By talking arrogant futilities they beguile with the sensual lure of fleshly passion those who are just escaping from the company of misconduct ??19 promising them freedom, when they are themselves enslaved to corruption (for a man is the slave of whatever overpowers him).

Better had they never known the Way of righteousness, than to know it and then turn back from the holy command which was committed to them.

to have you recollect the words spoken by the holy prophets beforehand and the command given by your apostles from the Lord and saviour.

asking, "Where is His promised advent? Since the day our fathers fell asleep, things remain exactly as they were from the beginning of creation."

It is of what existed from the very beginning, of what we heard, of what we saw, of what we witnessed and touched with our own hands, it is of the Logos of Life

Here is the message we learned from him and announce to you: 'God is light and in him there is no darkness, none.'

but if we live and move within the light, as he is within the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin.

if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, he forgives our sins and cleanses us from all iniquity;

Beloved, I am not writing you any new command, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning: the old command is the word you have heard.

fathers, I am writing to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I am writing to you, because you have conquered the evil One. Children, I have written to you, because you know the Father:

fathers, I have written to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I have written to you, because you are strong, and the word of God remains within you, and you have conquered the evil One.

They withdrew from us, but they did not belong to us; had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us, but they withdrew to make it plain that they are none of us.

Let that remain in you which you learned from the very beginning; if what you learned from the very beginning remains with you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

but the unction you received from him remains within you, and you really need no teaching from anyone; simply remain in him, for his unction teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie ??remain in him, as it has taught you to do.

Remain within him now, my dear children, so that when he appears we may have confidence, instead of shrinking from him in shame at his arrival.

he who commits sin belongs to the devil, for the devil is a sinner from the very beginning. (This is why the Son of God appeared, to destroy the deeds of the devil.)

For this is the message you have learned from the very beginning, that we are to love one another:

We know we have crossed from death to life, because we love the brotherhood; he who has no love [for his brother] remains in death.

and we get from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see if they come from God; for many false prophets have emerged in the world.

You can recognize the Spirit of God by this: every spirit which confesses Jesus as the Christ incarnate comes from God,

and every spirit which does not confess Jesus [incarnate] does not come from God. This latter is the spirit of antichrist; you were told it was coming, and here it is already in the world.

And we get this command from him, that he who loves God is to love his brother as well.

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

And now I entreat you, Lady ??not as though I were writing you any new command, it is the command which we have had from the very beginning ??let us love one another.

To live by his commands, that is what love means: and the command is, live in love as you have learned to do from the very beginning.

they have started out for his sake and declined to take anything from pagans;

So when I come, I shall bring up what he is doing, babbling against me with wicked words ??and, not satisfied with words, he refuses to welcome the brothers, checks those who want to welcome them, and excommunicates them from the church.

It was of these, too, that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, when he said, Behold the Lord comes with myriads of his holy ones,

Snatch some from the fire, and have mercy on the waverers,

Now to him who is able to keep you from slipping and to make you stand unblemished and exultant before his glory ??25 to the only God, our saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for all time: Amen.

John to the seven churches in Asia: grace be to you and peace from HE WHO IS AND WAS AND IS COMING, and from the seven Spirits before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, and the prince over the kings of earth; to him who loves us and has loosed us from our sins by shedding his blood ??6 he has made us a realm of priests for his God and Father, ??to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever: Amen.

in his right hand he held seven stars, a sharp sword with a double edge issued from his mouth, and his face shone like the sun in full strength.

Now, remember the height from which you have fallen; repent and act as you did at first. If not, I will come to you [very soon] and remove your lamp stand, unless you repent.

Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches: 'The conqueror I will allow to eat from the tree of Life which is within the paradise of God.'

'And the conqueror, he who till the end lays to heart what I enjoin, I will give him authority over the nations ??27 aye, he will shepherd them with an iron flail, shattering them like a potter's jars ??as I myself have received authority from my Father;

'The conqueror shall be clad in white raiment; I will never erase his name from the book of Life, but will own him openly before my Father and before his angels.'

I am coming very soon: hold to what you have, in case your crown is taken from you.

'As for the conqueror, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God (nevermore shall he leave it), and I will inscribe on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God), and my own new name.'

I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, white raiment to clothe you and prevent the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to rub on your eyes, that you may see.

From the throne issue flashes of lightning and loud blasts and peals of thunder. And in front of the throne seven torches of fire burn (they are the seven Spirits of God);

singing a new song: "Thou deservest to take the scroll and open its seals, for thou wast slain and by shedding thy blood hast ransomed for God men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation;

And away went another red horse; its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other; he was given a huge sword.

and they cried aloud, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long wilt thou refrain from charging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on earth?"

calling to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb;

After that I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds from blowing on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

And I saw another angel rise up from the east, with the seal of the living God; he shouted aloud to the four angels who were allowed to injure the earth and sea,

And I heard what was the number of the sealed ??a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel,

twelve thousand sealed from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben,

[Relocated to follow vs 8] twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand sealed from the tribe of Manasseh.

twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad,

After that I looked, and there was a great host whom no one could count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clad in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands;

Then one of the Presbyters addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clad in white robes? where have they come from?"

for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, guiding them to fountains of living water; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of all the saints rose up from the angel's hand before God.

And the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and poured it on the earth; then followed peals of thunder, loud blasts, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The fourth angel blew; and a stroke fell on a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so as to darken one third of them, withdrawing light from a third of the day and likewise of the night.

The fifth angel blew, and I saw a Star which had dropped from heaven to earth; he was given the key of the pit of the abyss,

and he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke poured out of the pit, like the smoke of a huge furnace, till the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

In those days men will seek death, but they will not find it: they will long to die, but death flies from them.

Then the sixth angel blew; and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God,

And this is how the horses and their riders looked in my vision: they wore coats of mail red as fire, dark-blue as jacinth and yellow as smoke; the horses' heads were like lions' heads, and from their mouths poured fire and smoke and brimstone.

Then I saw another strong angel descend from heaven; he was clad in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, his face like the sun, his feet like columns of fire,

After the seven thunders had spoken, I was going to write it down; but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, do not write it."

Then the voice I had heard from heaven again talked to me, saying, "Go and take the small scroll which lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and the earth."

Then I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel and swallowed it; it did taste sweet, like honey, but when I had eaten it, it was bitter to digest.

whoever tries to harm them, fire will issue from their mouth and consume their enemies; whoever should try to harm them, so must he be killed."

But, when they have finished their testimony, the Beast that ascends from the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

For three days and a half men from all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations look at their corpses, refusing to let their corpses be buried;

But after three days and a half the breath of life from God entered them; they stood on their feet (terror fell on those who saw them)

and heard a loud voice from heaven telling them, "Come up here." So up to heaven they went in a cloud, before the eyes of their enemies.

but the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle for her flight to the desert, to her appointed place, where she is nourished for a Time, two Times, and half a Time, safe from the serpent.

Then from his mouth the serpent poured water after the woman like a river, to sweep her away with a flood;

and all the dwellers on earth will be his worshippers, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life.

Then I saw another Beast rising from the land; he had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.

He performs amazing miracles, even making fire descend from heaven on earth in the sight of men,

And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waves and the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like harpists playing on their harps;

they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living Creatures and the Presbyters, and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from earth.

They have not been defiled by intercourse with women ??they are celibates; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been ransomed from among men, as the first to be reaped for God and the Lamb.

the smoke of their torture rises for ever and ever, and they get no rest from it, day and night, these worshippers of the Beast and his statue, and all who are marked with his name."

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: ??'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth! Even so, it is the voice of the Spirit ??blessed in resting from their toils; for what they have done goes with them.'"

and another angel came from the altar ??he who has power over fire ??and called loudly to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Thrust your sharp sickle in, cull the clusters from the Vine of earth, for its grapes are fully ripe."

So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and culled the clusters from the Vine of earth, flinging the grapes into the great winepress of God's wrath;

And I saw what was like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and, standing beside the sea of glass, those who came off conquerors from the Beast and his statue and the cipher of his name; they had harps of God

and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his might, nor could anyone enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were over.

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on earth."

The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its waters were dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

Then I saw issuing from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the Beast and from the mouth of the false Prophet, three foul spirits like frogs ??14 demon-spirits performing miracles, who come out to muster the kings of the whole world for battle on the great Day of almighty God.

The seventh angel poured out his bowl in the air; then came a loud voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, crying, "All is over!"

and huge hailstones fell from heaven on men, till men blasphemed God for the plague of the hail ??for the plague of it was fearful.

The Beast you have seen was, is not, but is to rise from the abyss ??yet to perdition he shall go ??and the dwellers on earth will wonder (all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life), when they see that the Beast was, is not, but is coming.

After that I saw another angel descend from heaven, great in might; his radiance lit up the earth,

And I heard another voice from heaven crying, "Come out of her, O my people, that you share not her sins, that you partake not of her plagues:

The traders in these wares, who made rich profits from her, will stand far off for fear of her torture, weeping and wailing:

And a voice came from the throne, "Extol our God, all ye his servants, ye who reverence him, low and high!"

A sharp sword issues from his lips, wherewith to smite the nations; he will shepherd them with an iron flail, and trample the winepress of the passion of the anger of God almighty.

while the rest were killed by the sword of him who is seated on the horse, by the sword that issues from his lips. And all the birds were glutted with their flesh.

Then I saw an angel descend from heaven with the key of the abyss and a huge chain in his hand;