Apart From Me, You Can Do Nothing

1 Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.

2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

8 “In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

12 Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.

15 If you love me, keep my commandments.

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

15 Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

1 Preserve me, God, for in you do I take refuge.

2 My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”

3 As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.

5 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

7 I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

8 I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.

10 For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

11 You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.

2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

4 For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”

6 But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down);

7 or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)”

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach:

9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him.

13 For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?

15 And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”

16 But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”

17 So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

18 But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

19 But I ask, didn’t Israel know? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.”

20 Isaiah is very bold, and says, “I was found by those who didn’t seek me. I was revealed to those who didn’t ask for me.”

21 But as to Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.

2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;

3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”;

4 haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?

7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

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

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

10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

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

13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?

15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

18 Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.

20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;

23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God.

24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.

25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?

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

1 I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”

4 But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

7 What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

8 According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”

9 David says, “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.

10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always.”

11 I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.

12 Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?

13 For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;

14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.

15 For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead?

16 If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree;

18 don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.

19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”

20 True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear;

21 for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

22 See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

23 They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

25 For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,

26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

27 This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.”

28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,

31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.

32 For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.

33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”

36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise.

2 On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

3 When I arrive, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem.

4 If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me.

5 But I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia.

6 But with you it may be that I will stay, or even winter, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go.

7 For I do not wish to see you now in passing, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits.

8 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost,

9 for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do.

11 Therefore let no one despise him. But set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brothers.

12 Now concerning Apollos, the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers; and it was not at all his desire to come now; but he will come when he has an opportunity.

13 Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!

14 Let all that you do be done in love.

15 Now I beg you, brothers (you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves to serve the saints),

16 that you also be in subjection to such, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus; for that which was lacking on your part, they supplied.

18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge those who are like that.

19 The assemblies of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you much in the Lord, together with the assembly that is in their house.

20 All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

21 This greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand.

22 If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Come, Lord!

23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

2 Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.

3 Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.

7 You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?

8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

9 A little yeast grows through the whole lump.

10 I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

11 But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.

12 I wish that those who disturb you would cut themselves off.

13 For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

15 But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,

20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,

21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,

23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.

26 Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2 Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

5 But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved.

6 For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered.

7 For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man;

9 for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.

10 For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.

11 Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord.

12 For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God.

13 Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?

14 Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.

16 But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.

17 But in giving you this command, I don’t praise you, that you come together not for the better but for the worse.

18 For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it.

19 For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you.

20 When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.

21 For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken.

22 What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly, and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.

23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.

24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”

25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body.

30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.

31 For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged.

32 But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.

1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

2 For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven;

3 if so be that being clothed we will not be found naked.

4 For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened; not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

5 Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;

7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.

8 We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

9 Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.

10 For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

11 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God; and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.

12 For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance, and not in heart.

13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.

14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.

15 He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.

16 Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

1 “To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: “He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lamp stands says these things:

2 “I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false.

3 You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

4 But I have this against you, that you left your first love.

5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent.

6 But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.

8 “To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna write: “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things:

9 “I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

10 Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.

12 “To the angel of the assembly in Pergamum write: “He who has the sharp two-edged sword says these things:

13 “I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. You hold firmly to my name, and didn’t deny my faith in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

15 So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans likewise.

16 Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.

18 “To the angel of the assembly in Thyatira write: “The Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass, says these things:

19 “I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first.

20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

22 Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works.

23 I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

24 But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as don’t have this teaching, who don’t know what some call ‘the deep things of Satan,’ to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you.

25 Nevertheless, hold that which you have firmly until I come.

26 He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.

27 He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots; as I also have received of my Father:

28 and I will give him the morning star.

29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

1 For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

2 Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?

3 But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins.

4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

5 Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire, but you prepared a body for me.

6 You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.

7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’”

8 Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law),

9 then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,

10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,

12 but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;

13 from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.

14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;’” then he says,

17 “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

21 and having a great priest over God’s house,

22 let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.

24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,

25 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.

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,

27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

28 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.

29 How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me,” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;

33 partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so.

34 For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.

35 Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.

36 For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

37 “In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait.

38 But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.