But you, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  are children of the promise like Isaac.

So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him,

not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.

and their message will spread its infection ¹  like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are in this group. ² 

They will perish, but you continue. And they will all grow old like a garment,

But would you like evidence, ¹  you empty fellow, ²  that faith without works is useless? ³ 

but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct,

but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ.

It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household!

Now the passage of scripture the man ¹  was reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did ²  not open his mouth.

To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) ¹  to gain those under the law.

and like a robe you will fold them up and like a garment ¹  they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will never run out.” ² 

So in fact children ¹  were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand ²  on the seashore. ³ 

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, ¹  that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.

“To ¹  the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following: ²  “This is the solemn pronouncement of ³  the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame ⁴  and whose feet are like polished bronze: ⁵ 

and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. ¹  In ²  the middle of the throne ³  and around the throne were four living creatures ⁴  full of eyes in front and in back.

Then ¹  I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped ²  in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire. ³ 

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!

“I ¹  am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, ²  so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

And he was transfigured before them. ¹  His ²  face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.