And for this cause, God will give them up to the power of deceit and they will put their faith in what is false:

So that they all may be judged, who had no faith in what is true, but took pleasure in evil.

Now we give you orders, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from all those whose behaviour is not well ordered and in harmony with the teaching which they had from us.

Now to such we give orders and make request in the Lord Jesus, that, working quietly, they get their living.

Desiring to be teachers of the law, though they have no knowledge of what they say or of the statements which they make so certainly.

Such are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have given up to Satan, so that they may say no more evil words against God.

But if they go on in faith and love and holy self-control, she will be kept safe at the time of childbirth.

But to the younger widows say No: for when their love is turned away from Christ, they have a desire to be married;

And they are judged because they have been false to their first faith;

And they get into the way of doing no work, going about from house to house; and not only doing no work, but talking foolishly, being over-interested in the business of others, saying things which they have no right to say.

And let those whose masters are of the faith have respect for them because they are brothers, working for them the more readily, because those who take part in the good work are of the faith and are dear. Give orders and teaching about these things.

And the things which I have said to you before a number of witnesses, give to those of the faith, so that they may be teachers of others.

But I undergo all things for the saints, so that they may have salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

And put away foolish and uncontrolled questionings, seeing that they are a cause of trouble.

And so they may get themselves free from the net of the Evil One, being made the prisoners of the Lord's servant, for the purpose of God.

For these are they who go secretly into houses, making prisoners of foolish women, weighted down with sin, turned from the way by their evil desires,

But they will go no farther: for their foolish behaviour will be clear to all men, as theirs was in the end.

For the time will come when they will not take the true teaching; but, moved by their desires, they will get for themselves a great number of teachers for the pleasure of hearing them;

Men having a good record, husbands of one wife, whose children are of the faith, children of whom it may not be said that they are given to loose living or are uncontrolled.

This witness is true. So say sharp words to them so that they may come to the right faith,

To the clean in heart all things are clean: but to those who are unclean and without faith nothing is clean; they become unclean in mind and in thought.

They say that they have knowledge of God, while by their acts they are turning their backs on him; they are hated by all, hard-hearted, and judged to be without value for any good work.

Make clear to them that they are to put themselves under rulers and authorities, to do what they are ordered, to be ready for every good work,

But have nothing to do with foolish questionings, and lists of generations, and fights and arguments about the law; for they are of no profit and foolish.

Send Zenas, the man of law, and Apollos on their journey with all care, so that they may be in need of nothing.

And let our people go on with good works for necessary purposes, so that they may not be without fruit.

They will come to their end; but you are for ever; they will become old as a robe;

They will be rolled up like a cloth, even like a robe, and they will be changed: but you are the same and your years will have no end.

Are they not all helping spirits, who are sent out as servants to those whose heritage will be salvation?

For having been put to the test himself, he is able to give help to others when they are tested.

So that I was angry with this generation, and I said, Their hearts are in error at all times, and they have no knowledge of my ways;

And being angry I made an oath, saying, They may not come into my rest.

And to whom did he make an oath that they might not come into his rest? was it not to those who went against his orders?

So we see that they were not able to go in because they had no belief.

And, truly, the good news came to us, even as it did to them; but the hearing of the word did them no good, because they were not united in faith with the true hearers.

For those of us who have belief come into his rest; even as he has said, As I said in my oath when I was angry, They may not come into my rest: though the works were done from the time of the making of the world.

And in the same place he says again, They will not come into my rest.

So that as it is clear that some have to go in, and that the first hearers of the good news were not able to go in because they went against God's orders,

And then let themselves be turned away, it is not possible for their hearts to be made new a second time; because they themselves put the Son of God on the cross again, openly shaming him.

And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham.

Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord.

For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people:

And there will be no need for every man to be teaching his brother, or his neighbour, saying, This is the knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, great and small.

Because they are only rules of the flesh, of meats and drinks and washings, which have their place till the time comes when things will be put right.

And because by God's law death comes to men once, and after that they are judged;

All these came to their end in faith, not having had the heritage; but having seen it with delight far away, they gave witness that they were wanderers and not of the earth.

For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves.

And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back.

By faith Moses was kept secretly by his father and mother for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a fair child; and they had no fear of the king's orders.

By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, though the Egyptians were overcome by the water when they made an attempt to do the same.

By faith the walls of Jericho came down, after they had been circled for seven days.

Put out the power of fire, got safely away from the edge of the sword, were made strong when they had been feeble, became full of power in war, and put to flight the armies of the nations.

Women had their dead given back to them living; others let themselves be cruelly attacked, having no desire to go free, so that they might have a better life to come;

They were stoned, they were cut up with knives, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins; being poor and in pain and cruelly attacked,

And not one of these got the good things of the agreement, though they all had a good record through faith,

For they truly gave us punishment for a short time, as it seemed good to them; but he does it for our profit, so that we may become holy as he is.

Give ear to those who are rulers over you, and do as they say: for they keep watch over your souls, ready to give an account of them; let them be able to do this with joy and not with grief, because that would be of no profit to you.

But you have put the poor man to shame. Are not the men of wealth rulers over you? do they not take you by force before their judges?

Do they not say evil of the holy name which was given to you?

Now if we put bits of iron into horses' mouths so that they may be guided by us, we have complete control of their bodies.

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.

And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; things which even angels have a desire to see.

And, A stone of falling, a rock of trouble; the word is the cause of their fall, because they go against it, and this was the purpose of God.

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.

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

When they see your holy behaviour in the fear of God.

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

But they will have to give an account of themselves to him who is ready to be the judge of the living and the dead.

For this was the reason why the good news of Jesus was given even to the dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but might be living before God in the spirit.

For if you have these things in good measure, they will make you fertile and full of fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.

And in their desire for profit they will come to you with words of deceit, like traders doing business in souls: whose punishment has been ready for a long time and their destruction is watching for them.

For if God did not have pity for the angels who did evil, but sent them down into hell, to be kept in chains of eternal night till they were judged;

But specially those who go after the unclean desires of the flesh, and make sport of authority. Ready to take chances, uncontrolled, they have no fear of saying evil of those in high places:

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;

Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing;

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 in taking this view they put out of their minds the memory that in the old days there was a heaven, and an earth lifted out of the water and circled by water, by the word of God;

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.

They went out from us but they were not of us; if they had been of us they would still be with us: but they went out from us so that it might be made clear that they were not of us.

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.

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

For they went out for love of the Name, taking nothing from the Gentiles.

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.

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.

A curse on them! They have gone in the way of Cain, running uncontrolled into the error of Balaam for reward, and have come to destruction by saying evil against the Lord, like Korah.

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.

How they said to you, In the last days there will be men who, guided by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things.

I have knowledge of your doings, and of your hard work and long waiting, and that you will not put up with evil men, and have put to the test those who say they are Apostles and are not, and have seen that they are false;

I have knowledge of your troubles and how poor you are (but you have true wealth), and the evil words of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are a Synagogue of Satan.

See, I will put her into a bed, and those who make themselves unclean with her, into great trouble, if they go on with her works.

But to you I say, to the rest in Thyatira, even to those who have not this teaching, and have no knowledge of the secrets of Satan, as they say; I put on you no other weight.

And he will be ruling them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of the potter they will be broken, even as I have power from my Father: