Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!(A)

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Sin, Faith, Duty

17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble(A) are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.(B)

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24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him.(A) But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

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19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.(A)

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For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[a] long ago have secretly slipped in among you.(A) They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Jude 1:4 Or individuals who were marked out for condemnation

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;(A) they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;(B) they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.(C)

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts,(D) eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.(E) They are clouds without rain,(F) blown along by the wind;(G) autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted(H)—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea,(I) foaming up their shame;(J) wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.(K)

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15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam(A) son of Bezer,[a] who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.(B)

17 These people are springs without water(C) and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 2:15 Greek Bosor

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.(A) People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,(B) boastful, proud,(C) abusive,(D) disobedient to their parents,(E) ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous,(F) rash, conceited,(G) lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness(H) but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.(I)

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The Spirit(A) clearly says that in later times(B) some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits(C) and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.(D) They forbid people to marry(E) and order them to abstain from certain foods,(F) which God created(G) to be received with thanksgiving(H) by those who believe and who know the truth.

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Don’t let anyone deceive you(A) in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion(B) occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed,(C) the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God(D) or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.(E)

Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?(F) And now you know what is holding him back,(G) so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back(H) will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed,(I) whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth(J) and destroy by the splendor of his coming.(K) The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan(L) works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders(M) that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.(N) They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.(O) 11 For this reason God sends them(P) a powerful delusion(Q) so that they will believe the lie(R) 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.(S)

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Some manuscripts sin

14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:(A) There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam,(B) who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols(C) and committed sexual immorality.(D) 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.(E)

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Many will follow their depraved conduct(A) and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed(B) these teachers will exploit you(C) with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

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and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.(A)

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to be self-controlled(A) and pure, to be busy at home,(B) to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands,(C) so that no one will malign the word of God.(D)

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For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.(A) Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.(B) They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.(C)

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20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet(A) who had performed the signs(B) on its behalf.(C) With these signs he had deluded(D) those who had received the mark of the beast(E) and worshiped its image.(F) The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake(G) of burning sulfur.(H) 21 The rest were killed with the sword(I) coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse,(J) and all the birds(K) gorged themselves on their flesh.

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20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel,(A) who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.(B) 21 I have given her time(C) to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.(D) 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery(E) with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds,(F) and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.(G)

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All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect,(A) so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.(B)

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14 So I counsel younger widows to marry,(A) to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.(B) 15 Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.(C)

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23 You who boast in the law,(A) do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 2:24 Isaiah 52:5 (see Septuagint); Ezek. 36:20,22

18 (With the payment(A) he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field;(B) there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language(C) Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:

“‘May his place be deserted;
    let there be no one to dwell in it,’[a](D)

and,

“‘May another take his place of leadership.’[b](E)

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 1:20 Psalm 69:25
  2. Acts 1:20 Psalm 109:8

16 and said, “Brothers and sisters,[a](A) the Scripture had to be fulfilled(B) in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas,(C) who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 1:16 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 6:3; 11:29; 12:17; 16:40; 18:18, 27; 21:7, 17; 28:14, 15.

12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[a] that name you gave me. None has been lost(A) except the one doomed to destruction(B) so that Scripture would be fulfilled.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. John 17:12 Or kept them faithful to

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

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Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!(A) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.(B) [14] [a]

15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,(C) and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell(D) as you are.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides!(E) You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’(F) 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?(G) 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?(H) 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells(I) in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.(J)

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth(K) of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.(L) You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides!(M) You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,(N) but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.(O) 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,(P) which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 23:14 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47.

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