you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

You once were not a people, but now you are God's people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.

For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God.

In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands. Then, even if some are disobedient to the word, they will be won over without a word by the way you live,

For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the Lord's face is against those who do evil.

For who is going to harm you if you are devoted to what is good?

But in fact, if you happen to suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. But do not be terrified of them or be shaken.

So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you.

Now it was for this very purpose that the gospel was preached to those who are now dead, so that though they were judged in the flesh by human standards they may live spiritually by God's standards.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit of God, rests on you.

For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the house of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?

And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the ungodly and sinners?

In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Resist him, strong in your faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are enduring the same kinds of suffering.

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

For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately.

Therefore, I intend to remind you constantly of these things even though you know them and are well established in the truth that you now have.

especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,

yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.

But these men, like irrational animals -- creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed -- do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed,

suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you.

These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved.

For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error.

Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.

They are illustrations of this true proverb: "A dog returns to its own vomit," and "A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire."

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.

Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must we be, conducting our lives in holiness and godliness,

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

Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.

speaking of these things in all his letters. Some things in these letters are hard to understand, things the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures.

Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

But whoever obeys 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, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

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

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children -- and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it 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 revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness -- the one who does not love his fellow Christian -- is not of God.

And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence,

and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to 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's perspective and the world listens to them.

We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but 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 Jesus is, so also are we in this world.

For there are three that testify,

the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these 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 insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.

For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, just as you are living according to the truth.

I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are living according to the truth.

Dear friend, you demonstrate faithfulness by whatever you do for the brothers (even though they are strangers).

From Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, wrapped in the love of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend.

These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit -- twice dead, uprooted;

These people are grumblers and fault-finders who go wherever their desires lead them, and they give bombastic speeches, enchanting folks for their own gain.

These people are divisive, worldly, devoid of the Spirit.

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

From John, to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from "he who is," and who was, and who is still to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.

The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

I know your works as well as your labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have even put to the test those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false.

I know the distress you are suffering and your poverty (but you are rich). I also know the slander against you by those who call themselves Jews and really are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. The devil is about to have some of you thrown into prison so you may be tested, and you will experience suffering for ten days. Remain faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown that is life itself.

In the same way, there are also some among you who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame and whose feet are like polished bronze:

I know your deeds: your love, faith, service, and steadfast endurance. In fact, your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones.

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: 'I know your deeds, that you have a reputation that you are alive, but in reality you are dead.

But you have a few individuals in Sardis who have not stained their clothes, and they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy.

Listen! I am going to make those people from the synagogue of Satan -- who say they are Jews yet are not, but are lying -- Look, I will make them come and bow down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot!

So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth!

Because you say, "I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing," but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,

From the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring and crashes of thunder. Seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created!"

Then I saw standing in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground before the Lamb. Each of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints).

They were singing a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

Then one of the elders asked me, "These dressed in long white robes -- who are they and where have they come from?"

So I said to him, "My lord, you know the answer." Then he said to me, "These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!

For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them.

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying directly overhead, proclaiming with a loud voice, "Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth because of the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow them!"

The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things!

saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, "Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!"

For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries.

(These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.)

These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.

Then the twenty-four elders who are seated on their thrones before God threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and worshiped God

These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb,

and no lie was found on their lips; they are blameless.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: 'Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will follow them."

Another angel, who was in charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, "Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes off the vine of the earth, because its grapes are now ripe."

Then I saw another great and astounding sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven final plagues (they are final because in them God's anger is completed).

They sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful! Just and true are your ways, King over the nations!

Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name, because you alone are holy? All nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed."

Now I heard the angel of the waters saying: "You are just -- the one who is and who was, the Holy One -- because you have passed these judgments,