A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

If you give special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Please take this seat," but you say to the poor man, "Stand over there" or "Sit on the floor at my feet,"

What good does it do, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but does not prove it with actions? This kind of faith cannot save him, can it?

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. It should not be like this, my brothers!

You adulterers! Don't you know that friendship with the world means hostility with God? So whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.

Instead you should say, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that."

Through faith you are being protected by God's power for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of this era.

You greatly rejoice in this, even though you have to suffer various kinds of trials for a little while,

Even the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, carefully researched and investigated this salvation.

but the word of the Lord lasts forever." Now this word is the good news that was announced to you.

This is why it says in Scripture: "Look! I am laying a chosen, precious cornerstone in Zion. The one who believes in him will never be ashamed."

This is, in fact, what you were called to do, because: The Messiah also suffered for you and left an example for you to follow in his steps.

After all, this is how holy women who set their hope on God used to make themselves beautiful in the past. They submitted themselves to their husbands,

But do this gently and respectfully, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in the Messiah will be ashamed of slandering you.

Indeed, this is why the gospel was proclaimed even to those who have died, so that they could be judged in their mortal flesh like all humans and live in the spiritual realm like God.

Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is to be the true grace of God in which you are to stand firm!

For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge,

So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, for if you keep on doing this you will never fail.

For in this way you will be generously granted entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.

Yet I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I am living in this bodily tent,

For he received honor and glory from God the Father when these words from the Majestic Glory were spoken about him: "This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him."

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

First of all, you must understand this: No prophecy in Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,

Dear friends, this is now the second of two letters I am writing to you, in which I have been trying to stimulate your pure minds by reminding you

First of all you must understand this: In the last days mockers will come and, following their own desires, will ridicule us

Don't forget this fact, dear friends: With the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, think of the kind of holy and godly people you ought to be

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to have the Lord find you at peace and without spot or fault.

He speaks about this subject in all his letters. Some things in them are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, leading to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures.

What existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we observed and touched with our own hands this is the Word of life!

This life was revealed to us, and we have seen it and testify about it. We declare to you this eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

What we have seen and heard we declare to you so that you, too, can have fellowship with us. Now this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus, the Messiah.

This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness none at all!

This is how we can be sure that we have come to know him: if we continually keep his commandments.

But whoever continually keeps his commandments is the kind of person in whom God's love has truly been perfected. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God:

Dear friends, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard.

Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that an antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

The anointing you received from God abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you this. Instead, because God's anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not a lie, abide in him, as he taught you to do.

See what kind of love the Father has given us: We are called God's children and that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him, either.

And everyone who has this hope based on him keeps himself pure, just as the Messiah is pure.

This is how God's children and the Devil's children are distinguished. No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God.

This is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

This is how we have come to know love: the Messiah gave his life for us. We, too, ought to give our lives for our brothers.

This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to keep ourselves strong in his presence.

And this is his commandment: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus the Messiah, and to love one another as he commanded us.

The person who keeps his commandments abides in God, and God abides in him. This is how we can be sure that he remains in us: he has given us his Spirit.

This is how you can recognize God's Spirit: Every spirit who acknowledges that Jesus the Messiah has become human and remains so is from God.

But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world.

We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

This is how God's love was revealed among us: God sent his unique Son into the world so that we might live through him.

This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love one another.

This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit.

This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, during our time in this world, we are just like him.

And this is the commandment that we have from him: the person who loves God must also love his brother.

This is how we know that we love God's children: we love God and keep his commandments.

For this demonstrates our love for God: We keep his commandments, and his commandments are not difficult,

This man, Jesus the Messiah, is the one who came by water and blood not with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth.

The person who believes in the Son of God believes this testimony personally. The person who does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that he has given about his Son.

This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son.

The person who has the Son has this life. The person who does not have the Son of God does not have this life.

And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that.

And this is what demonstrates love: that we live according to God's commandments. Just as you have heard from the beginning what he commanded, you must live by it.

For this reason, when I come I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with that, he refuses to receive the brothers. He even tries to stop those who want to accept them and throws them out of the church.

Demetrius has received a good report from everyone, including the truth itself. We, too, can testify to this report, and you know that our testimony is true.

For some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. They were written about long ago as being deserving of this condemnation because they are ungodly. They turn the grace of our God into uncontrollable lust and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus the Messiah.

This is the revelation of Jesus the Messiah, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must happen soon. He made it known by sending his messenger to his servant John,

who testified about this message from God and the testimony about Jesus the Messiah.

How blessed is the one who reads aloud and those who hear the words of this prophecy and obey what is written in it, for the time is near!

Therefore, write down what you have seen, what is, and what is going to happen after this.

The secret meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lamp stands is this: the seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches."

"To the messenger of the church in Ephesus, write: "The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lamp stands, says this:

However, I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.

But this is to your credit: You hate the actions of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

"To the messenger of the church in Smyrna, write: "The first and the last, who was dead and became alive, says this:

"To the messenger of the church in Pergamum, write: "The one who holds the sharp, two-edged sword, says this:

"To the messenger of the church in Thyatira, write: "The Son of God, whose eyes are like flaming fire and whose feet are like glowing bronze, says this:

But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and who teaches and leads my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

"But as for the rest of you in Thyatira you who do not hold to this teaching and who have not learned what some people call the deep things of Satan I won't burden you with anything else.

"To the messenger of the church in Sardis, write: "The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this:

The person who conquers in this way will wear white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the Book of Life. I will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and his angels.

"To the messenger of the church in Philadelphia, write: "The one who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens a door that no one can shut, and who shuts a door that no one can open, "says this:

"To the messenger of the church in Laodicea, write: "The Amen, the witness who is faithful and true, the originator of God's creation, says this:

After these things, I saw a door standing open in heaven. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this."

After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the land, on the sea, or on any tree.

This was how I saw the horses in my vision: The riders wore breastplates that had the color of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.

And if anyone should want to hurt them, fire comes out of their mouths and burns up their enemies. If anyone wants to hurt them, he must be killed in this manner.

In this case wisdom is needed: Let the person who has understanding calculate the total of the beast, since it is a human multitude, and the sum of the multitude is 600, 60 and six.

I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: How blessed are the dead, that is, those who die in the Lord from now on!" "Yes," says the Spirit. "Let them rest from their labors, for their actions follow them."

You have given them blood to drink because they spilled the blood of saints and prophets. This is what they deserve."

This calls for a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is sitting. They are also seven kings.

For this reason, her diseases that result in death, misery, and famine will come in a single day. She will be burned up in a fire, because powerful is the Lord God who judges her."

because all this wealth has been destroyed in a single hour!"

Then the angel told me, "Write this: "How blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb!'" He also told me, "These are the true words of God."

The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were over. This is the first resurrection.

Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. (This is the second death the lake of fire.)

The one sitting on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new!" He said, "Write this: "These words are trustworthy and true.'"

But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death."

"See! I am coming soon! How blessed is the person who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book!"