as he was taught it, so that he may be competent to encourage others with wholesome teaching and to convict those who oppose him.

For there are many insubordinate people, mere talkers with nothing to say, but deceivers of their own minds, especially those of the circumcision party,

It is a message to be trusted, and I want you to be emphatic about these things, so that those who believe in God may be careful to take the lead in doing good. These things are right and render service to mankind.

Are not the angels all attending spirits sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are going to be unceasing possessors of salvation?

For both He who is purifying them and those who are being purified all spring from one Father; so He is not ashamed to call them brothers,

and set at liberty those who all their lifetime had been subject to slavery because of their dread of death.

With whom was He disgusted forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the desert?

To whom did He take oath that they should not be admitted to His rest, if it was not to those who disobeyed Him?

For we have had the good news told to us as well as they, but the message heard did them no good, because they were not by faith made one with those who heeded it.

Since then it still remains that some are being admitted to it and that those who first had the good news told to them were not admitted because of disobedience,

For it is impossible for those who have once for all been enlightened and have experienced the gift from heaven, who have been made sharers of the Holy Spirit

For a piece of ground that drinks in the rains so frequently falling on it, and continues yielding vegetation useful to those for whose sakes it is cultivated, receives from God His blessings.

so that you may not grow careless, but may follow the example of those who through their faith and patient endurance are now possessors of the blessings promised.

And those of the descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood are authorized by the law to collect a tenth from the people; that is, from their own brothers, though they have sprung from Abraham.

who does not need, as did the Levitical priests, to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; this latter is just what He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

However, if He were still on earth, He would not be a priest at all, because there are those who officiate in accordance with the law in offering the gifts;

'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel in those days,' says the Lord; 'I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And nevermore will each one need to teach his fellow-citizen,

For if the blood of bulls and goats and a heifer's ashes sprinkling those who are ceremonially unclean purifies them with physical cleansing,

And this is why He is the Mediator of a new covenant, in order that, after He had suffered death for securing redemption from the offenses committed under the first covenant, those who had been invited to share it might obtain the eternal inheritance promised them.

so Christ was offered once for all to take away the sins of many, but again He will appear, without having anything to do with sin, to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him to bring them final salvation.

For since the law cast only a shadow of the blessings to come and did not possess the reality itself of those blessings, the priests with the same sacrifices that are perpetually offered year after year cannot make perfect those who come to worship.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased offering them, because those who offered them, having once been purified, would have had no further consciousness of sins?

For by that one sacrifice He has made perfect for all time those who are consecrated to Him.

"'This is the covenant that I will make with them: In those last days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and write them on their minds,'"

But you must continue to remember those earlier days when first you received the light and then endured so great a struggle with persecution,

partly by being exposed as a public spectacle to insults and violent sufferings, and partly by showing yourselves ready to share with those who were living in this condition.

For you showed sympathy with those who were in prison and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, for you knew that you had in yourselves and in heaven one that was lasting.

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who disobeyed God, because she had welcomed the scouts as friends.

Now for the time being no discipline seems to be pleasant; it is painful; later on, however, to those who are trained by it, it yields the fruit of peace which grows from upright character.

Continue to remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and those who are being ill-treated, since you, too, are liable to similar physical punishment.

You must stop being carried away with varied and strange teachings. For it is a good thing for the heart to be strengthened by God's spiritual strength, not by special kinds of food, from which those adhering to them have gotten no good.

For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is taken into the sanctuary by the priest as a sin-offering, are burned outside the camp.

Blessed is the person who endures trial, for when he stands the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

Listen, my dearly loved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

But you, in contrast, have humiliated the poor man. Are not the rich men those who oppress you and drag you to court?

The harvest of uprightness is grown from the seed of peace by those who are peacemakers.

See how we call those who thus endured happy! You have heard how patiently Job endured and have seen how the Lord finally blessed him, because the Lord is tenderhearted and merciful.

It was made known to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in their searching for these things that have already been told to you by those who through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven brought you the good news. The angels long to take a peep into these things.

So to you who put your trust in Him the honor belongs, but to those who fail to trust Him: "That stone which then the builders threw away Has now become the cornerstone,"

and to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and to reward those who do right.

You house-servants must be submissive to your masters and show them perfect respect, not only to those who are kind and fair but also to those who are cruel.

and keep your conscience clear, so that those who bitterly abuse your excellent conduct as Christians may be ashamed of slandering you.

Because the time has come for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will the end be of those who are rejecting God's good news?

Therefore, those who suffer in accordance with God's will must also, in doing right, entrust their souls to the Creator who is faithful.

and not as domineering over those in your charge but proving yourselves models for the flock to imitate;

Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have obtained the same precious faith that we have:

especially those who satisfy their lower nature by indulging in its evil passions which defile them, and who despise authority. Daring, headstrong men! They do not tremble when they abuse persons of majesty,

For by uttering arrogant nonsense, through base desires of the lower nature, they entice into immorality men who are just escaping from those who live in error,

They have gone out from our own number, but they did not really belong to us; for if they had, they would have stayed with us. It was to show that none of those who went out really belonged to us.

I write you this with reference to those who are trying to lead you astray,

So, if I come, I will remind you of what he is doing, how with malicious insinuations he is talking about me. Not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers himself, he interferes with those who want to do so, and tries to put them out of the church.

Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are beloved by God the Father and have been kept through union with Jesus Christ:

Now I want to remind you, though you know it all already, that although the Lord had saved a people out of the land of Egypt, He afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

"I know what you have done; your hard work and patient endurance; that you cannot tolerate wicked persons; that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles although they were not, and have found them to be imposters,

"I know your pressing trouble and poverty, but still you are rich; I know how you are abused by those who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are only a synagogue of Satan.

See! I am going to lay her on a bed of sickness, and bring down to great and pressing sorrow those who practice immorality with her, unless they repent of their practices;

When He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for being faithful to God's message and for the testimony they bore to it.

And I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand. Those that were marked with the seal were from every tribe of the children of Israel:

In those days people will look for death but will not find it, they will long to die but death will flee from them.

Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me, and I was told: "Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, counting those who worship there,

After three days and a half the breath of life from God came into them again, and they stood on their feet, and consternation seized those who saw them.

Then he opened his mouth to blaspheme against God, His name, and His dwelling place; that is, against those who live in heaven.

The smoke of their torture will go up forever and ever, and they will have no rest day or night -- those who worship the wild beast and his statue, and anyone who bears the mark of his name."

Then I saw something that looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and standing upon the sea of glass were those who had conquered the wild beast, his statue, and the number representing his name; and they had harps that God had given them.

Then the wild beast was captured and with him the false prophet who performed wonders in his presence, by which he led astray those who let the mark of the wild beast be put on them and worshiped his statue. Both of them were hurled alive into the fiery lake that burns with brimstone.

Then I saw thrones and those who were seated on them, and permission was granted them to pass judgment, even those who had been beheaded for bearing testimony to Jesus and for preaching the word of God, who refused to worship the wild beast and his statue, and would not let his mark be stamped upon their foreheads and upon their hands. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices abominable living and lying, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so as to have a right to the tree of life and to enter the gates of the city.

The dogs, that is, those who practice magic and immorality, murderers, idolaters, and those who love and practice lying, are on the outside.