¹² “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them^(A) and associate with them,^(B)

³ Do not intermarry with them.^(A) Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[a](A) is still in the darkness.^(B)

¹⁸ For they mouth empty, boastful words^(A) and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping^(B) from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”^{(C) 20} If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing^(D) our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ^(E) and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.^{(F) 21} It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.^{(G) 22} Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”^[a](H) and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

³⁸ And,

³⁹ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Warning Against Idolatry

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together^(A) with unbelievers.^(B) For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?^{(C) 15} What harmony is there between Christ and Belial^[a]?^(D) Or what does a believer^(E) have in common with an unbeliever?^{(F) 16} What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?^(G) For we are the temple^(H) of the living God.^(I) As God has said:

¹⁷ Therefore,

Love in Action

⁹ Love must be sincere.^(A) Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.^(B)

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples^(A) turned back and no longer followed him.

⁴⁵ Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.^(A) That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”