For Christ did not give pleasure to himself, but, as it is said, The bitter words of those who were angry with you came on me.

And so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercy; as it is said, For this reason I will give praise to you among the Gentiles, and I will make a song to your name.

But as it is said in the holy Writings, They will see, to whom the news of him had not been given, and those to whose ears it had not come will have knowledge.

For such people are not servants of the Lord Christ, but of their stomachs; and by their smooth and well-said words the hearts of those who have no knowledge of evil are tricked.

As it says in the holy Writings, I will put an end to the wisdom of the wise, and will put on one side the designs of those who have knowledge.

So that, as it is said in the holy Writings, Whoever has a desire for glory, let his glory be in the Lord.

For the wisdom of this world is foolish before God. As it is said in the holy Writings, He who takes the wise in their secret designs:

When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now.

It is said, in fact, that there is among you a sin of the flesh, such as is not seen even among the Gentiles, that one of you has his father's wife.

In my letter I said to you that you were not to keep company with those who go after the desires of the flesh;

Or do you not see that he who is joined to a loose woman is one body with her? for God has said, The two of them will become one flesh.

Or has he us in mind? Yes, it was said for us; because it is right for the ploughman to do his ploughing in hope, and for him who is crushing the grain to do his work hoping for a part in the fruits of it.

Then do not go after false gods, as some of them did; as it is said in the holy Writings, After resting and feasting, the people got up to take their pleasure.

But if anyone says to you, This food has been used as an offering, do not take it, on account of him who said it, and on account of his sense of right and wrong:

And when it had been broken with an act of praise, he said, This is my body which is for you: do this in memory of me.

In the same way, with the cup, after the meal, he said, This cup is the new testament in my blood: do this, whenever you take it, in memory of me.

In the law it is said, By men of other tongues and by strange lips will my words come to this people; and not even so will they give ear to me, says the Lord.

For, as it says, He has put all things under his feet. But when he says, All things are put under him, it is clear that it is not said about him who put all things under him.

Foolish man, it is necessary for the seed which you put into the earth to undergo death in order that it may come to life again:

And when you put it into the earth, you do not put in the body which it will be, but only the seed, of grain or some other sort of plant;

But God gives it a body, as it is pleasing to him, and to every seed its special body.

And so it is said, The first man Adam was a living soul. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit.

But when this has taken place, then that which was said in the Writings will come true, Death is overcome by life.

For if I give you sorrow, who then will make me glad, but he who is made sad by me?

And I said this very thing in my letter, for fear that when I came I might have sorrow from those from whom it was right for me to have joy; being certain of this, that my joy is the joy of you all.

For we are a sweet perfume of Christ to God in those who are getting salvation and in those who are going to destruction;

For we are not like the great number who make use of the word of God for profit: but our words are true, as from God, being said as before God in Christ.

Seeing that it is God who said, Let light be shining out of the dark, who has put in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Troubles are round us on every side, but we are not shut in; things are hard for us, but we see a way out of them;

But having the same spirit of faith, as it is said in the Writings, The words of my mouth came from the faith in my heart; in the same way, our words are the outcome of our faith;

And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

It is not with the purpose of judging you that I say this: for I have said before that you are in our hearts for life and death together.

For even when we had come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; there were fightings outside and fears inside.

For I was not put to shame in anything in which I may have made clear to him my pride in you; but as we said nothing to you but what was true, so the good things which I said to Titus about you were seen by him to be true.

Make clear then to them, as representatives of the churches, the quality of your love, and that the things which we have said about you are true.

But I have sent the brothers, so that the good things we said about you may be seen to be true, and that, as I said, you may be ready:

As it is said in the Writings, He has sent out far and wide, he has given to the poor; his righteousness is for ever.

And he who gives seed for putting into the field and bread for food, will take care of the growth of your seed, at the same time increasing the fruits of your righteousness;

Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they of Israel? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

How he was taken up into Paradise, and words came to his ears which may not be said, and which man is not able to say.

And he said to me, My grace is enough for you, for my power is made complete in what is feeble. Most gladly, then, will I take pride in my feeble body, so that the power of Christ may be on me.

I said before, and still say it before I come, as being present for the second time, though I am still away from you, to those who have done wrong before, and to all the others, that if I come again I will not have pity;

As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man is a preacher to you of any good news other than that which has been given to you, let there be a curse on him.

But when I saw that they were not living uprightly in agreement with the true words of the good news, I said to Cephas before them all, If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, how will you make the Gentiles do the same as the Jews?

For all who are of the works of the law are under a curse: because it is said in the Writings, A curse is on everyone who does not keep on doing all the things which are ordered in the book of the law.

Christ has made us free from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: because it is said in the Writings, A curse on everyone who is put to death by hanging on a tree:

Brothers, as men would say, even a man's agreement, when it has been made certain, may not be put on one side, or have additions made to it.

Now to Abraham were the undertakings given, and to his seed. He says not, And to seeds, as of a great number; but as of one, he says, And to your seed, which is Christ.

What then is the law? It was an addition made because of sin, till the coming of the seed to whom the undertaking had been given; and it was ordered through angels by the hand of a go-between.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.

Be not tricked; God is not made sport of: for whatever seed a man puts in, that will he get back as grain.

Because he who puts in the seed of the flesh will of the flesh get the reward of death; but he who puts in the seed of the Spirit will of the Spirit get the reward of eternal life.

How by revelation the secret was made clear to me, as I said before in a short letter,

And be living in love, even as Christ had love for you, and gave himself up for us, an offering to God for a perfume of a sweet smell.

And let there be no low behaviour, or foolish talk, or words said in sport, which are not right, but in place of them the giving of praise.

I have all things and more than enough: I am made full, having had from Epaphroditus the things which came from you, a perfume of a sweet smell, an offering well pleasing to God.

And when we were with you, we said to you that trouble was before us; and so it came about, as you see.

And that no man may make attempts to get the better of his brother in business: for the Lord is the judge in all these things, as we said to you before and gave witness.

Who puts himself against all authority, lifting himself up over all which is named God or is given worship; so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, putting himself forward as God.

Have you no memory of what I said when I was with you, giving you word of these things?

And if any man does not give attention to what we have said in this letter, take note of that man, and keep away from him, so that he may be shamed.

Though I had said violent words against God, and done cruel acts, causing great trouble: but I was given mercy, because I did it without knowledge, not having faith;

And he is to have a good name among those outside the church, so that nothing may be said against him and he may not be taken by the designs of the Evil One.

Give orders to this effect, so that no evil may be said of anyone.

I give you orders before God and Christ Jesus and the angels of God's selection, to keep these orders without giving thought to one side more than another.

Let all who are servants under the yoke give all honour to their masters, so that no evil may be said against the name of God and his teaching.

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.

Keep in mind Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, who came back from the dead, as my good news gives witness:

But the Lord was by my side and gave me strength; so that through me the news might be given out in full measure, and all the Gentiles might give ear: and I was taken out of the mouth of the lion.

I did not take you with me when I went away from Crete, so that you might do what was necessary to put things in order there, placing men in authority over the churches in every town, as I said to you;

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.

One of their prophets has said, The men of Crete are ever false, evil beasts, lovers of food, hating work.

To be wise in mind, clean in heart, kind; working in their houses, living under the authority of their husbands; so that no evil may be said of the word of God.

Saying true and right words, against which no protest may be made, so that he who is not on our side may be put to shame, unable to say any evil of us.

Who, being the outshining of his glory, the true image of his substance, supporting all things by the word of his power, having given himself as an offering making clean from sins, took his seat at the right hand of God in heaven;

But of the Son he says, Your seat of power, O God, is for ever and ever; and the rod of your kingdom is a rod of righteousness.

But of which of the angels has he said at any time, Take your seat at my right hand till I put all those who are against you under your feet?

For, truly, he does not take on the life of angels, but that of the seed of Abraham.

And Moses certainly kept faith as a servant, in all his house, and as a witness of those things which were to be said later;

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;

As it is said, Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart, as when you made him angry.

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.

For in one place he has said of the seventh day, And God had rest from all his works on the seventh day;

After a long time, again naming a certain day, he says in David, Today (as he had said before), Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart,

For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have said anything about another day.

Then let us come near to the seat of grace without fear, so that mercy may be given to us, and we may get grace for our help in time of need.

In the same way Christ did not take for himself the glory of being made a high priest, but was given it by him who said, You are my Son, this day I have given you being:

For he of whom these things are said comes of another tribe, of which no man has ever made offerings at the altar.

Because it is clear that our Lord comes out of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe.

So the law which went before is put on one side, because it was feeble and without profit.

Now of the things we are saying this is the chief point: We have such a high priest, who has taken his place at the right hand of God's high seat of glory in heaven,

Being servants of that which is a copy and an image of the things in heaven, as Moses, when he was about to make the Tent, had special orders from God: for, See, he said, that you make everything like the design which you saw in the mountain.

And over it were the winged ones of glory with their wings covering the mercy-seat; about which it is not possible now to say anything in detail.

Then I said, See, I have come to do your pleasure, O God (as it is said of me in the roll of the book).

Then he said, See, I have come to do your pleasure. He took away the old order, so that he might put the new order in its place.

And the Holy Spirit is a witness for us: for after he had said,

This is the agreement which I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws in their hearts, writing them in their minds; he said,

By faith Abraham did as God said when he was ordered to go out into a place which was to be given to him as a heritage, and went out without knowledge of where he was going.

Of whom it had been said, From Isaac will your seed take their name:

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, said that the children of Israel would go out of Egypt; and gave orders about his bones.