⁴⁸ But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master ^(A)is delaying ^[a]his coming,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is ^(B)not aware of, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. ^(C)There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

^2 (A)They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming ^(B)that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

The Imperative of Love^(A)

¹⁰ In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ¹¹ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, ^(B)that we should love one another, ¹² not as ^(C)Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

⁸ Now Cain ^[a]talked with Abel his ^[b]brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and ^(A)killed him.

¹¹ So now ^(A)you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

¹² When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

Destructive Doctrines

2 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be ^(A)false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction ^[a]does not slumber.

³ And I will give power to my two ^(A)witnesses, ^(B)and they will prophesy ^(C)one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

The Witnesses Killed

⁷ When they ^(A)finish their testimony, ^(B)the beast that ascends ^(C)out of the bottomless pit ^(D)will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. ⁸ And their dead bodies will lie in the street of ^(E)the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, ^(F)where also ^[a]our Lord was crucified. ^9 (G)Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations ^[b]will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, ^(H)and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. ^10 (I)And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, ^(J)and send gifts to one another, ^(K)because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.