For this reason let those who by the purpose of God undergo punishment, keep on in well-doing and put their souls into the safe hands of their Maker.

And at the coming of the chief Keeper of the sheep, you will be given the eternal crown of glory.

And in the same way, let the younger men be ruled by the older ones. Let all of you put away pride and make yourselves ready to be servants: for God is a hater of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low.

For this cause make yourselves low under the strong hand of God, so that when the time comes you may be lifted up;

Be serious and keep watch; the Evil One, who is against you, goes about like a lion with open mouth in search of food;

Do not give way to him but be strong in your faith, in the knowledge that your brothers who are in the world undergo the same troubles.

His is the power for ever. So be it.

I have sent you this short letter by Silvanus, a true brother, in my opinion; comforting you and witnessing that this is the true grace of God; keep to it.

Give one another the kiss of love. Peace be to you all in Christ.

May grace and peace ever be increasing in you, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

Because by his power he has given us everything necessary for life and righteousness, through the knowledge of him who has been our guide by his glory and virtue;

And through this he has given us the hope of great rewards highly to be valued; so that by them we might have our part in God's being, and be made free from the destruction which is in the world through the desires of the flesh.

For so the way will be open to you into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

For this reason I will be ready at all times to keep your memory of these things awake, though you have the knowledge of them now and are well based in your present faith.

And it seems right to me, as long as I am in this tent of flesh, to keep your minds awake by working on your memory;

For when we gave you news of the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our teaching was not based on stories put together by art, but we were eye-witnesses of his glory.

Being conscious in the first place that no man by himself may give a special sense to the words of the prophets.

For these words did not ever come through the impulse of men: but the prophets had them from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.

For if God did not have pity for the angels who did evil, but sent them down into hell, to be kept in chains of eternal night till they were judged;

And sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, burning them up with fire as an example to those whose way of life might in the future be unpleasing to him;

And kept safe Lot, the upright man, who was deeply troubled by the unclean life of the evil-doers

(Because the soul of that upright man living among them was pained from day to day by seeing and hearing their crimes):

But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;

Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him.

So that you may keep in mind the words of the holy prophets in the past, and the law of the Lord and Saviour which was given to you by his Apostles.

Having first of all the knowledge that in the last days there will be men who, ruled by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things,

But in taking this view they put out of their minds the memory that in the old days there was a heaven, and an earth lifted out of the water and circled by water, by the word of God;

But the present heaven and the present earth have been kept for destruction by fire, which is waiting for them on the day of the judging and destruction of evil men.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; and in that day the heavens will be rolled up with a great noise, and the substance of the earth will be changed by violent heat, and the world and everything in it will be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things are coming to such an end, what sort of persons is it right for you to be, in all holy behaviour and righteousness,

Looking for and truly desiring the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will come to an end through fire, and the substance of the earth will be changed by the great heat?

But having faith in his word, we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth, which will be the resting-place of righteousness.

For this reason, my loved ones, as you are looking for these things, take great care that when he comes you may be in peace before him, free from sin and every evil thing.

And be certain that the long waiting of the Lord is for salvation; even as our brother Paul has said in his letters to you, from the wisdom which was given to him;

And as he said in all his letters, which had to do with these things; in which are some hard sayings, so that, like the rest of the holy Writings, they are twisted by those who are uncertain and without knowledge, to the destruction of their souls.

For this reason, my loved ones, having knowledge of these things before they take place, take care that you are not turned away by the error of the uncontrolled, so falling from your true faith.

But be increased in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May he have glory now and for ever. So be it.

(And the life was made clear to us, and we have seen it and are witnessing to it and giving you word of that eternal life which was with the Father and was seen by us);

We give you word of all we have seen and everything which has come to our ears, so that you may be united with us; and we are united with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ:

And we are writing these things to you so that our joy may be made complete.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may be without sin. And if any man is a sinner, we have a friend and helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright one:

And by this we may be certain that we have knowledge of him, if we keep his laws.

But in every man who keeps his word, the love of God is made complete. By this we may be certain that we are in him:

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you were given word that the Antichrist would come, so now a number of Antichrists have come to you; and by this we are certain that it is the last hour.

They went out from us but they were not of us; if they had been of us they would still be with us: but they went out from us so that it might be made clear that they were not of us.

But as for you, keep in your hearts the things which were made clear to you from the first. If you keep these things in your hearts you will be kept in the Father and the Son.

I am writing these things to you about those whose purpose is that you may be turned out of the true way.

My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.

Anyone who is a child of God does no sin, because he still has God's seed in him; he is not able to be a sinner, because God is his Father.

Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world has no love for you.

Anyone who has hate for his brother is a taker of life, and you may be certain that no taker of life has eternal life in him.

But if a man has this world's goods, and sees that his brother is in need, and keeps his heart shut against his brother, how is it possible for the love of God to be in him?

My little children, do not let our love be in word and in tongue, but let it be in act and in good faith.

In this way we may be certain that we are true, and may give our heart comfort before him,

By this you may have knowledge of the Spirit of God: every spirit which says that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God:

We are of God: he who has the knowledge of God gives ear to us; he who is not of God does not give ear to us. By this we may see which is the true spirit, and which is the spirit of error.

And this is love, not that we had love for God, but that he had love for us, and sent his Son to be an offering for our sins.

And we have seen and give witness that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

In this way love is made complete in us, so that we may be without fear on the day of judging, because as he is, so are we in this world.

Anything which comes from God is able to overcome the world: and the power by which we have overcome the world is our faith.

This is he who came by water and by blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only but by water and by blood.

If we take the witness of men to be true, the witness of God is greater: because this is the witness which God has given about his Son.

I have put these things in writing for you who have faith in the name of the Son of God, so that you may be certain that you have eternal life.

We are certain that one who is a child of God will do no sin, but the Son of God keeps him so that he is not touched by the Evil One.

Because of this true knowledge which is in us, and will be with us for ever:

May grace, mercy, and peace be with us from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in all true love.

It gave me great joy to see some of your children walking in the true way, even as we were ordered to do by the Father.

Having much to say to you, it is not my purpose to put it all down with paper and ink: but I am hoping to come to you, and to have talk with you face to face, so that your joy may be full.

My loved one, it is my prayer that you may do well in all things, and be healthy in body, even as your soul does well.

My loved one, do not be copying what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God: he who does evil has not seen God.

But I am hoping to see you in a short time, and to have talk with you face to face. May you have peace. Your friends here send you their love. Give my love to our friends by name.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those of God's selection who have been made holy by God the Father and are kept safe for Jesus Christ:

May mercy and peace and love be increased in you.

Now when Michael, one of the chief angels, was fighting against the Evil One for the body of Moses, fearing to make use of violent words against him, he only said, May the Lord be your judge.

A curse on them! They have gone in the way of Cain, running uncontrolled into the error of Balaam for reward, and have come to destruction by saying evil against the Lord, like Korah.

These men are unseen rocks at your love-feasts, when they take part in them with you, keepers of sheep who without fear take the food of the sheep; clouds without water rushing before the wind, wasted trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots,

To be the judge of all, and to give a decision against all those whose lives are unpleasing to him, because of the evil acts which they have done, and because of all the hard things which sinners without fear of God have said against him.

But you, my loved ones, keep in memory the words which were said before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

How they said to you, In the last days there will be men who, guided by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things.

And to some give salvation, pulling them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the clothing which is made unclean by the flesh.

To the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, let us give glory and honour and authority and power, before all time and now and for ever. So be it.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him so that his servants might have knowledge of the things which will quickly take place: and he sent and made it clear by his angel to his servant John;

A blessing be on the reader, and on those who give ear to the prophet's words, and keep the things which he has put in the book: for the time is near.

And from Jesus Christ, the true witness, the first to come back from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who had love for us and has made us clean from our sins by his blood;

And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to his God and Father; to him let glory and power be given for ever and ever. So be it.

See, he comes with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those by whom he was wounded; and all the tribes of the earth will be sorrowing because of him. Yes, so be it.

Put in writing, then, the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will be after these;

So keep in mind where you were at first, and be changed in heart and do the first works; or I will come to you, and will take away your light from its place, if your hearts are not changed.

Have no fear of the things which you will have to undergo: see, the Evil One will send some of you into prison, so that you may be put to the test; and you will have great trouble for ten days. Be true till death, and I will give you the crown of life.

But I have some things against you, because you have with you those who keep the teaching of Balaam, by whose suggestion Balak made the children of Israel go out of the right way, taking food which was offered to false gods, and going after the desires of the flesh.

And he will be ruling them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of the potter they will be broken, even as I have power from my Father:

And to the angel of the church in Sardis say: These things says he who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I have knowledge of your works, that you seem to be living but are dead.

Be on the watch, and make strong the rest of the things which are near to death; because as judged by me your works have not come up to God's measure.

Keep in mind, then, the teaching which was given to you, and be ruled by it and have a change of heart. If then you do not keep watch, I will come like a thief, and you will have no knowledge of the hour when I will come on you.

He who overcomes will be dressed in white, and I will not take his name from the book of life, and I will give witness to his name before my Father, and before his angels.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia say: These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, opening the door so that it may be shut by no one, and shutting it so that it may be open to no one.

I have knowledge of your works (see, I have put before you an open door which may be shut by no one), and that you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have been true to my name.

I have knowledge of your works, that you are not cold or warm: it would be better if you were cold or warm.