³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope^(A) for may be fully realized.

⁸ Watch out that you do not lose what we^[a] have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.^(A)

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”^{(A) 20} If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing^(B) our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ^(C) and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.^{(D) 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.^{(E) 22} Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”^[a](F) and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened,^(A) who have tasted the heavenly gift,^(B) who have shared in the Holy Spirit,^{(C) 5} who have tasted the goodness^(D) of the word of God^(E) and the powers of the coming age ⁶ and who have fallen^[a] away, to be brought back to repentance.^(F) To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God^(G) all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. ⁷ Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. ⁸ But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed.^(H) In the end it will be burned.