but the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable [quality] of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is highly valuable in the sight of God.

For in the [same] way formerly the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves [by] being subject to their own husbands,

like Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you have become [when you] do good and are not frightened with respect to any terror.

For "The one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and [his] lips must not speak deceit.

And he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.

And who [is] the one who will harm you if you are a zealous adherent for what is good?

But [do so] with courtesy and respect, having a good conscience, so that in [the things] in which you are slandered, the ones who malign your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

For [it is] better to suffer for doing good, {if God wills it}, than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, in order that he could bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

who were formerly disobedient, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, [while] an ark was being constructed, in which a few--that is, eight souls--were rescued through water.

And also, corresponding to [this], baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, with angels and authorities and powers having been subjected to him.

in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for the will of God.

Because for this reason also the gospel was preached to those who are dead, so that they were judged {by human standards} in the flesh, but they may live in the spirit {by God's standards}.

Just as each one has received a gift, [use] it for serving one another, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

If anyone speaks, [let it be] as the oracles of God; if anyone serves, [let it be] as by the strength that God provides, so that in all [things] God will be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power {forever and ever}. Amen.

If you are reviled on account of the name of Christ, [you are] blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

But if [someone suffers] as a Christian, he must not be ashamed, but must glorify God with this name.

For [it is] the time for the judgment to begin out from the household of God. But if [it begins] out from us first, what will be the outcome for those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?

So then also those who suffer according to the will of God must entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing good.

shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not by compulsion but willingly, in accordance with God, and not greedily but eagerly,

In the same way, younger men, 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.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the [right] time,

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, [after you] have suffered for a short time, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, [and] establish [you].

Through Silvanus, the faithful brother (as I consider [him]), I have written to you {briefly} to encourage [you] and to attest that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith equal in value to ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

For [he] received honor and glory from God the Father [when] a voice such as this was brought to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but held [them] captive in Tartarus with chains of darkness [and] handed [them] over to be kept for judgment,

For [when] they maintain this, it escapes [their] notice that the heavens existed long ago and the earth held together out of water and through water by the word of God,

[while] waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed [by] being burned up and the celestial bodies will melt [as they] are consumed by heat!

And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light and there [is] no darkness in him at all.

But whoever keeps 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, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known the [One who is] from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

And the world is passing away, and its desire, but the one who does the will of God remains {forever}.

See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called children of God, and we are! Because of this the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this [reason] the Son of God was revealed: in order to destroy the works of the devil.

Everyone who is fathered by God does not practice sin, because his seed resides in him, and [he is] not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are evident: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, namely, the one who does not love his brother.

But whoever has the world's material possessions and observes his brother {in need} and shuts his heart against him, how does the love of God reside in him?

that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart and knows all [things].

Dear friends, if our heart does not condemn [us], we have confidence before God,

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.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in 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.

We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God.

The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God sent his one and only Son into the world in order that we may live through him.

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son [to be the] propitiation for our sins.

Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.

And we have come to know and have believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen is not able to love God whom he has not seen.

And this [is] the commandment we have from him: that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves {the father} also loves the [child] fathered by him.

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and keep his commandments.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,

because everyone who is fathered by God conquers the world.

Now who is the one who conquers the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son.

(The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.)

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

The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

These [things] I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.

We know that everyone who is fathered by God does not sin, but the one fathered by God, he protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

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 understanding, in order that we may know the one who is true, and we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.

Grace, mercy, peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love.

Everyone who goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in the teaching--this person has both the Father and the Son.

They have testified [to] your love before the church; you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

Dear friend, do not imitate [what is] evil, but [what is] good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to [those who are] called, loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

For certain men have slipped in stealthily, who were designated long ago for this condemnation, ungodly ones, who change the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and now and for all eternity. Amen.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his slaves [the things] which must take place in a short time, and communicated [it] [by] sending [it] through his angel to his slave John,

who testified about the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, all that he saw.

and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father--to him [be] the glory and the power {forever and ever}. Amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, the one who is and the one who was and the one who is coming, the All-Powerful.

I, John, your brother and co-sharer in the affliction and kingdom and steadfastness in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.

The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to him to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.'

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: "This is what the Son of God says, the one who has his eyes like a fiery flame and his feet like fine bronze:

"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: "This is what the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says: 'I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead.

Be on the alert and strengthen the remaining [things] that are about to die, for I have not found your works completed before my God.

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go outside again, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God, and my new name.

"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "This is what the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God's creation, says:

And from the throne came out lightnings and sounds and thunders, and seven torches of fire [were] burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

And the four living creatures, {each one} of them, had six wings apiece, full of eyes around and inside, and they do not have rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy [is] the Lord God All-Powerful, the one who was and the one who is and the one who is coming!"

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

And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as though slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.

And they were singing a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and bought [people] for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth."

And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had,

And I saw another angel ascending {from the east}, holding the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels {who were given permission} to damage the earth and the sea,

saying, "Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads."