For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you. ¹ 

For even if I made you sad ¹  by my letter, ²  I do not regret having written it ³  (even though I did regret it, ⁴  for ⁵  I see that my letter made you sad, ⁶  though only for a short time).

Now I rejoice, not because you were made sad, ¹  but because you were made sad to the point of repentance. For you were made sad as God intended, ²  so that you were not harmed ³  in any way by us.

For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you, ¹  but just as everything we said to you was true, ²  so our boasting to Titus about you ³  has proved true as well.

But I am afraid that ¹  just as the serpent ²  deceived Eve by his treachery, ³  your minds may be led astray ⁴  from a sincere and pure ⁵  devotion to Christ.

So ¹  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ² 

For the love of money is the root ¹  of all evils. ²  Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.

However, God’s solid foundation remains standing, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” ¹  and “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord ²  must turn away from evil.”

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

Therefore we must progress beyond ¹  the elementary ²  instructions about Christ ³  and move on ⁴  to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,

and then have committed apostasy, ¹  to renew them again to repentance, since ²  they are crucifying the Son of God for themselves all over again ³  and holding him up to contempt.

For you know that ¹  later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, although he sought the blessing ²  with tears.

Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. ¹  For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, ²  which have never benefited those who participated in them.

Through these things ¹  he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised ²  you may become partakers of the divine nature, ³  after escaping ⁴  the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. ⁵ 

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, ¹  as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish ²  for any ³  to perish but for all to come to repentance. ⁴ 

So ¹  I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it did taste ²  as sweet as honey in my mouth, but ³  when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.

But ¹  do not measure the outer courtyard ²  of the temple; leave it out, ³  because it has been given to the Gentiles, ⁴  and they will trample on the holy city ⁵  for forty-two months.

So ¹  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Now ¹  the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The ²  dragon gave the beast ³  his power, his throne, and great authority to rule. ⁴ 

Thus ¹  people ²  were scorched by the terrible heat, ³  yet ⁴  they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority ⁵  over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory.