These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.

By faith Moses when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, as she had received the spies with peace.

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Ye have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin.

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh to you as to children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked by him:

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

But if ye are without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

For ye are not come to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor to blackness, and to darkness, and tempest,

And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for by this some have entertained angels unawares.

So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines: for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied in them.

But to do good, and to communicate, forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him.

For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing from the Lord.

Do not err, my beloved brethren.

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

For if any is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

But he who looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

If any man among you seemeth to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats?

Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

For he that said, Do not commit adultery; said also, Do not kill. Now if thou committest no adultery, yet if thou killest, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man sayeth he hath faith, and hath not works? can faith save him?

And one of you sayeth to them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

Ye see then that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

For in many things we all offend. If any man offendeth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, demoniacal.

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even from your lusts that war in your members?

Ye lust and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Whereas ye know not what will be on the morrow: For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea, be yea: and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

In which ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory:

To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us they ministered the things which are now reported to you by them that have preached the gospel to you, with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain course of life received by tradition from your fathers;

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

Who in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the deportment of the wives;

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putting on apparel;

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but on the contrary, blessing; knowing that ye are called to this, that ye should inherit a blessing.

But if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

The like figure to which, even baptism, doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

In which they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you:

Yet if any man suffereth as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first beginneth at us, what will be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight of it, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but from a ready mind;

And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the present truth.

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty.

For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

And through covetousness they will with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment;

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

Whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption:

For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein will be burned up.

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: