but that it is a woman's glory to do so? For her hair is given her for a covering.

For, in the first place, when you meet as a congregation, I hear that there are cliques among you, and I partly believe it.

If all the body were an eye, how could we hear? If all the body were an ear, how could we smell?

But you must earnestly continue to cultivate your higher spiritual gifts. And yet I will show you a way that is better by far:

Why too do we ourselves run such risks every hour?

If from merely human motives I have fought wild beasts here in Ephesus, what profit will it be to me? If the dead are never raised at all, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead."

For I have an opportunity here that is great and calls for work, and it has many opponents.

(for here I live by what I believe and not by what I see),

For He says: "At a welcome time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." Right now the time of welcome is here; right now it is the day of salvation.

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, as I betrothed you to Christ, to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.

However, if I want to boast, I will not play the fool, for it will be nothing but the truth that I will tell. But I refrain from doing so, to keep anybody, on account of the superiority of the revelations, from giving me a higher rating than my actions and teachings deserve.

and all the brothers who are here with me -- to the churches of Galatia:

I mean this: As long as the heir is under age he is not a whit better off than a slave, although he is heir of all the property,

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir by God's own act.

that is, Hagar (and Hagar means Mount Sinai, in Arabia) and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is in slavery with her children.

But what does the Scripture say? "Drive off the slave girl and her son, for the slave girl's son shall never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman."

Here is what I am saying to you: If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ can do you no good.

The person who sows to gratify his lower nature will reap destruction from that lower nature, and the person who sows to gratify his higher nature will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

You married men must love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her,

to consecrate her, after cleansing her through His word, as pictured in the water bath,

But each one of you married men must love his wife as he loves himself, and the married woman, too, must respect her husband.

in this way it has become well known throughout the Imperial Guard and to all the rest here that I am a prisoner in the service of Christ,

the latter, indeed, are doing so from love to me, for they know that I am providentially put here to defend the good news;

But if to keep on living here means fruit from my labor, I cannot tell which to choose.

And yet for your sakes it is very necessary for me to stay on here.

Only you must practice living lives that are worthy of the good news, so that whether I come and see you or stay away, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, and that with one purpose you are continuing to cooperate in the fight for faith in the good news.

since you are having the same struggle that you once saw me have and which you hear that I am still having.

Brothers, I do not think that I have captured it yet, but here is my one aspiration, so forgetting what is behind me and reaching out for what is ahead of me,

he is accompanied by Onesimus, a faithful and dearly loved brother, who is one of your own number. They will tell you everything that is going on here.

So does Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only converts from Judaism that are fellow-workers with me here for the kingdom of God, who have proved a real comfort to me.

Remember me to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets at her house.

Instead we were little children among you; we were like a mother nursing her children.

not to let your minds be easily unsettled or even be excited, whether by some message by the Spirit or by some saying or letter that is claimed as coming from me, saying that the day of the Lord is already here.

I want the women, on their part, to dress becomingly, that is, modestly and sensibly, not adorning themselves with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive dresses,

But a woman who is really a widow and lives alone has fixed her hope on God, and night and day devotes herself to prayers and entreaties,

You know that everyone here who belongs to the Roman province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

Keep on reminding men of these things. Solemnly charge them before God to stop petty debating, which does no good at all but brings destruction on those who hear it.

But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that the message preached by me might have its full effect and all the heathen might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's jaws.

Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus wishes to be remembered to you, and so do Prudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.

because I continue to hear of the love and faith you have in the Lord Jesus and all His people,

and again, "I too will put my trust in God"; and again, "Here I am and the children God has given me."

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "If you but hear His voice today,

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."

By faith Sarah received strength to become pregnant, and actually gave birth to a child, although she was past the time of life for it, because she thought that He who made her the promise was to be trusted.

These people all died victoriously as a result of their faith, although they did not receive the blessings promised; that is, because they really saw them in the far-off future and welcomed them, and so professed to be only foreigners and strangers here on earth.

They were stoned to death, they were tortured to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. With nothing on their bodies but skins of sheep or goats they wandered here and there, destitute, oppressed, mistreated --

See to it that you do not refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they did not escape, because they refused to listen to him who warned them here on earth, how much less can we, if we reject Him who is from heaven?

for we have no permanent city here, but we are searching for that city which is to be ours.

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

and you pay special attention to the man who wears the fine clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in this fine place," and say to the poor man, "Stand up, or sit there on the floor at my feet,"

Was not even Rahab the prostitute shown to be upright by her good deeds, namely, by entertaining the scouts and sending them off by a different road?

Here on earth you have lived in luxury and self-indulgence; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.

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."

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

Little children, it is the last hour, just as you have heard that Antichrist is Coming, and already many Antichrists have appeared; so we may be sure that it is the last hour.

Our love attains perfection through our having perfect confidence about the day of judgment, because here in this world we are living as He did.

The Elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I truly love, and not only I but all who know the truth,

I have no greater spiritual blessing than this, to hear that my children are living by the truth.

Blessed be the man who reads them and the people who hear the messages of this prophecy read, and heed what is written in it, for the time is near.

His head and hair were as white as white wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like coals of fire;

But I hold it against you that you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who claims to be a prophetess, and by her teaching is misleading my slaves to practice immorality and to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols.

I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality.

See! I am going to lay her on a bed of sickness, and bring down to great and pressing sorrow those who practice immorality with her, unless they repent of their practices;

and I will surely strike her children dead. So all the churches will know that I am He who searches men's inmost hearts, and that I will repay each of you for exactly what you have done.

So remember what you have received and heard, and continue to obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never know the hour when I come upon you.

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."

When He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

they had hair that looked like women's hair; their teeth were like lions' teeth;

Then the four angels that were kept in readiness for that hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of mankind.

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works their hands had done, so as to give up worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot either see or hear or move;

And they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies looked on as spectators.

At that very hour there was a great earthquake, and one-tenth of the city went down. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were stricken with awe, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Then a great symbol was seen in heaven -- a woman clothed in the sun with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

His tail was dragging after it a third part of the stars of heaven and dashed them down upon the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth to a child, in order to devour her child as soon as it was born.

But the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and a half-time, safe from the presence of the serpent.

Then the serpent made water, like a river, spout from his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with its torrent.

So the dragon was enraged against the woman, and he went off to make war with the rest of her descendants, who continue to keep God's commands and to bear testimony to Jesus.

Here is scope for wisdom! Let anyone who has the mental keenness calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of a certain man; his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

He cried in a loud voice, "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him who made heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water."

Then a second angel followed, saying: "She has fallen! Mighty Babylon has fallen, who made all the nations drink the wine of vengeance due her immorality!"

The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, decorated in gold and precious stones and pearls, and she had in her hand a cup of gold, full of abominations and the impurities of her immorality.

On her forehead was written a name with a symbolical meaning, "Mighty Babylon, the mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."

I saw the woman drinking herself drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of the martyred witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was utterly astonished,

but the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will tell you the symbolical meaning of the woman, and the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns, that carries her.

Here is scope for a mind that is packed with wisdom. The seven heads are the seven hills on which the woman is seated.

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet become kings, but for a single hour they accept authority as kings allied with the wild beast.

The ten horns that you saw and the wild beast will be the very ones to hate the prostitute, to make her desolate and naked, to eat up her flesh, and burn her up with fire.

because all the nations have fallen by drinking the raging wine of her immorality; the kings of the earth have joined her in her immorality, and the businessmen of the earth have grown rich from the wealth of her luxury."

Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins and suffer from her plagues.

For her sins are piled clear up to heaven, and God has remembered the wrongs which she has done.

Pay her back in her own coin; give her double for what she has done. In the cup that she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.

To the same degree in which she has lived in splendor and luxury, give her torture and tears. Because she is always boasting in her heart, 'I sit enthroned as queen; I am not a widow, I shall never experience any sorrow' --

for this very reason her plagues will overtake her in a single day, death, grief, and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; because the Lord who has judged her is mighty.

The kings of the earth who have joined her in her immorality and luxury will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

They will stand a long way off for fear of her torture, saying, 'Alas! Alas for the great city, for Babylon the mighty city, because in a single day your judgment has overtaken you!'

The businessmen of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one can buy their cargoes anymore --

The businessmen who dealt in these things, who had grown rich from their business with her, will stand a long way off for fear of her torture, weeping and mourning,

because in a single hour a wealth so vast has been destroyed!' All ship pilots and all who travel by sea, sailors and seafaring men, stood a long way off

and cried out when they saw the smoke from her burning, 'What city was like the great city?'