speaking of these things in all his letters.<n id="1" /> Some things in these letters<n id="2" /> are hard to understand, things<n id="3" /> the ignorant and unstable twist<n id="4" /> to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures.<n id="5" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">From<n id="1" /> the elder,<n id="2" /> to an elect lady<n id="3" /> and her children, whom I love in truth<n id="4" /> (and not I alone, but also all those<n id="5" /> who know the truth),

For certain men<n id="1" /> have secretly slipped in among you<n id="2" /> &#8211; men who long ago<n id="3" /> were marked out<n id="4" /> for the condemnation I am about to describe<n id="5" /> &#8211; ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil<n id="6" /> and who deny our only Master<n id="7" /> and Lord,<n id="8" /> Jesus Christ.p>

These men are<n id="1" /> dangerous reefs<n id="2" /> at your love feasts,<n id="3" /> feasting without reverence,<n id="4" /> feeding only themselves.<n id="5" /> They are<n id="6" /> waterless<n id="7" /> clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit<n id="8" /> &#8211; twice dead,<n id="9" /> uprooted;

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;To<n id="1" /> the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following:<n id="2" />p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;This is the solemn pronouncement of<n id="3" /> the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame<n id="4" /> and whose feet are like polished bronze:<n id="5" />

the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground<n id="1" /> before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns<n id="2" /> before his<n id="3" /> throne, saying:p>

and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground<n id="1" /> before the Lamb. Each<n id="2" /> of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints).<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">And all the angels stood<n id="1" /> there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground<n id="2" /> before the throne and worshiped God,

In<n id="1" /> those days people<n id="2" /> will seek death, but<n id="3" /> will not be able to<n id="4" /> find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped<n id="2" /> in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire.<n id="3" />

Then<n id="1" /> they<n id="2" /> heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: &#8220;Come up here!&#8221; So the two prophets<n id="3" /> went up to heaven in a cloud while<n id="4" /> their enemies stared at them.

So<n id="1" /> that huge dragon &#8211; the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world &#8211; was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

<p class="poetry">Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them!p> <p class="poetry">But<n id="1" /> woe to the earth and the seap> <p class="poetry">because the devil has come down to you!p> <p class="poetry">He<n id="2" /> is filled with terrible anger,p> <p class="poetry">for he knows that he only has a little time!&#8221;p>

and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast,<n id="1" /> everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world<n id="2" /> in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed.<n id="3" />

and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No<n id="1" /> one was able to learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth.p>

Thus<n id="1" /> people<n id="2" /> were scorched by the terrible heat,<n id="3" /> yet<n id="4" /> they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority<n id="5" /> over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory.p>

And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds<n id="1" /> each, fell from heaven<n id="2" /> on people,<n id="3" /> but they<n id="4" /> blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it<n id="5" /> was so horrendous.<n id="6" />p>

five have fallen; one is,<n id="1" /> and the other has not yet come, but whenever he does come, he must remain for only a brief time.

They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying<n id="1" /> the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful.&#8221;p>

For God has put into their minds<n id="1" /> to carry out his purpose<n id="2" /> by making<n id="3" /> a decision<n id="4" /> to give their royal power<n id="5" /> to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.<n id="6" />