⁶ But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there.

²⁰ For if, after they ^(A)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^(B)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For ^(C)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: ^(D)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

³⁹ But we are not of those ^(A)who draw back to ^[a]perdition, but of those who ^(B)believe to the saving of the soul.

Christian Liberty

5 ^(A)Stand^[a] fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a ^(B)yoke of bondage.

⁹ By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, ^(A)dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, ^(B)the heirs with him of the same promise;

The Heavenly Hope

¹³ These all died in faith, ^(A)not having received the ^(B)promises, but ^(C)having seen them afar off ^[a]were assured of them, embraced them and ^(D)confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things ^(E)declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind ^(F)that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed ^(G)to be called their God, for He has ^(H)prepared a city for them.