And in their greed they will exploit you with false arguments and twisted doctrine. Their sentence [of condemnation which God has decreed] from a time long ago is not idle [but is still in force], and their destruction and deepening misery is not asleep [but is on its way].

For if God messengers who sinned did not spare, but with chains of thick gloom, having cast them down to Tartarus, did deliver them to judgment, having been reserved,

These, however, as unreasoning creatures that have been bred as being, by nature, for capture and destruction, in the things they are ignorant of, uttering defamation, in their spoiling, shall also be made a spoil, -

having eyes full of an adulteress, and unable to cease from sin; beguiling unestablished souls: having a heart which has been made fat with covetousness; children of the curse:

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

liberty to them promising, themselves being servants of the corruption, for by whom any one hath been overcome, to this one also he hath been brought to servitude,

for, if having escaped from the pollutions of the world, in the acknowledging of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and by these again being entangled, they have been overcome, become to them hath the last things worse than the first,

For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

They are an example of that true saying, The dog has gone back to the food it had put out, and the pig which had been washed to its rolling in the dirty earth.

Dear friends, this is now the second of two letters I am writing to you, in which I have been trying to stimulate your pure minds by reminding you

to remember the words which have been spoken hitherto by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour by your apostles:

and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For {ever since} the fathers fell asleep, all [things] have continued just as they have been from the beginning of creation."

For they wilfully ignore the fact that long ago there existed heavens and an earth which had been formed at God's command out of water and by water,

through which the then world, by water having been deluged, was destroyed;

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.

Therefore, dear friends, [because you] know [this] beforehand, guard yourselves so that you do not lose your own safe position [because you] have been led away by the error of lawless persons.

It is of what has been in existence from the Beginning, of what we have heard, of what we have seen with our eyes, of what we watched reverently and touched with our hands--it is about the Word who is the Life that we are now writing.

(and the life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us:)

but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him:

Beloved! no new commandment, am I writing unto you; but an old commandment, which ye have been holding from the beginning: The old commandment is the word which ye have heard.

I write to you, little children, because the sins have been forgiven you through his name;

I am writing to you, fathers [those believers who are spiritually mature], because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men [those believers who are growing in spiritual maturity], because you have been victorious and have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children [those who are new believers, those spiritually immature], because you have come to know the Father.

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and vigorous, and the word of God remains [always] in you, and you have been victorious over the evil one [by accepting Jesus as Savior].

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One [you have been set apart, specially gifted and prepared by the Holy Spirit], and all of you know [the truth because He teaches us, illuminates our minds, and guards us from error].

if ye know that he is righteous, know ye that every one doing the righteousness, of him hath been begotten.

Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

And ye know that he has been manifested that he might take away our sins; and in him sin is not.

He that practises sin is of the devil; for from the beginning the devil sins. To this end the Son of God has been manifested, that he might undo the works of the devil.

Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.

You are children of God, dear children, and you have been victorious over these men, for he who is in our hearts is greater than he who is in the world.

Beloved, let us love one another; because love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.

Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

God no one hath ever seen; if we may love one another, God in us doth remain, and His love is having been perfected in us;

Herein has love been perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that even as he is, we also are in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has torment, and he that fears has not been made perfect in love.

Every one who is believing that Jesus is the Christ, of God he hath been begotten, and every one who is loving Him who did beget, doth love also him who is begotten of Him:

For all that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world; and this is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith.

We know that every one begotten of God does not sin, but he that has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

I was greatly delighted to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father.

Watch yourselves; you must not lose what you have been working for, but gain a full reward.

to Demetrius testimony hath been given by all, and by the truth itself, and we also -- we do testify, and ye have known that our testimony is true.

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:

Beloved, using all diligence to write to you of our common salvation, I have been obliged to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.

for there did come in unobserved certain men, long ago having been written beforehand to this judgment, impious, the grace of our God perverting to lasciviousness, and our only Master, God, and Lord -- Jesus Christ -- denying,

Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all) that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe.

and that even those angels, who did not keep to their appointed spheres, but left their proper homes, have been kept by him for the judgment of the Great Day in everlasting chains and black darkness.

as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner to these, having given themselves to whoredom, and gone after other flesh, have been set before -- an example, of fire age-during, justice suffering.

Woe unto them! because they have gone off in the way of Cain, and in the delusion of Balaam they have been seduced by reward, and they perished in the gainsaying of Korah.

These people are like rotten spots [contaminating the food] at your love feasts, while they gorge themselves without fear [i.e., unashamed of their selfish indulgence]. [Note: This passage may mean "like selfish shepherds, looking out only for themselves, they eat the grain set out for the animals"]. They are like clouds that blow over without producing rain; [they are like] trees in the fall that do not produce any fruit and have been uprooted, [thus] being dead twice [i.e., fruitless and rootless].

Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved forever.

But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

But save others with fear, snatching them out of the fire; hating even the garment having been stained from the flesh.

Blessed is the one reading, and those hearing the word of the prophecy, and keeping the things which have been written in it: for the time is at hand.

I was in the spirit on a Sunday, and heard behind me a great voice, as it had been of a trumpet,

and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.

"I know what you've been doing, your toil, and your endurance. I also know that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not, and have found them to be false.

and thou didst bear, and hast endurance, and because of my name hast toiled, and hast not been weary.

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some [among you] who are holding to the [corrupt] teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, [enticing them] to eat things that had been sacrificed to idols and to commit [acts of sexual] immorality.

Let the one having ears hear what the Spirit says to the churches; unto the one conquering will I give to him of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone my new name having been written, which no one knows but the one receiving it.

"I know what you've been doing your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance and that your last actions are greater than the first.

Yet I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and by her teaching leads astray My servants, so that they commit fornication and eat what has been sacrificed to idols.

Her children too shall surely die; and all the Churches shall come to know that I am He who searches into men's inmost thoughts; and to each of you I will give a requital which shall be in accordance with what your conduct has been.

but I say to the rest that are in Thyatira, who do not follow this doctrine, and have not been initiated in the depths, as they are called, of satan, I will put upon you no other burden, but what you have:

"I know what you've been doing. You are known for being alive, but you are dead. Be alert, and strengthen the things that are left, which are about to die. I note that your actions are incomplete before my God.

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 know thy works; - that neither, cold, art thou, nor hot: I would that, cold, thou hadst been, or hot.

I counsel you to buy from me gold which has been purified by the fire, in order that you may be rich; and white garments, in order that you may be clothed, and the shame of your nakedness may not be exposed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.

I will permit him who is victorious to take his seat beside me on my throne, just as I have been victorious and taken my seat beside my Father on his throne.

Immediately, I was in [i.e., under the influence of] the Holy Spirit [See 1:10], and there before me was situated a throne in heaven, with Someone sitting on it [Note: From the following description, this appears to have been God].

Thou art worthy, O our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy will they were, and they have been created.

And I saw upon the right hand of the one sitting upon the throne a book having been written within and without, having been sealed with seven seals.

And I wept much because no one had been found worthy to open the book nor to regard it.

Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop crying. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has been victorious so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.”

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

And they sing a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open its seals; because thou hast been slain, and hast redeemed to God, by thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,

saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might and honor, and glory, and blessing.

Then I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow, and a victor's crown had been given to him. He went out as a conqueror to conquer.

And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

Then they were each given a white robe; and they were told to rest and wait quietly for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed.

And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it had been given to hurt the earth and the sea,

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousands, having been sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.

Out of the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand had been sealed.

Out of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand had been sealed.

Out of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand had been sealed.

Out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand had been sealed. Out of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand had been sealed.

And answer did one of the elders, saying to me, 'These, who have been arrayed with the white robes -- who are they, and whence came they?'

And I said to him, My lord, you have knowledge. And he said to me, These are they who came through the great testing, and their robes have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.

And the similitude of the locusts was like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns, like unto gold: and their faces were as it had been the faces of men.

saying to the sixth angel, the one who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates!"

And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men.

The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood -- idols that cannot see or hear or walk about.

and he called out in a loud voice, like a roaring lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders responded to the voice [of the angel]. [Note: These "seven thunders" have not been previously mentioned].

but, in the days of the sounding of the seventh messenger, as soon as he is about to blow his trumpet, then shall have been completed the sacred secret of God as he told the good-news unto his own servants the prophets.

And the voice that I heard out of the heaven is again speaking with me, and saying, 'Go, take the little scroll that is open in the hand of the messenger who hath been standing upon the sea, and upon the land:'

And the court which is without the temple leave without, and measure it not; for it hath been given unto the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

And those [non-believers] who live on the earth will gloat over them and rejoice; and they will send gifts [in celebration] to one another, because these two prophets tormented and troubled those who live on the earth.

And the nations have been full of wrath, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give the recompense to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who fear thy name, small and great; and to destroy those that destroy the earth.

and having a babe in womb, she cries, being in travail, having been distressed to bear.