Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers;

the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity.

Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed.

But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.

I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day

For this, I was appointed as a proclaimer, an apostle, and a teacher.

You therefore must share in hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God's word is not chained.

Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith.

But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.

Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.

I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you;

For the overseer must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

but given to hospitality, as a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled;

yet for love's sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.

no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.

as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have.

As a cloak, you will roll them up, and like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will have no end."

who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house.

For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.

Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,

but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope.

Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,

as I swore in my wrath, 'They will not enter into my rest.'"

but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called "today;" lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

while it is said, "Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion."

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard did not profit them, because they were not united by faith with those who heard.

For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

he again defines a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said), "Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.

Because of this, he must offer sacrifices for sins for the people, as well as for himself.

As he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."

For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil;

where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Inasmuch as he was not made priest without the taking of an oath

For the Law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the Law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.

who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, "See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain."

But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as Law.

But Christ having come as a high priest of the good things that have come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own,

Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.

By faith, he lived as a foreigner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.

and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, "My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart when you are reproved by him;

It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

For they indeed, for a few days, disciplined us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

This phrase, "Yet once more," signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.

Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.

Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.

But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.

But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness;" and he was called the friend of God.

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

You lust, and do not have. You kill, covet, and cannot obtain. You fight and make war. You do not have, because you do not ask.

You ask, and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

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

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:

but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, namely Christ;

as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby to salvation,

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.

Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

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.

Subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme;

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

as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.

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 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:

Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;

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.

As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.

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.

For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men's matters.

Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.

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.

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, as God wants; not for dishonest gain, but willingly;

neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.

Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

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

knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts: