²⁶ Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life but must endure God’s wrath.^(A)

Warning to Rich Oppressors

5 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. ² Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten.^{(A) 3} Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure^[a] during the last days. ⁴ Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.^{(B) 5} You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.^{(C) 6} You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷ Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.^(D)

¹¹ For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.

Trial and Temptation

¹² Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord^[a] has promised to those who love him.^(A)

⁴ Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.^(A)

The Judgment at Christ’s Coming

⁵ This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering.^{(B) 6} For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you ⁷ and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels^{(C) 8} in a fiery flame, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.^{(D) 9} These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,^{(E) 10} when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

⁵⁹ I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”^(A)

¹⁸ Then once more you shall see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.^(A)