For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices

and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.

Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and so that he may encourage your hearts.

Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, as does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin (concerning whom you have received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him),

and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of the circumcision are my coworkers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

When this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

And tell Archippus, “Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it.”

Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but rather God, who examines our hearts.

Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother nurtures her own children.

For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews

But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love and reported that you always have good memories of us, wanting to see us, as we also want to see you.

Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God—as you are doing—do so even more.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep.

in that day when He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be admired by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed.

and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not all have faith.

We have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do what we command.

It is not that we don’t have the right to support, but we did it to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us.

Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have suffered the shipwreck of their faith.

Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them, and I have delivered them to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to be silent.

Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s trap.

For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves, and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to act in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed.

But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness,

In fact, we labor and strive for this, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, especially of those who believe.

and will therefore receive condemnation because they have renounced their original pledge.

Therefore, I want younger women to marry, have children, manage their households, and give the adversary no opportunity to accuse us.

For some have already turned away to follow Satan.

Those who have believing masters should not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but should serve them better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved.

Teach and encourage these things.

But if we have food and clothing,
we will be content with these.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

Fight the good fight for the faith;
take hold of eternal life
that you were called to
and have made a good confession about
in the presence of many witnesses.

By professing it, some people have deviated from the faith.

Grace be with all of you.

and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.

Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

This you know: All those in Asia have turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

This saying is trustworthy:

For if we have died with Him,
we will also live with Him;

They have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and are overturning the faith of some.

But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance,

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,

and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

There is reserved for me in the future the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved His appearing.

I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.

For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

For this reason, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right,

Yes, brother, may I have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

For to which of the angels did He ever say, You are My Son; today I have become Your Father, or again, I will be His Father, and He will be My Son?

You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness;
this is why God, Your God,
has anointed You
with the oil of joy
rather than Your companions.

We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.

For the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers,

Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil—

for 40 years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known My ways.”

For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

For we also have received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith

(for we who have believed enter the rest), in keeping with what He has said:

So I swore in My anger,
they will not enter My rest.

And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world,

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.

In the same way, the Messiah did not exalt Himself to become a high priest, but the One who said to Him, You are My Son; today I have become Your Father,

We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand.

But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

and who have fallen away, because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt.

so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their brothers—though they have also descended from Abraham.

Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office.

Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one.

But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation),

Otherwise, He would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, once purified, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

Then I said, “See—
it is written about Me
in the volume of the scroll—
I have come to do Your will, God!”

He then says, See, I have come to do Your will. He takes away the first to establish the second.

By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus,

and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,

For you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession.

For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.

But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life.

If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return.

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,

In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:

My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly
or faint when you are reproved by Him,

No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm,

Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels in festive gathering,

to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to God who is the Judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect,

Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.