not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom is with some; but encouraging one another, and by so much the more as ye see the day drawing near.

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense.

For ye have need of endurance in order that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

For yet a very little while he that comes will come, and will not delay.

But the just shall live by faith; and, if he draw back, my soul does not take pleasure in him.

But we are not drawers back to perdition, but of faith to saving the soul.

Now faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that that which is seen should not take its origin from things which appear.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he has the testimony that he had pleased God.

By faith, Noah, oracularly warned concerning things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

By faith Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out into the place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and went out, not knowing where he was going.

All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar off and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth.

but now they seek a better, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city.

By faith Moses, being born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw the child beautiful; and they did not fear the injunction of the king.

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he persevered, as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith he celebrated the passover and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with the unbelieving, having received the spies in peace.

Women received their dead again by resurrection; and others were tortured, not having accepted deliverance, that they might get a better resurrection;

(of whom the world was not worthy,) wandering in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caverns of the earth.

And these all, having obtained witness through faith, did not receive the promise,

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

For consider well him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself, that ye be not weary, fainting in your minds.

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, wrestling against sin.

And ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by him;

Ye endure for chastening, God conducts himself towards you as towards sons; for who is the son that the father chastens not?

But if ye are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Moreover we have had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners, and we reverenced them; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned aside; but that rather it may be healed.

For ye have not come to the mount that might be touched and was all on fire, and to obscurity, and darkness, and tempest,

(for they were not able to bear what was enjoined: And if a beast should touch the mountain, it shall be stoned;

See that ye refuse not him that speaks. For if those did not escape who had refused him who uttered the oracles on earth, much more we who turn away from him who does so from heaven:

whose voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, saying, Yet once will I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

But this Yet once, signifies the removing of what is shaken, as being made, that what is not shaken may remain.

Wherefore let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken, have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear.

Be not forgetful of hospitality; for by it some have unawares entertained angels.

Let your conversation be without love of money, satisfied with your present circumstances; for he has said, I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee.

So that, taking courage, we may say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid: what will man do unto me?

Be not carried away with various and strange doctrines; for it is good that the heart be confirmed with grace, not meats; those who have walked in which have not been profited by them.

for we have not here an abiding city, but we seek the coming one.

But of doing good and communicating of your substance be not forgetful, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Obey your leaders, and be submissive; for they watch over your souls as those that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.

But if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and reproaches not, and it shall be given to him:

for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord;

Do not err, my beloved brethren.

for man's wrath does not work God's righteousness.

But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves.

For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror:

But he that fixes his view on the perfect law, that of liberty, and abides in it, being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, he shall be blessed in his doing.

If any one think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man's religion is vain.

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

have ye not made a difference among yourselves, and become judges having evil thoughts?

Hear, my beloved brethren: Has not God chosen the poor as to the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to them that love him?

But ye have despised the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and do not they drag you before the tribunals?

And do not they blaspheme the excellent name which has been called upon you?

For he who said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, said also, Thou shalt not kill. Now if thou dost not commit adultery, but killest, thou art become transgressor of the law.

What is the profit, my brethren, if any one say he have faith, but have not works? can faith save him?

and one from amongst you say to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled; but give not to them the needful things for the body, what is the profit?

So also faith, if it have not works, is dead by itself.

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

Ye see that a man is justified on the principle of works, and not on the principle of faith only.

But was not in like manner also Rahab the harlot justified on the principle of works, when she had received the messengers and put them forth by another way?

Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive greater judgment.

For we all often offend. If any one offend not in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body too.

Out of the same mouth goes forth blessing and cursing. It is not right, my brethren, that these things should be thus.

but if ye have bitter emulation and strife in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

This is not the wisdom which comes down from above, but earthly, natural, devilish.

Whence come wars and whence fightings among you? Is it not thence, from your pleasures, which war in your members?

Ye lust and have not: ye kill and are full of envy, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war; ye have not because ye ask not.

Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask evilly, that ye may consume it in your pleasures.

Adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore is minded to be the friend of the world is constituted enemy of God.

Speak not against one another, brethren. He that speaks against his brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if thou judgest the law, thou art not doer of the law, but judge.

ye who do not know what will be on the morrow, (for what is your life? It is even a vapour, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing,)

To him therefore who knows how to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.

ye have condemned, ye have killed the just; he does not resist you.

Complain not one against another, brethren, that ye be not judged. Behold, the judge stands before the door.

But before all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, that ye do not fall under judgment.

Elias was a man of like passions to us, and he prayed with prayer that it should not rain; and it did not rain upon the earth three years and six months;

whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom though not now looking, but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory,

To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those things, which have now been announced to you by those who have declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, which angels desire to look into.

as children of obedience, not conformed to your former lusts in your ignorance;

knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from your fathers,

being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the living and abiding word of God.

Because it is contained in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be put to shame.

who once were not a people, but now God's people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy.

as free, and not as having liberty as a cloak of malice, but as God's bondmen.

Servants, be subject with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the ill-tempered.

who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not; but gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously;

whose adorning let it not be that outward one of tressing of hair, and wearing gold, or putting on apparel;

as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose children ye have become, doing good, and not fearing with any kind of consternation.

Ye husbands likewise, dwell with them according to knowledge, as with a weaker, even the female, vessel, giving them honour, as also fellow-heirs 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 others, because ye have been called to this, that ye should inherit blessing.

But if also ye should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are ye; but be not afraid of their fear, neither be troubled;

which figure also now saves you, even baptism, not a putting away of the filth of flesh, but the demand as before God of a good conscience, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same sink of corruption, speaking injuriously of you;

Beloved, take not as strange the fire of persecution which has taken place amongst you for your trial, as if a strange thing was happening to you;

but if as a christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name.

For the time of having the judgment begin from the house of God is come; but if first from us, what shall be the end of those who obey not the glad tidings of God?

shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising oversight, not by necessity, but willingly; not for base gain, but readily;

not as lording it over your possessions, but being models for the flock.

for he with whom these things are not present is blind, short-sighted, and has forgotten the purging of his former sins.