⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

¹³ No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.^(A)

¹³ “I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me^[a] even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives.

³² But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,^{(A) 33} sometimes being publicly exposed to insults and afflictions and sometimes becoming partners with those so treated.^{(B) 34} For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.^[a](C)

⁶ As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.^{(A) 7} I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.^(B)

² looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of^[a] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.^(A)

Persecutions Foretold

⁹ “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.^(A)

⁹ When he broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given;^{(A) 10} they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”^{(B) 11} They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.^(C)