He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ¹  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ² 

if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ¹  without shifting ²  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

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,

So ¹  when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.

as well as the persecutions and sufferings ¹  that happened to me in Antioch, ²  in Iconium, and in Lystra. ³  I endured these persecutions and the Lord delivered me from them all.

Therefore he had ¹  to be made like his brothers and sisters ²  in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement ³  for the sins of the people.

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” ¹  And yet God’s works ²  were accomplished from the foundation of the world.

For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, ¹  you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. ²  You have gone back to needing ³  milk, not ⁴  solid food.

And so he is the mediator ¹  of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, ²  since he died ³  to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.

By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard ¹  constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, ¹  and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he ²  will be blessed in what he does. ³ 

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 

But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. ¹  These false teachers ²  will ³  infiltrate your midst ⁴  with destructive heresies, ⁵  even to the point of ⁶  denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring ⁷  swift destruction on themselves.

For if after they have escaped the filthy things ¹  of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ²  they ³  again get entangled in them and succumb to them, ⁴  their last state has become worse for them than their first.

Though I have many other ¹  things to write to you, I do not want to do so with ²  paper and ink, ³  but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face, ⁴  so that our joy may be complete. ⁵ 

The revelation of Jesus Christ, ¹  which God gave him to show his servants ²  what must happen very soon. ³  He made it clear ⁴  by sending his angel to his servant ⁵  John,

I, John, your brother and the one who shares ¹  with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that ²  are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. ³ 

and the one who lives! I ¹  was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! ² 

Then ¹  the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, ²  flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

(Now ¹  the name of the star is ²  Wormwood.) ³  So ⁴  a third of the waters became wormwood, ⁵  and many people died from these waters because they were poisoned. ⁶