So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood – for on that basis ¹  the people received the law – what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron’s order?

“And there will be no need at all ¹  for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. ² 

You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

He ¹  himself bore our sins ²  in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning ³  and live for righteousness. By his ⁴  wounds ⁵  you were healed. ⁶ 

Moreover, ¹  we ²  possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. ³  You do well if you pay attention ⁴  to this ⁵  as you would ⁶  to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star ⁷  rises in your hearts. ⁸ 

(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 

not like Cain ¹  who was of the evil one and brutally ²  murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

And the person who keeps his commandments resides ¹  in God, ²  and God ³  in him. Now by this ⁴  we know that God ⁵  resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. ¹  The ²  one who fears punishment ³  has not been perfected in love.

If ¹  anyone sees his fellow Christian ²  committing a sin not resulting in death, ³  he should ask, and God ⁴  will grant ⁵  life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. ⁶  There is a sin resulting in death. ⁷  I do not say that he should ask about that.

‘I know your works as well as your ¹  labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate ²  evil. You have even put to the test ³  those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false.

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching ¹  (who have not learned the so-called “deep secrets ²  of Satan”), to you I say: I do not put any additional burden on you.

Therefore, remember what you received and heard, ¹  and obey it, ²  and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never ³  know at what hour I will come against ⁴  you.

The one who conquers ¹  will be dressed like them ²  in white clothing, ³  and I will never ⁴  erase ⁵  his name from the book of life, but ⁶  will declare ⁷  his name before my Father and before his angels.

They ¹  cried out with a loud voice, ²  “How long, ³  Sovereign Master, ⁴  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

In ¹  those days people ²  will seek death, but ³  will not be able to ⁴  find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

He ¹  exercised all the ruling authority ²  of the first beast on his behalf, ³  and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed.

Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify ¹  your name, because you alone are holy? ²  All nations ³  will come and worship before you for your righteous acts ⁴  have been revealed.”

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.

Then ¹  there were flashes of lightning, roaring, ²  and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake – an earthquake unequaled since humanity ³  has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake.