^9 (A)The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but ^(B)is patient toward you, ^(C)not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

⁵ Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that ^(A)every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

⁴ Or do you think lightly of ^(A)the riches of His ^(B)kindness and ^(C)forbearance and ^(D)patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

²⁷ And inasmuch as ^(A)it is ^[a]appointed for men to die once and after this ^(B)comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ also, having been ^(C)offered once to ^(D)bear the sins of many, will appear ^(E)a second time for ^(F)salvation ^(G)without reference to sin, to those who ^(H)eagerly await Him.

Warning Against Willful Sin

²⁶ For if we go on ^(A)sinning willfully after receiving ^(B)the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a terrifying expectation of ^(C)judgment and ^(D)the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. ^28 (E)Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy by the mouth of two or three witnesses. ^29 (F)How much worse punishment do you think he will deserve ^(G)who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as defiled ^(H)the blood of the covenant ^(I)by which he was sanctified, and has ^(J)insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “^(K)Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “^(L)The ^[a]Lord will judge His people.”

⁴ For ^(A)if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the ^[a]pit and ^(B)delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare ^(C)the ancient world, but preserved ^(D)Noah, a ^[b]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^(E)flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He ^(F)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an ^(G)example to those who would ^(H)live ungodly lives thereafter; ⁷ and if He ^(I)rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the ^(J)sensual conduct of ^(K)unprincipled men ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that ^(L)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ^9 (M)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from ^[c]trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^(N)day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who ^(O)go after the flesh in its corrupt lust and ^(P)despise authority.

Daring, ^(Q)self-willed, they do not tremble when they ^(R)blaspheme ^[d]glorious ones, ^11 (S)whereas angels who are greater in strength and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But ^(T)these, like unreasoning animals, ^(U)born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, blaspheming where they have no knowledge, will in ^[e]the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering unrighteousness as ^(V)the wages of their unrighteousness, considering it a pleasure to ^(W)revel in the ^(X)daytime—they are stains and blemishes, ^(Y)reveling in their ^[f]deceptions, as they ^(Z)feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery and unceasing sin, ^(AA)enticing ^(AB)unstable souls, having a heart trained in ^(AC)greed—they are ^(AD)accursed children. ¹⁵ Forsaking ^(AE)the right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^(AF)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(AG)the wages of unrighteousness, ¹⁶ but he received a rebuke for his own lawlessness, ^(AH)for a mute donkey, speaking out with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are ^(AI)springs without water and mists driven by a storm, ^(AJ)for whom the ^[g]black darkness has been kept. ¹⁸ For speaking out ^(AK)arrogant words of ^(AL)vanity, they ^(AM)entice by ^(AN)sensual lusts of the flesh, those who barely ^(AO)escape from the ones who conducted themselves in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^(AP)by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if they are overcome, having both ^(AQ)escaped the defilements of the world by ^(AR)the knowledge of the ^(AS)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and having again been ^(AT)entangled in them, then ^(AU)the last state has become worse for them than the first. ^21 (AV)For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from ^(AW)the holy commandment ^(AX)handed on to them. ²² The ^[h]message of the true proverb has happened to them, “^(AY)A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

⁹ “As for Me, behold, ^(A)I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. ¹¹ Indeed I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(B)never again be cut off by the water of the flood, ^(C)and there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² Then God said, “This is ^(D)the sign of the covenant which I am giving to be between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ^[a]all successive generations; ¹³ I put My ^(E)bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ And it will be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵ and ^(F)I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and ^(G)never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, to remember the ^(H)everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸ For ^(A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who ^(B)suppress the truth ^[a]in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because ^(C)that which is known about God is evident ^[b]within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For ^(D)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, ^(E)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became ^(F)futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. ^22 (G)Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(H)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

²⁴ Therefore ^(I)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be ^(J)dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for ^[c]a ^(K)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(L)who is blessed ^[d]forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(M)God gave them over to ^(N)dishonorable passions; for their ^(O)females exchanged the natural function for that which is ^[e]unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way also the ^(P)males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, ^(Q)males with males committing ^[f]indecent acts and receiving in ^[g]their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit ^[h]to acknowledge God, ^(R)God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are ^(S)gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, ^[i](T)haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, ^(U)disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, ^(V)unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of ^(W)death, they not only do the same, but also ^(X)give hearty approval to those who practice them.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let ^(A)Us make ^(B)man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have ^(C)dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the ^[a]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ And God created man ^(D)in His own image, in the image of God He created him; ^(E)male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “^(F)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the ^[b]sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁹ Then God said, “Behold, ^(G)I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the ^[c]surface of all the earth, and every tree ^[d]which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰ and ^(H)to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the ^[e]sky and to every thing that creeps on the earth ^[f]which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.