How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the ever living God!

Indeed, to carry out the will of God and to receive the blessing He has promised, you need endurance, for:

For by it the men of old won God's approval.

By faith we understand that the worlds were created, beautifully coordinated, and now exist, at God's command; so the things that we see did not develop out of mere matter.

By faith Abel offered a sacrifice more acceptable to God than Cain did, for by it he was approved as an upright man, since God approved him for the offering he made; and by it he still continues to speak, though dead.

By faith Enoch was transplanted from earth, so that he did not experience dying; and he could not be found, because God had transplanted him from earth. For before he was transplanted from earth evidence was given him that he pleased God;

but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that there is a God and that He gives rewards to all who earnestly try to find Him.

By faith he made his temporary home in the land that God had promised him, although a land inhabited by others, living merely in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were to share the promise with him.

For he was confidently looking forward to that city with the solid foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

But in reality they were aspiring for a better country, I mean, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

For he considered the fact that God was able to raise people from the dead; and so from the dead, in a figure, he did receive him back.

because he preferred to suffer hardships with the people of God than to have the passing enjoyment that results from sin,

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who disobeyed God, because she had welcomed the scouts as friends.

Though all these people by their faith won God's approval, yet none of them received what He had promised,

for God had provided something still better for us, that they, apart from us might not attain perfection.

keeping our eyes on Jesus, the perfect leader and example of faith, who, instead of the joy which lay before Him, endured the cross with no regard for its shame, and since has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

You must submit to discipline. God is dealing with you as His sons. For who is the son that his father never disciplines?

For they disciplined us only a short time, as it seemed proper to them, but He does it for our good, in order that we may share His holy character.

Continue to look after one another, that no one fails to gain God's spiritual blessing; or some evil like a bitter root may spring up and trouble you, and many of you be contaminated by it --

For you know that, when later he wanted to get possession of the blessing, he was rejected, for he could find no opportunity to repent, although with tears he tried to get the blessing.

But you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless hosts of angels,

to the festal gathering and assembly of God's firstborn sons enrolled as citizens in heaven, to a Judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of upright men who have attained perfection,

Let us, therefore, be thankful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and in this way continue to serve God acceptably in reverence and fear;

for our God, indeed, is a consuming fire.

Marriage must be held in honor by all, and the marriage relations kept sacred. Persons who are sexually vicious and immoral God will punish.

You must have a turn of mind that is free from avarice; you must be content with what you have, for God Himself has said, "I will never fail you, I will never forsake you."

You must not forget your former leaders, for it was they who brought you the message of God. Consider how they closed their lives; imitate their faith.

You must stop being carried away with varied and strange teachings. For it is a good thing for the heart to be strengthened by God's spiritual strength, not by special kinds of food, from which those adhering to them have gotten no good.

So Jesus, too, in order to purify the people by His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

So then, through Christ, let us always offer God the sacrifice of praise; that is, the speech of lips that glorify the name of God.

And stop neglecting to do good and to be generous, for God is highly pleased with just such sacrifices as these.

May God, who gives us peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, who through the blood by which He ratified the everlasting covenant, is now the Great Shepherd of the sheep,

God's spiritual blessings be with you all. Amen.

James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the twelve tribes that are scattered over the world.

But if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God who generously gives to everyone and never reproaches one with its lack, and it will be given to him.

(1:7) unreliable in every step he takes, must not expect to get anything from the Lord.

Blessed is the person who endures trial, for when he stands the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

No one must say, when he is tempted to do evil, "I have a temptation from God to do evil," for God cannot be tempted to do evil, and He never tempts anyone to do so.

Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variation or changing shadow.

You must understand this, my dearly loved brothers. Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to get angry;

for a man's anger does not produce the uprightness that God requires.

A religious worship that is pure and stainless in the sight of God the Father is this: To look after orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep one's own self unstained by the world.

My brothers, stop trying to maintain your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious presence of God on earth, along with acts of partiality to certain ones.

Listen, my dearly loved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

My brothers, what good is there in a man's saying that he has faith, if he has no good deeds to prove it? Such faith cannot save him, can it?

and one of you says to him, "Blessings on you, keep warm, eat until you have aplenty," without giving him the things that are needed for the body, what good does it do?

But someone may say, "You have faith, and I have good deeds. Show me your faith without any good deeds, but I will show you mine by my good deeds."

Do you believe in one God? Very well; the demons, too, believe that, and shudder.

But, O senseless man, are you willing to learn that faith without good deeds is worthless?

Was not our forefather Abraham shown to be upright by his good deeds, namely, by offering Isaac his son upon the altar?

You see that faith cooperated with his good deeds, and by his good deeds faith was made complete;

and so the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him for uprightness, and he was called God's friend."

You see that a man is shown to be upright by his good deeds, and not merely by his faith.

Was not even Rahab the prostitute shown to be upright by her good deeds, namely, by entertaining the scouts and sending them off by a different road?

Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without good deeds is dead.

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God's likeness.

Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him show by his noble living that his good deeds are done in humility, which wisdom prompts.

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of compassion and good deeds, free from doubts and insincerity.

You ask and fail to get them, because you ask with evil, selfish motives, to spend them on your pleasures.

You faithless wives! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wants to be a friend to the world puts himself down as an enemy to God.

But He gives a greater spiritual blessing. He says, "God opposes haughty people but blesses humble people."

So then, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will fly from you.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Get your hands clean, you sinners. Get your hearts purified, you double-minded.

Is any one of you suffering ill-treatment? He should keep on praying. Is anyone in a happy mood? He should keep on singing praise to God.

the people chosen in accordance with the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the consecration of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His blood: spiritual blessing and peace to you in increasing abundance.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In accordance with His great mercy He has begotten us anew to an ever living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;

who are always guarded by the power of God through faith, in order that you may receive that final salvation which will be ready to be uncovered for you at the last time.

It was made known to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in their searching for these things that have already been told to you by those who through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven brought you the good news. The angels long to take a peep into these things.

who through Him trust in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory; so that your faith and hope may rest in God.

because you have been born anew, not from a germ that perishes but from one that does not perish, by the word of the living and everlasting God.

But the word of the Lord lives on forever"; that is, the message of the good news which has been brought to you.

So once for all get rid of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all sorts of slander,

Keep on coming to Him, as to a living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious in His sight,

and keep on building yourselves up, as living stones, into a spiritual house for a consecrated priesthood, to offer up, through Jesus Christ, spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once His mercy had not been shown you, but now it has.

Keep on living upright lives among the heathen, so that, when they slander you as evildoers, by what they see of your good deeds they may come to praise God on the judgment day.

For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for doing evil, but live like slaves of God.

Show honor to everyone. Practice love for the brotherhood; practice reverence to God and honor to the Emperor.

For it is pleasing in the sight of God for one to bear his sorrows though suffering innocently.

For what credit is it to bear it patiently, if you do wrong and are beaten for it? But if you do right and patiently suffer for it, it is pleasing in the sight of God.

but they must be of an internal nature, the character concealed in the heart, in the imperishable quality of a quiet and gentle spirit, which is of great value in the sight of God.

For this is the way the pious women of olden times, who set their hope on God, used to adorn themselves.

For it is better, if the will of God should plan it so, to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.

For Christ Himself, once for all, died for our sins, the Innocent for the guilty to bring us to God, being put to death in physical form but made alive in the Spirit,

who had once been disobedient, while God's patience was awaiting in the days when Noah was preparing an ark, in which a few people-- eight, to be exact -- were brought safely through the water.

Baptism, which corresponds to this figure, now saves you, too -- I do not mean the mere removal of physical stains, but the craving for a clear conscience toward God -- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

who has gone to heaven and is now at God's right hand, with angels, heavenly authorities and powers made subject to Him.

so that he no longer can spend the rest of his earthly life in harmony with human desires but in accordance with God's will.

This is why the good news was preached to the dead too, that they may be judged in their physical nature as men are, but live in the Spirit as God does.

As all of you have received your spiritual talents, you must keep on using them in serving one another, as good trustees of God's many-sided favor.

If anyone is preaching, let him do it as one who utters the oracles of God; if anyone is rendering any service to others, let him do it with all the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

If you are suffering abuse because you bear the name of Christ, you are happy, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

but if anyone suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed of it, but should keep on praising God for bearing this name.

Because the time has come for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will the end be of those who are rejecting God's good news?

Therefore, those who suffer in accordance with God's will must also, in doing right, entrust their souls to the Creator who is faithful.

be shepherds of the flock of God that is among you, not as though you had to but of your own free will, not from the motive of personal profit but freely,

You younger men, on your part, must be submissive to the elders. And you must all put on the servant's apron of humility to one another, because God opposes the haughty but bestows His unmerited favor on the humble.

Therefore humbly submit to God's strong hand, so that at the proper time He may exalt you.