¹³ although ^(A)I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an ^[a]insolent man; but I obtained mercy because ^(B)I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

³ As for Saul, ^(A)he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

⁴ For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted ^(A)the heavenly gift, and ^(B)have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ^6 [a]if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, ^(C)since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

⁷ For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, ^(D)receives blessing from God; ^8 (E)but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

¹³ Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, ^(A)how much ^[a]harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.

²¹ For ^(A)it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ^(B)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

^10 (A)who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

The Just Live by Faith

²⁶ For ^(A)if we sin willfully ^(B)after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there ^(C)no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and ^(D)fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three ^(E)witnesses. ^29 (F)Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, ^(G)counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, ^(H)and insulted the Spirit of grace?

^16 (A)Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

¹⁷ “Yet now, brethren, I know that ^(A)you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.