It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you in regard to the things that have now been announced to you by those who brought you the good news through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things that even the angels desire to look into.

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep a clear head, and set your hope completely on the grace to be given you when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed.

As obedient children, do not be shaped by the desires that used to influence you when you were ignorant.

Instead, be holy in every aspect of your life, just as the one who called you is holy.

For it is written, "You must be holy, because I am holy."

For you know that it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you have been ransomed from the worthless way of life handed down to you by your ancestors,

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.

For you have been born again, not by a seed that perishes but by one that cannot perish by the living and everlasting word of God.

Like newborn babies, thirst for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in your salvation.

As you come to him, the living stone who was rejected by people but was chosen and precious in God's sight,

This is why it says in Scripture: "Look! I am laying a chosen, precious cornerstone in Zion. The one who believes in him will never be ashamed."

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

Live like free people, and do not use your freedom as an excuse for doing evil. Instead, be God's servants.

For it is a fine thing if, when moved by your conscience to please God, you suffer patiently when wronged.

"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the tree, so that we might die to those sins and live righteously. "By his wounds you have been healed."

In a similar way, you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands so that, even if some of them refuse to obey the word, they may be won over without a word through your conduct as wives

Your beauty should not be an external one, consisting of braided hair or the wearing of gold ornaments and dresses.

Instead, it should be the inner disposition of the heart, consisting in the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which God values greatly.

just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters by doing good and by not letting anything terrify you.

Finally, all of you must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love as brothers, and be compassionate and humble.

Do not pay others back evil for evil or insult for insult. Instead, keep blessing them, because you were called to inherit a blessing.

But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. "Never be afraid of their threats, and never get upset.

Instead, exalt the Messiah" as Lord in your lives. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have.

But do this gently and respectfully, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in the Messiah will be ashamed of slandering you.

For the Messiah also suffered for sins once for all, an innocent person for the guilty, so that he could bring you to God. He was put to death in a mortal body but was brought to life by the Spirit,

who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently while the ark was being built. In it a few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water.

Baptism, which is symbolized by that water, now saves you also, not by removing dirt from the body, but by asking God for a clear conscience based on the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah,

so that he can live the rest of his mortal life guided, not by human desires, but by the will of God.

Indeed, this is why the gospel was proclaimed even to those who have died, so that they could be judged in their mortal flesh like all humans and live in the spiritual realm like God.

Because everything will soon come to an end, be sensible and clear-headed, so you can pray.

Whoever speaks must speak God's words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength that God supplies, so that in every way God may be glorified through Jesus, the Messiah. Glory and power belong to him forever and ever! Amen.

Dear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Instead, because you are participating in the sufferings of the Messiah, keep on rejoicing, so that you may be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.

For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who refuse to obey the gospel of God?

"If it is hard for the righteous person to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and sinful person?"

Therefore, as a fellow elder, a witness of the Messiah's sufferings, and one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you:

Be shepherds of God's flock that is among you, watching over it, not because you must but because you want to, and not greedily but eagerly, as God desires.

Do not lord it over the people entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock.

Be clear-minded and alert. Your opponent, the Devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Resist him and be firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you by the Messiah Jesus to his eternal glory, will restore you, establish you, strengthen you, and support you.

Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is to be the true grace of God in which you are to stand firm!

Greet one another with a loving kiss. Peace be to all of you who are in the Messiah!

May grace and peace be yours in abundance through full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.

Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.

So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, for if you keep on doing this you will never fail.

For in this way you will be generously granted entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.

Therefore we regard the message of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp that is shining in a gloomy place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

because no prophecy ever originated through a human decision. Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Now there were false prophets among the people, just as there also will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.

Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned.

and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them by burning them to ashes, making them an example to ungodly people of what is going to happen to them;

and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was greatly distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people

for as long as that righteous man lived among them, day after day he was being tortured in his righteous soul by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions

especially those who satisfy their flesh by indulging in its passions and who despise authority.

These people, like irrational animals, are mere creatures of instinct that are born to be caught and killed. They insult what they don't understand, and like animals they, too, will be destroyed,

These men are dried-up springs, mere clouds driven by a storm. Gloomy darkness is reserved for them.

By talking high-sounding nonsense and using sinful cravings of the flesh, they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error.

For if, after escaping the world's corruptions through a full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah, they are again entangled and conquered by those corruptions, then their last condition is worse than their former one.

Dear friends, this is now the second of two letters I am writing to you, in which I have been trying to stimulate your pure minds by reminding you

to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the commandment of our Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles.

by saying, "What happened to the Messiah's promise to return? Ever since our ancestors died, everything continues as it did from the beginning of creation."

But they deliberately ignore the fact that long ago the heavens existed and the earth was formed by God's word out of water and with water,

by which the world at that time was deluged with water and destroyed.

Now by that same word, the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire and are being kept for the day when ungodly people will be judged and destroyed.

But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will disappear with a roaring sound, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be exposed.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, think of the kind of holy and godly people you ought to be

as you look forward to and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved and the elements will melt with fire.

And so, dear friends, since you already know these things, continuously be on your guard not to be carried away by the deception of lawless people. Otherwise, you may fall from your secure position.

We are writing these things so that our joy may be full.

This is how we can be sure that we have come to know him: if we continually keep his commandments.

But whoever continually keeps his commandments is the kind of person in whom God's love has truly been perfected. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God:

Since you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by God.

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

Do not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because what he was doing was evil and his brother's actions were righteous.

So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

Whoever has earthly possessions and notices a brother in need and yet withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God be present in him?

Little children, we must stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love also in action and in truth.

This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to keep ourselves strong in his presence.

The person who keeps his commandments abides in God, and God abides in him. This is how we can be sure that he remains in us: he has given us his Spirit.

This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

This man, Jesus the Messiah, is the one who came by water and blood not with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth.

The person who believes in the Son of God believes this testimony personally. The person who does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that he has given about his Son.

And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.

that is present in us and will be with us forever.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus the Messiah, the Father's Son, in truth and love.

And this is what demonstrates love: that we live according to God's commandments. Just as you have heard from the beginning what he commanded, you must live by it.

Although I have a great deal to write to you, I would prefer not to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

I wrote a letter to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be in charge, will not recognize our authority.

May peace be with you! Your friends greet you. Greet each of our friends by name.

From: Jude, a servant of Jesus the Messiah, and yet a brother of James. To: Those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept safe by Jesus, the Messiah.

May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance!

Whatever these people do not understand, they slander. Like irrational animals, they are destroyed by the very things they know by instinct.

11How terrible it will be for them! For they lived like Cain did , rushed headlong into Balaam's error to make a profit, and destroyed themselves, as happened in Korah's rebellion.

These people are stains on your love feasts. They feast with you without any sense of awe. They are shepherds who care only for themselves. They are waterless clouds blown about by the winds. They are autumn trees that are fruitless, totally dead, and uprooted.

They kept telling you, "In the last times there will be mockers, following their own ungodly desires."