¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.^{(A) 20} For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.^(B)

¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not belong to us, for if they had belonged to us they would have remained^[a] with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us.^(A)

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the^[a] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.^{(A) 21} For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was handed on to them.^{(B) 22} It has happened to them according to the true proverb,

and,

⁴ For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit^{(A) 5} and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come^{(B) 6} and then have fallen away, since they are crucifying again the Son of God to their own harm and are holding him up to contempt.^(C)

¹⁰ for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia,^[a] Titus to Dalmatia.^(A)

⁵ for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. ⁶ So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober,^{(A) 7} for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.^(B)

²¹ for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.^(A)