⁵⁵ And the priest shall examine the diseased thing after it has been washed. And if the appearance of the diseased area has not changed, though the disease has not spread, it is unclean. You shall burn it in the fire, whether the rot is on the back or on the front.

²⁰ For if, ^(A)after they have escaped the defilements of the world ^(B)through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^(C)the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For ^(D)it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^(E)the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The ^(F)dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he ^(A)is blind, having forgotten that he was ^(B)cleansed from his former sins.

⁴ For it is impossible, in the case of those ^(A)who have once been enlightened, who have tasted ^(B)the heavenly gift, and ^(C)have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and ^(D)have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ and ^(E)then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since ^(F)they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. ⁷ For ^(G)land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. ⁸ But ^(H)if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, ^(I)and its end is to be burned.

¹³ On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, ^(A)you shall not be cleansed anymore till ^(B)I have satisfied my fury upon you.