1
As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.
2
Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.
3
Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.
4
For in your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed.
5
Have you forgotten the encouraging words which God speaks to you as his children? "My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.
6
Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves, and punishes everyone he accepts as a child."
7
Endure what you suffer as being a father's punishment; your suffering shows that God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a child who was not punished by his father?
8
If you are not punished, as all his children are, it means you are not real children, but bastards.
9
In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!
10
Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.
11
When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.
12
Lift up your tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees!
13
Keep walking on straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be healed.
14
Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.
15
Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison.
16
Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son.
17
Afterward, you know, he wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he looked for it.
18
You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm,
19
the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word,
20
because they could not bear the order which said, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death."
21
The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling and afraid!"
22
Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels.
23
You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect.
24
You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel.
25
Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!
26
His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, "I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well."
27
The words "once more" plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28
Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe;
29
because our God is indeed a destroying fire.
1
Keep on loving one another as Christians.
2
Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it.
3
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are suffering, as though you were suffering as they are.
4
Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
5
Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never leave you; I will never abandon you."
6
Let us be bold, then, and say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
7
Remember your former leaders, who spoke God's message to you. Think back on how they lived and died, and imitate their faith.
8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9
Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way. It is good to receive inner strength from God's grace, and not by obeying rules about foods; those who obey these rules have not been helped by them.
10
The priests who serve in the Jewish place of worship have no right to eat any of the sacrifice on our altar.
11
The Jewish high priest brings the blood of the animals into the Most Holy Place to offer it as a sacrifice for sins; but the bodies of the animals are burned outside the camp.
12
For this reason Jesus also died outside the city, in order to purify the people from sin with his own blood.
13
Let us, then, go to him outside the camp and share his shame.
14
For there is no permanent city for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to come.
15
Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord.
16
Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.
17
Obey your leaders and follow their orders. They watch over your souls without resting, since they must give to God an account of their service. If you obey them, they will do their work gladly; if not, they will do it with sadness, and that would be of no help to you.
18
Keep on praying for us. We are sure we have a clear conscience, because we want to do the right thing at all times.
19
And I beg you even more earnestly to pray that God will send me back to you soon.
20
God has raised from death our Lord Jesus, who is the Great Shepherd of the sheep as the result of his blood, by which the eternal covenant is sealed. May the God of peace provide you with every good thing you need in order to do his will, and may he, through Jesus Christ, do in us what pleases him. And to Christ be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
22
I beg you, my friends, to listen patiently to this message of encouragement; for this letter I have written you is not very long.
23
I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been let out of prison. If he comes soon enough, I will have him with me when I see you.
24
Give our greetings to all your leaders and to all God's people. The believers from Italy send you their greetings.
25
May God's grace be with you all.
1
From Jude, servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James--- To those who have been called by God, who live in the love of God the Father and the protection of Jesus Christ:
2
May mercy, peace, and love be yours in full measure.
3
My dear friends, I was doing my best to write to you about the salvation we share in common, when I felt the need of writing at once to encourage you to fight on for the faith which once and for all God has given to his people.
4
For some godless people have slipped in unnoticed among us, persons who distort the message about the grace of our God in order to excuse their immoral ways, and who reject Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord. Long ago the Scriptures predicted the condemnation they have received.
5
For even though you know all this, I want to remind you of how the Lord once rescued the people of Israel from Egypt, but afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
6
Remember the angels who did not stay within the limits of their proper authority, but abandoned their own dwelling place: they are bound with eternal chains in the darkness below, where God is keeping them for that great Day on which they will be condemned.
7
Remember Sodom and Gomorrah, and the nearby towns, whose people acted as those angels did and indulged in sexual immorality and perversion: they suffer the punishment of eternal fire as a plain warning to all.
8
In the same way also, these people have visions which make them sin against their own bodies; they despise God's authority and insult the glorious beings above.
9
Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
10
But these people attack with insults anything they do not understand; and those things that they know by instinct, like wild animals, are the very things that destroy them.
11
How terrible for them! They have followed the way that Cain took. For the sake of money they have given themselves over to the error that Balaam committed. They have rebelled as Korah rebelled, and like him they are destroyed.
12
With their shameless carousing they are like dirty spots in your fellowship meals. They take care only of themselves. They are like clouds carried along by the wind, but bringing no rain. They are like trees that bear no fruit, even in autumn, trees that have been pulled up by the roots and are completely dead.
13
They are like wild waves of the sea, with their shameful deeds showing up like foam. They are like wandering stars, for whom God has reserved a place forever in the deepest darkness.
14
It was Enoch, the seventh direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them: "The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels
15
to bring judgment on all, to condemn them all for the godless deeds they have performed and for all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against him!"
16
These people are always grumbling and blaming others; they follow their own evil desires; they brag about themselves and flatter others in order to get their own way.
17
But remember, my friends, what you were told in the past by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
18
They said to you, "When the last days come, people will appear who will make fun of you, people who follow their own godless desires."
19
These are the people who cause divisions, who are controlled by their natural desires, who do not have the Spirit.
20
But you, my friends, keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,
21
and keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life.
22
Show mercy toward those who have doubts;
23
save others by snatching them out of the fire; and to others show mercy mixed with fear, but hate their very clothes, stained by their sinful lusts.
24
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to bring you faultless and joyful before his glorious presence---
25
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from all ages past, and now, and forever and ever! Amen.
