For he who said, Do not be untrue in married life, is the same who said, Put no man to death. Now if you are not untrue in married life, but you put a man to death, the law is broken.

Let your words and your acts be those of men who are to be judged by the law which makes free.

And again ships, though they are so great and are moved by violent winds, are turned by a very small guiding-blade, at the impulse of the man who is using it.

With it we give praise to our Lord and Father; and with it we put a curse on men who are made in God's image.

What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies?

You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it.

O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God.

There is only one judge and law-giver, even he who has the power of salvation and of destruction; but who are you to be your neighbour's judge?

When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone.

But the right thing to say would be, If it is the Lord's pleasure and if we are still living, we will do this and that.

Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you.

Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days.

We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.

Elijah was a man of flesh and blood as we are, and he made a strong prayer that there might be no rain; and there was no rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints who are living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Who, by the power of God are kept, through faith, for that salvation, which will be seen at the last day.

But be holy in every detail of your lives, as he, whose servants you are, is holy;

Because it has been said in the Writings, You are to be holy, for I am holy.

And if you give the name of Father to him who, judging every man by his acts, has no respect for a man's position, then go in fear while you are on this earth:

You, as living stones, are being made into a house of the spirit, a holy order of priests, making those offerings of the spirit which are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven.

In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.

Being of good behaviour among the Gentiles; so that though they say now that you are evil-doers, they may see your good works and give glory to God when he comes to be their judge.

And those of the rulers who are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of those who do well.

As those who are free, not using your free position as a cover for wrongdoing, but living as the servants of God;

Servants, take orders from your masters with all respect; not only if they are good and gentle, but even if they are bad-humoured.

What credit is it if, when you have done evil, you take your punishment quietly? but if you are given punishment for doing right, and take it quietly, this is pleasing to God.

As Sarah was ruled by Abraham, naming him lord; whose children you are if you do well, and are not put in fear by any danger.

Last of all, see that you are all in agreement; feeling for one another, loving one another like brothers, full of pity, without pride:

For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

But you are happy if you undergo pain because of righteousness; have no part in their fear and do not be troubled;

But give honour to Christ in your hearts as your Lord; and be ready at any time when you are questioned about the hope which is in you, to give an answer in the fear of the Lord and without pride;

And they are wondering that you no longer go with them in this violent wasting of life, and are saying evil things of you:

If anyone has anything to say, let it be as the words of God; if anyone has the desire to be the servant of others, let him do it in the strength which is given by God; so that in all things God may have the glory through Jesus Christ, whose are the glory and the power for ever.

But be glad that you are given a part in the pains of Christ; so that at the revelation of his glory you may have great joy.

If men say evil things of you because of the name of Christ, happy are you; for the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you.

For the time has come for the judging, starting with the church of God; but if it makes a start with us, what will be the end of those who are not under the rule of God?

Do not give way to him but be strong in your faith, in the knowledge that your brothers who are in the world undergo the same troubles.

For this reason I will be ready at all times to keep your memory of these things awake, though you have the knowledge of them now and are well based in your present faith.

And so the words of the prophets are made more certain; and it is well for you to give attention to them as to a light shining in a dark place, till the dawn comes and the morning star is seen in your hearts;

Though the angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not make use of violent language against them before the Lord.

But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;

For the evil which overtakes them is the reward of their evil-doing: such men take their pleasure in the delights of the flesh even in the daytime; they are like the marks of a disease, like poisoned wounds among you, feasting together with you in joy;

Having eyes full of evil desire, never having enough of sin; turning feeble souls out of the true way; they are children of cursing, whose hearts are well used to bitter envy;

These are fountains without water, and mists before a driving storm; for whom the eternal night is kept in store.

For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error;

Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him.

For if, after they have got free from the unclean things of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again taken in the net and overcome, their last condition is worse than their first.

They are an example of that true saying, The dog has gone back to the food it had put out, and the pig which had been washed to its rolling in the dirty earth.

But, my loved ones, keep in mind this one thing, that with the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years are no more than one day.

Seeing then that all these things are coming to such an end, what sort of persons is it right for you to be, in all holy behaviour and righteousness,

But having faith in his word, we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth, which will be the resting-place of righteousness.

For this reason, my loved ones, as you are looking for these things, take great care that when he comes you may be in peace before him, free from sin and every evil thing.

And as he said in all his letters, which had to do with these things; in which are some hard sayings, so that, like the rest of the holy Writings, they are twisted by those who are uncertain and without knowledge, to the destruction of their souls.

For this reason, my loved ones, having knowledge of these things before they take place, take care that you are not turned away by the error of the uncontrolled, so falling from your true faith.

(And the life was made clear to us, and we have seen it and are witnessing to it and giving you word of that eternal life which was with the Father and was seen by us);

We give you word of all we have seen and everything which has come to our ears, so that you may be united with us; and we are united with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ:

And we are writing these things to you so that our joy may be made complete.

If we say we are joined to him, and are walking still in the dark, our words are false and our acts are untrue:

But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, we are all united with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son makes us clean from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we are false to ourselves and there is nothing true in us.

But in every man who keeps his word, the love of God is made complete. By this we may be certain that we are in him:

I have sent a letter to you, fathers, because you have knowledge of him who was from the first. I have sent a letter to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God is in you, and because you have overcome the Evil One.

Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you were given word that the Antichrist would come, so now a number of Antichrists have come to you; and by this we are certain that it is the last hour.

See what great love the Father has given us in naming us the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not see who we are, because it did not see who he was.

My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.

In this way it is clear who are the children of God and who are the children of the Evil One; anyone who does not do righteousness or who has no love for his brother, is not a child of God.

Because this is the word which was given to you from the first, that we are to have love for one another;

We are conscious that we have come out of death into life because of our love for the brothers. He who has no love is still in death.

In this way we may be certain that we are true, and may give our heart comfort before him,

And he gives us all our requests, because we keep his laws and do the things which are pleasing in his eyes.

My loved ones, do not put your faith in every spirit, but put them to the test, to see if they are from God: because a great number of false prophets have gone out into the world.

You are of God, my little children, and you have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

They are of the world, so their talk is the world's talk, and the world gives ear to them.

We are of God: he who has the knowledge of God gives ear to us; he who is not of God does not give ear to us. By this we may see which is the true spirit, and which is the spirit of error.

And his Spirit which he has given us is the witness that we are in him and he is in us.

In this way love is made complete in us, so that we may be without fear on the day of judging, because as he is, so are we in this world.

If a man says, I have love for God, and has hate for his brother, his words are false: for how is the man who has no love for his brother whom he has seen, able to have love for God whom he has not seen?

In this way, we are certain that we have love for the children of God, when we have love for God and keep his laws.

For loving God is keeping his laws: and his laws are not hard.

There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood: and all three are in agreement.

And we are certain that if we make any request to him which is right in his eyes, he will give ear to us:

And if we are certain that he gives ear to all our requests, we are equally certain that we will get our requests.

We are certain that one who is a child of God will do no sin, but the Son of God keeps him so that he is not touched by the Evil One.

We are certain that we are of God, but all the world is in the power of the Evil One.

And we are certain that the Son of God has come, and has given us a clear vision, so that we may see him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

I have no greater joy than to have news that my children are walking in the true way.

My loved one, you are doing a good work in being kind to those brothers who come from other places;

So if I come, I will keep in mind the things he does, talking against us with evil words: and as if this was not enough, he does not take the brothers into his house, and those who are ready to take them in, he keeps from doing so, putting them out of the church if they do.

Demetrius has the approval of all men and of what is true: and we give the same witness, and you are certain that our witness is true.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those of God's selection who have been made holy by God the Father and are kept safe for Jesus Christ:

But these men say evil about such things as they have no knowledge of; and the things of which they have natural knowledge, like beasts without reason, are the cause of their destruction.

These men are unseen rocks at your love-feasts, when they take part in them with you, keepers of sheep who without fear take the food of the sheep; clouds without water rushing before the wind, wasted trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots,

To be the judge of all, and to give a decision against all those whose lives are unpleasing to him, because of the evil acts which they have done, and because of all the hard things which sinners without fear of God have said against him.

These are the men who make trouble, ever desiring change, going after evil pleasures, using high-sounding words, respecting men's position in the hope of reward.

These are the men who make divisions, natural men, not having the Spirit.

And have pity on those who are in doubt;

John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and was and is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his high seat;

Put in writing, then, the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will be after these;