¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—

^3 (A)For the time is coming when people will not endure ^(B)sound^[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

⁷ always learning and never able to ^(A)arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

¹⁸ Let no one ^(A)disqualify you, ^(B)insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ^(C)going on in detail about visions,^{[a] (D)}puffed up without reason by ^(E)his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and ^(F)not ^(G)holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰ If with Christ ^(H)you died to the ^(I)elemental spirits of the world, ^(J)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ^21 (K)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²² (^(L)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^(M)human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^(N)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^(O)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

¹⁸ The wall was built of ^(A)jasper, while the city was pure gold, like ^(B)clear glass.

¹⁸ I counsel you ^(A)to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and ^(B)white garments so that you may clothe yourself and ^(C)the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, ^(D)so that you may see.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of ^(A)Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might ^(B)eat food sacrificed to idols and ^(C)practice sexual immorality.

⁷ so that ^(A)the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes ^(B)though it is tested by ^(C)fire—may be found to result in ^(D)praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

⁹ Do not be ^(A)led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, ^(B)not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.