For the law, possessing a shadow of the good [things] that are about to come, not the form of things itself, [is] never able {year by year} by means of the same sacrifices which they offer without interruption to make perfect those who draw near.

[When he] says above, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and [offerings] for sin you did not want, nor did you delight in," which are offered according to the law,

by which will we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands every day serving and offering the same sacrifices many times, which are never able to take away sins.

from now on waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.

For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.

But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but among those who have faith to the preservation of [our] souls.

For those who say such [things] make clear that they are seeking a homeland.

And have you completely forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons? "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, or give up [when you] are corrected by him.

But if you are without discipline, in which all [legitimate sons] have become participants, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.

and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous [people] made perfect,

Now the [phrase] "yet once [more]" indicates the removal of what is shaken, namely, things that have been created, in order that the things that are not shaken may remain.

Therefore, [since we] are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence.

Remember the prisoners, as [though you were] fellow-prisoners; [remember] the mistreated, as [though] [you] yourselves also are being [mistreated] in the body.

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sins are burned up outside the camp.

Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a good conscience, [and] want to conduct ourselves commendably in every [way].

But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts?

However, if you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

But if you show partiality, you commit sin, [and thus] are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty.

Behold also ships: [although they] are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wishes.

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

From where [are] conflicts and from where [are] quarrels among you? [Is it] not from this, from your pleasures that wage war among your members?

You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge [of the law].

There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

you who do not know {what will happen tomorrow}, {what your life will be like}. For you are a smoky vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears.

Come now, you rich people, weep [and] cry aloud over the miseries that are coming upon you!

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time,

in which you rejoice greatly, [although] now for a short time, if necessary, you are distressed by various trials,

who through him [are] believing in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

to whom you are drawing near, a living stone rejected by men but chosen [and] precious in the sight of God.

And [you] yourselves, as living stones, are being built up [as] a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

But you [are] a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God's] possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,

who once [were] not a people, but now [are] the people of God, the ones [who were] not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy.

Domestic slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those [who are] good and gentle, but also to those [who are] unjust.

For what credit [is it] if, [when you] sin and are beaten [for it], you endure? But if you endure [when you] do good and suffer [for it], this [finds] favor with God.

In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some are disobedient to the word, they may be won over without a word by the conduct of their wives,

like Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you have become [when you] do good and are not frightened with respect to any terror.

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.

And who [is] the one who will harm you if you are a zealous adherent for what is good?

But even if you might suffer for the sake of righteousness, [you are] blessed. And do not be afraid of their intimidation or be disturbed,

But [do so] with courtesy and respect, having a good conscience, so that in [the things] in which you are slandered, the ones who malign your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

with respect to which they are surprised [when] you do not run with [them] into the same flood of dissipation, [and so they] revile [you].

Because for this reason also the gospel was preached to those who are dead, so that they were judged {by human standards} in the flesh, but they may live in the spirit {by God's standards}.

If you are reviled on account of the name of Christ, [you are] blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

For [it is] the time for the judgment to begin out from the household of God. But if [it begins] out from us first, what will be the outcome for those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?

And if the righteous are saved with difficulty, {what will become of the ungodly and the sinner}?

{Resist him}, steadfast in your faith, [because you] know the same [kinds] of sufferings are being accomplished by your community of believers in the world.

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

because his divine power has bestowed on us all [things] [that are] necessary for life and godliness, through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence of character,

For [if] these [things] are yours and are increasing, this does not make [you] useless or unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For [the one] for whom these [things] [are] not present is blind, being nearsighted, {having forgotten the cleansing} of his former sins.

Therefore I intend to remind you continually concerning these [things], although [you] know [them] and are established in the truth that you have.

And I will also make every effort [that] you are able at any time, after my departure, {to recall these things to mind}.

and condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, having appointed [them] [as] an example for those who are going to be ungodly,

whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not bring against them a demeaning judgment.

being harmed [as the] wages of unrighteousness. Considering reveling in the daytime a pleasure, [they are] stains and blemishes, carousing in their deceitful pleasures [when they] feast together with you,

These [people] are waterless springs and mists driven by a hurricane, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved.

{For by speaking high-sounding but empty words}, they entice with desires of the flesh [and] with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live in error,

promising them freedom [although they] themselves are slaves of depravity. For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also enslaved.

For if, [after they] have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these [things] [and] succumb to [them], the last [state] has become worse for them than the first.

But by the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.

[Because] all these things are being destroyed in this way, what sort of [people] must you be in holy behavior and godliness,

[while] waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed [by] being burned up and the celestial bodies will melt [as they] are consumed by heat!

But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness resides.

Therefore, dear friends, [because you] are waiting for these [things], make every effort to be found at peace, spotless and unblemished in him.

as [he does] also in all his letters, speaking in them about these [things], in which there are some [things] hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, as [they] also [do] the rest of the scriptures.

But whoever keeps his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known the [One who is] from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they went out], in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.

These [things] I have written to you concerning the ones who are trying to deceive you.

See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called children of God, and we are! Because of this the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are evident: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, namely, the one who does not love his brother.

By this we know that we are of the truth and will convince our heart before him,

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [to determine] if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one [who is] in you is greater than the one [who is] in the world.

They are from the world; {therefore} they speak from the world and the world listens to them.

We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as that one is, [so] also are we in this world.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,

For [there] are three that testify,

the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are {in agreement}.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in [the power of] the evil one.

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

For I rejoiced exceedingly [when the] brothers came and testified [to] your truth, just as you are walking in [the] truth.

I have no greater joy than this: that I hear my children are walking in the truth.

Dear friend, you act faithfully [in] whatever you do for the brothers, {even though they are strangers}.

Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to [those who are] called, loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

as Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them indulged in sexual immorality and {pursued unnatural desire} [in] the same way as these, are exhibited as an example [by] undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

But these persons blaspheme all that they do not understand, and all that they understand by instinct like the irrational animals, by these [things] they are being destroyed.

These are the ones feasting together without reverence, hidden reefs at your love feasts, caring for themselves, waterless clouds carried away by winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted,

These [people] are grumblers, discontented, proceeding according to their desires, and their mouths speaking pompous [words], {showing partiality to gain an advantage}.

These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly, not having the Spirit.

Blessed [is] the one who reads aloud and [blessed are] those who hear the words of the prophecy and observe the things written in it, because the time [is] near!

John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from the one who is and the one who was and the one who is coming, and from the seven spirits who [are] before his throne,

Therefore, write [the things] which you saw, and [the things] which are, and [the things] which are about to take place after these [things].