You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

Whereas you do not know what tomorrow will be like. What is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

Do not grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won't be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

But above all things, my brothers, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your "yes" be "yes," and your "no," "no;" so that you do not fall under judgment.

and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerfully effective.

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy became our father again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been been grieved by various trials,

that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ?

To them it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, they ministered these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be sober and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ?

but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;

because it is written, "You shall be holy; for I am holy."

who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.

You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Because it is contained in Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be put to shame."

having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.

or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.

For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked.

who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by his stripes you were healed.

In like manner, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; so that, even if any do not obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word;

Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing;

as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are, if you do well, and are not put in fear by any terror.

You husbands, in like manner, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman, as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint heirs of the grace of life; that your prayers may not be hindered.

Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, humble,

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear, neither be troubled."

But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with humility and fear:

having a good conscience; so that when they speak evil against you, they may be put to shame who slander your good manner of life in Christ.

who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by means of water.

For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.

But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.

Above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Beloved, do not be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.

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

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.

Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, towards one another; for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

To him be the power forever. Amen.

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.

Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue;

by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.

For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.

For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Therefore I will be ready always to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.

I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you;

Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.

For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.

Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to the lower parts of hell, and committed them to chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked

But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,

These are wells without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved.

For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who barely escape from those who live in error;

promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you;

that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles:

For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;

by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be disclosed.

Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,

looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without blemish and blameless in his sight.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

And we write these things, that our joy may be fulfilled.

Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour.

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.

Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

Behold, how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world does not know us, because it did not know him.

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. We know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.

Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

And by this we will know that we are of the truth, and persuade our heart before him,

He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments.

This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

for the truth's sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us forever:

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father.