sneaky people

¹⁶They claim that they know God. But, by their own works, they deny him, since they are abominable, and unbelieving, and reprobate, toward every good work.

⁸Be sober and vigilant. For your adversary, the devil, is like a roaring lion, traveling around and seeking those whom he might devour. ⁹Resist him by being strong in faith, being aware that the same passions afflict those who are your brothers in the world. ¹⁰But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself perfect, confirm, and establish us, after a brief time of suffering.

³And in avarice, they will negotiate about you with false words. Their judgment, in the near future, is not delayed, and their perdition does not sleep.

¹“Woe to the sons of apostasy!” says the Lord. For you would take advice, but not from me. And you would begin to weave, but not by my spirit. Thus do you add sin upon sin! ²You are walking so as to descend into Egypt, and you have not sought answers from my mouth, instead hoping for assistance from the strength of Pharaoh and placing trust in the shadow of Egypt. ³And so, the strength of Pharaoh will be your confusion, and trust in the shadow of Egypt will be your disgrace. ⁴For your leaders were at Tanis, and your messengers have traveled even as far as Hanes. ⁵They have all been confounded because of a people who were not able to offer profit to them, who were not of assistance, nor of other usefulness, except to offer confusion and reproach. ⁶The burden of the beasts in the south. In a land of tribulation and anguish, from which go forth the lioness and the lion, the viper and the flying king snake, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of beasts of burden, and their valuables upon the humps of camels, to a people who are not able to offer profit to them.

¹²Most beloved, do not choose to sojourn in the passion which is a temptation to you, as if something new might happen to you.

¹⁰Because of this, I am pleased in my infirmity: in reproaches, in difficulties, in persecutions, in distresses, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am powerful.

⁵But if anyone among you is in need of wisdom, let him petition God, who gives abundantly to all without reproach, and it shall be given to him.

¹¹persecutions, afflictions; such things as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; how I endured persecutions, and how the Lord rescued me from everything.

¹Now the Spirit has clearly said that, in the end times, some persons will depart from the faith, paying attention to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils, ²speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their consciences seared, ³prohibiting marriage, abstaining from foods, which God has created to be accepted with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have understood the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected which is received with thanksgiving; ⁵for it has been sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer. ⁶By proposing these things to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished by words of faith, and by the good doctrine that you have secured.

¹⁹Your own malice will reprove you, and your own apostasy will rebuke you! But know and perceive this: it is an evil and bitter thing for you to forsake the Lord your God, and to be without my fear within you, says the Lord, the God of hosts.

¹²Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you have been called, and make a good profession of faith in the sight of many witnesses.

¹Therefore, interrupting an explanation of the basics of Christ, let us consider what is more advanced, not presenting again the fundamentals of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, ²of the doctrine of baptism, and also of the imposition of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. ³And we shall do this, if indeed God permits it. ⁴For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, and have even tasted of the heavenly gift, and have become sharers in the Holy Spirit, ⁵who, despite having tasted the good Word of God and the virtues of the future age, have yet fallen away, ⁶to be renewed again to penance, since they are crucifying again in themselves the Son of God and are still maintaining pretenses.

³For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but instead, according to their own desires, they will gather to themselves teachers, with itching ears,

¹⁹But your obedience has been made known in every place. And so, I rejoice in you. But I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple in what is evil.

²¹For you have been called to this because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in his footsteps.