New Testament Plan

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James: To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

²May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

³Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.

⁴For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

⁵Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;

⁶and the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deep darkness for the judgment on the great day.

⁷Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

⁸In the same way these people — relying on their dreams — defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones.

⁹Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

¹⁰But these people blaspheme anything they do not understand. And what they do understand by instinct — like irrational animals — by these things they are destroyed.

¹¹Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, have plunged into Balaam’s error for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

¹²These people are dangerous reefs at your love feasts as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn — fruitless, twice dead and uprooted.

¹³They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.

¹⁴It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones

¹⁵to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.”

¹⁶These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.

¹⁷But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁸They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”

¹⁹These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.

²⁰But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

²²Have mercy on those who waver;

²³save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

²⁴Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy,

²⁵to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

¹The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw.

³Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.

⁴John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,

⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood,

⁶and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father — to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

⁷Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen.

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

⁹I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

¹⁰I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet

¹¹saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,

¹³and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest.

¹⁴The hair of his head was white as wool — white as snow  — and his eyes like a fiery flame.

¹⁵His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters.

¹⁶He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

¹⁸and the Living One. I was dead, but look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

¹⁹Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this.

²⁰The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

¹“Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

²I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.

³I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary.

⁴But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.

⁵Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

⁶Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

⁸“Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna: Thus says the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came to life:

⁹I know your affliction and poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

¹⁰Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹¹“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.

¹²“Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum: Thus says the one who has the sharp, double-edged sword:

¹³I know where you live — where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding on to my name and did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was put to death among you, where Satan lives.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.

¹⁵In the same way, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

¹⁶So repent! Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

¹⁷“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.

¹⁸“Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: Thus says the Son of God, the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze:

¹⁹I know your works — your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first.

²⁰But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

²¹I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.

²²Look, I will throw her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction. Unless they repent of her works,

²³I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

²⁴I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known “the so-called secrets of Satan” — as they say — I am not putting any other burden on you.

²⁵Only hold on to what you have until I come.

²⁶The one who conquers and who keeps my works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations —

²⁷ and he will rule them with an iron scepter; he will shatter them like pottery —

²⁸just as I have received this from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.

²⁹“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.