Deacons, too, must be serious, sincere in their talk, not addicted to strong drink or dishonest gain,

but they must continue to hold the open secret of faith with a clear conscience.

The deaconesses too must be serious, not gossips; they must be temperate and perfectly trustworthy.

A deacon too must have only one wife, and manage his children and household well.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in the treatment of their own families, and to pay the debt they owe their parents or grandparents, for this is acceptable to God.

No widow under sixty years of age should be put on this roll. A widow must have had but one husband,

must have a reputation for doing good deeds, as bringing up children, being hospitable to strangers, washing the feet of God's people, helping people in distress, or devoting herself to any sort of doing good.

For the Scripture says, "You must not muzzle an ox when he is treading out the grain," and, "The workman deserves his pay."

All who are under the yoke of slavery must esteem their masters to be deserving the highest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be abused.

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.

But you, as a man of God, must be fleeing always from these things; you must constantly strive for uprightness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

So you must never be ashamed of me His prisoner, but suffer for the good news in fellowship with me and by the power of God.

So you, my son, must keep renewing your strength in the spiritual blessing that comes through union with Christ Jesus.

The things you learned from me before many witnesses you must commit to trustworthy men who will be competent to teach others too.

But God's foundation stands unshaken, with these inscriptions: "The Lord knows the people who belong to Him" and "Everyone who bears the name of the Lord must abstain from evil."

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 slave of the Lord must not quarrel but must be gentle to everybody; he must be a skillful teacher, and not resentful under injuries.

With gentleness he must correct his opponents, for God might grant them repentance that would lead them to a full knowledge of the truth,

Now you must know that in the last days there are going to be hard times.

But you, on your part, must continue to abide by what you have learned and been led to rely upon, because you know from whom you learned it

But you, on your part, must always keep your head cool, suffer hardship, do your work as a herald of the good news, and so fill your ministry to the brim.

You too must be on your guard against him, for he has vigorously opposed my teaching.

each elder must be above reproach, have only one wife, and his children must not be liable to the charge of profligacy or disobedience.

For as God's trustee a pastor must be above reproach, not stubborn or quick-tempered or addicted to strong drink or pugnacious or addicted to dishonest gain,

whose mouths must be stopped, for they upset whole families by teaching things they ought not to think, for the sake of dishonest gain.

You must continue telling the people what is proper for wholesome teaching:

You must continue teaching this, and continue exhorting and reproving people, with full authority. Let no one belittle you.

Our people too must set examples of doing good, so as to meet the necessary demands and not to live unfruitful lives.

This is why we must pay much closer attention to the message once heard, to keep from drifting to one side.

You must not harden your hearts as they did in provoking me, as on the day in the desert they tested me,

and yet the warning continues to be spoken: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts as they did in provoking me."

He again fixes a definite day, saying long afterward through David, as has been quoted: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts."

Now see how great this man must have been that even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; so this High Priest too must have some sacrifice to offer,

Indeed, just as men must die but once and after that be judged,

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

So you must never give up your confident courage, for it holds a rich reward for you.

but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that there is a God and that He gives rewards to all who earnestly try to find Him.

of whom it had been said, "Through Isaac your offspring must be traced."

You must submit to discipline. God is dealing with you as His sons. For who is the son that his father never disciplines?

for they did not try to bear the order, "Even if a wild animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death,"

You must let your brotherly love continue.

Marriage must be held in honor by all, and the marriage relations kept sacred. Persons who are sexually vicious and immoral God will punish.

You must have a turn of mind that is free from avarice; you must be content with what you have, for God Himself has said, "I will never fail you, I will never forsake you."

You must not forget your former leaders, for it was they who brought you the message of God. Consider how they closed their lives; imitate their faith.

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.

You must know that our brother Timothy has been released from prison. If he comes soon, he and I will see you together.

You must consider it the purest joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials,

but you must let your endurance come to its perfect product, so that you may be fully developed and perfectly equipped, without any defects.

But he must ask in faith, without a doubt, for the man who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is whirled and swayed by the wind.

(1:7) unreliable in every step he takes, must not expect to get anything from the Lord.

No one must say, when he is tempted to do evil, "I have a temptation from God to do evil," for God cannot be tempted to do evil, and He never tempts anyone to do so.

You must avoid being misled, my dearly loved brothers.

You must understand this, my dearly loved brothers. Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to get angry;

But if you really observe the law of the King in accordance with the Scripture, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right;

For He who said, "You must not commit adultery," also said, "You must not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but you do commit murder, you are just the same a lawbreaker.

You must continue talking and acting like people who are to be judged by the law that treats them as free.

You must be patient, too; you must put iron into your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is close at hand.

In such a hope keep on rejoicing, although for a little while you must be sorrow-stricken with various trials,

You must continue to love Him, although you have never seen Him, but because you do believe in Him, although you do not now see Him, you must continue to rejoice with an unutterable and triumphant joy,

but in accordance with the Holy Being who has called you, you must prove to be holy too,

And if you address as Father, Him who judges everyone impartially in accordance with what he does, you must live reverently all your fleeting stay on earth,

Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth, in sincere love for the brotherhood you must love one another heartily and fervently,

It must be so, because the Scriptures say: "Here now I lay in Zion a chosen stone, a costly cornerstone, And not a single one who puts his trust in Him will ever be put to shame."

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.

You married women, in the same way, must be submissive to your husbands, so that, if any of them do not believe the message, they may be won over without a word through the living of the wives,

Your adornments must be not of an external nature, with braids of hair or ornaments of gold, or changes of dress,

but they must be of an internal nature, the character concealed in the heart, in the imperishable quality of a quiet and gentle spirit, which is of great value in the sight of God.

You married men, in the same way, must live with your wives in an intelligent consideration of them; you must show them deference, too, as the weaker sex, as they share with you the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Finally, you must all live in harmony, be sympathetic, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, humble,

For "Whoever wants to enjoy life and see delightful days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

He must turn, too, away from evil and do right; He must seek peace and follow it,

but in your hearts be consecrated to Christ as Lord, and always be ready to make your defense to anyone who asks a reason for the hope you have. But you must do it in gentleness and reverence,

So then, since Christ has suffered in our physical form, you too must arm yourselves with the same determination. For whoever suffers in his physical form has done with sin,

As all of you have received your spiritual talents, you must keep on using them in serving one another, as good trustees of God's many-sided favor.

but if anyone suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed of it, but should keep on praising God for bearing this name.

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

You younger men, on your part, must be submissive to the elders. And you must all put on the servant's apron of humility to one another, because God opposes the haughty but bestows His unmerited favor on the humble.

Now for this very reason you must do your level best to supplement your faith with moral character, moral character with knowledge,

First of all, you must understand this, that in the last days mockers will come with their mockeries, living in accordance with their evil passions,

But you must avoid forgetting this one fact, dearly beloved, that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a single day.

So, dearly beloved, since you have been forewarned, you must always be on your guard against being led astray by the errors of lawless men, and so against falling away from your present firmness;

but instead, you must continue to grow in the spiritual strength and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever!

The anointing of the Spirit which you received still remains in your hearts, and so you have no need that anyone should teach you. But just as that anointing of His teaches you about everything, and as it is true and no falsehood, and as it has taught you to do so, you must continue to live in union with Him.

And now, dear children, I repeat, you must continue to live in union with Him, so that if He is unveiled, we may have unshaken confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame when He comes.

If you know that He is upright, you must know that everyone who practices uprightness is born of Him.

We must not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and butchered his brother. And why did he butcher him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's upright.

You must not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

If anyone continuously comes to see you without bringing this teaching, you must stop welcoming him to your house and stop bidding him good morning,

But you, dearly beloved, must remember the words that have already been spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

But you, dearly beloved, must continue to build yourselves up on the groundwork of your most holy faith and to pray in the Holy Spirit;

you must keep yourselves in the love of God and continue to wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to bring you to eternal life.

Some people, who continue to waver through doubts, you must pity

and save, snatching them out of the fire; and others you must pity with dread, loathing even the clothes that are soiled by their lower nature.

A revelation given by Jesus Christ which God gave to Him, to make known to His slaves what must very soon take place. He sent and communicated it through His angel to His slave John,

Do not be so afraid of what you are to suffer. See! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison to be tested there and for ten days to suffer pressing troubles. Each one of you must prove to be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life.

After this I had another vision: A door was standing open in heaven, and the first voice, like a trumpet, that I had heard speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place."

and I heard what seemed to be a voice from the midst of the four living creatures say: "Wheat, fifty cents a quart, barley, fifty cents for three quarts! But you must not injure the oil and wine."

Then they said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

If anyone wants to injure them, fire comes out of their mouths and consumes their enemies; if anyone wants to injure them, he must himself be killed in that way.