For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, ¹  of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews,

not to be easily ¹  shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, ²  to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

Pure and undefiled religion before ¹  God the Father ²  is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God. ¹ 

From Simeon ¹  Peter, ²  a slave ³  and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God ⁴  and Savior, ⁵  Jesus Christ, have been granted ⁶  a faith just as precious ⁷  as ours.

And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their ¹  condemnation pronounced long ago ²  is not sitting idly by; ³  their ⁴  destruction is not asleep.

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that ¹  we should be called God’s children – and indeed ²  we are! ³  For this reason ⁴  the world does not know us: because it did not know him. ⁵ 

In this ¹  is love: not that ²  we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice ³  for our sins.

So also ¹  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ²  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ³  in a way similar to ⁴  these angels, ⁵  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Then ¹  one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said, “With this kind of sudden violent force ²  Babylon the great city will be thrown down ³  and it will never be found again!

Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” ¹ 

The Lord God formed ¹  out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would ²  name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Your ¹  servant has found favor with you, ²  and you have shown me great ³  kindness ⁴  by sparing ⁵  my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because ⁶  this disaster will overtake ⁷  me and I’ll die. ⁸ 

Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? ¹  You have done things to me that should not be done!” ² 

saying “Praised be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his faithful love ¹  for my master! The Lord has led me ²  to the house ³  of my master’s relatives!” ⁴ 

When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had? ¹  Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?” ² 

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it ¹  you shall not do any work, you, ²  or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. ³ 

keeping loyal love for thousands, ¹  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ²  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

He has filled them with skill ¹  to do all kinds of work ²  as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers. They are ³  craftsmen in all the work ⁴  and artistic designers. ⁵