For the one who wants to love life
and to see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit,

And who will harm you if you are deeply committed to what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed,

but honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
that He might bring you to God,
after being put to death in the fleshly realm
but made alive in the spiritual realm.

in order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.

For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the pagans choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged by men in the fleshly realm, they might live by God in the spiritual realm.

Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer.

Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins.

If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s will; not for the money but eagerly;

Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge,

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.

For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, a voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory:

This is My beloved Son.
I take delight in Him!

For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment;

(for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—

suffering harm as the payment for unrighteousness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions as they feast with you.

They have eyes full of adultery and are always looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!

but received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s irrationality.

These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.

For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.

For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.

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

saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

But by the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

as you wait for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God. The heavens will be on fire and be dissolved because of it, and the elements will melt with the heat.

But based on His promise, we wait for the new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will dwell.

Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found at peace with Him without spot or blemish.

Also, regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world.

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works.

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another,

This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.

Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world.

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love.