Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.(A)

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Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

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12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.(A)

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12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

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“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

“This is what the Lord says:

“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,(A)
    how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,(B)
    through a land not sown.
Israel was holy(C) to the Lord,(D)
    the firstfruits(E) of his harvest;
all who devoured(F) her were held guilty,(G)
    and disaster overtook them,’”
declares the Lord.

Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
    all you clans of Israel.

This is what the Lord says:

“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
    that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols(H)
    and became worthless(I) themselves.

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Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.

Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

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10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.(A) 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope(B) for may be fully realized.

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10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:

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And this is my prayer: that your love(A) may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,(B)

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And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

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Now about your love for one another(A) we do not need to write to you,(B) for you yourselves have been taught by God(C) to love each other.(D) 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.(E) Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,(F)

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But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

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13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind(A) and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on(B) toward the goal to win the prize(C) for which God has called(D) me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

15 All of us, then, who are mature(E) should take such a view of things.(F) And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.(G) 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

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13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

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To the Church in Laodicea

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea(A) write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness,(B) the ruler of God’s creation.(C) 15 I know your deeds,(D) that you are neither cold nor hot.(E) I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’(F) But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.(G)

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14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

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Thanksgiving and Prayer

We ought always to thank God for you,(A) brothers and sisters,[a] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 2:1, 13, 15; 3:1, 6, 13.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

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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)

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14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

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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)

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20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

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