Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ¹  of Christ, ²  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ³  in all the will of God.

For from you the message of the Lord ¹  has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, ²  so that we do not need to say anything.

And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling ¹  and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith,

I am thankful to God, whom I have served with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, ¹  when I remember you in my prayers as I do constantly night and day. ² 

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.

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our ¹  consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for ¹  the Son of God, and profanes ²  the blood of the covenant that made him holy, ³  and insults the Spirit of grace?

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 

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up ¹  and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled.

Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ,

For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” ¹  also said, “Do not murder.” ²  Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law.

So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. ¹ 

Such trials show the proven character of your faith, ¹  which is much more valuable than gold – gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away ²  – and will bring praise ³  and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁴ 

Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you ¹  about our common salvation, I now feel compelled ²  instead to write to encourage ³  you to contend earnestly ⁴  for the faith ⁵  that was once for all ⁶  entrusted to the saints. ⁷ 

Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts ¹  once for all ² ) that Jesus, ³  having saved the ⁴  people out of the land of Egypt, later ⁵  destroyed those who did not believe.

Then ¹  I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, “A quart ²  of wheat will cost a day’s pay ³  and three quarts of barley will cost a day’s pay. But ⁴  do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

Then ¹  the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, ²  and he will reign for ever and ever.”

Blessed and holy is the one who takes part ¹  in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, ²  but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

The Lord God said to the serpent, ¹  “Because you have done this, cursed ²  are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl ³  and dust you will eat ⁴  all the days of your life.

So the Lord ¹  destroyed ²  every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. ³  They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. ⁴