American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.
Wherefore if any man is in Christ, {Or, there is a new creation}he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.
And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer {Or, perfect}without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.
And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
and Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.
And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
and the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin-offering.
And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:
the same shall purify himself therewith on the third day, {Or, and on the seventh day, so shall he be clean}and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, {Or, and}then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
Whosoever toucheth a dead person, the body of a man that hath died, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of Jehovah; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.
This is the law when a man dieth in a tent: every one that cometh into the tent, and every one that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
And whosoever in the open field toucheth one that is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
And for the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin-offering; and {Hebrew: living.}running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave:
and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah: the water for impurity hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.
And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them: and he that sprinkleth the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he that toucheth the water for impurity shall be unclean until even.
And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, {Many ancient authorities read they can.}can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.
Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year.
For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, {Psalm 11:6 ff}Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,But a body didst thou prepare for me;
In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure:
Then said I, Lo, I am come(In the roll of the book it is written of me)To do thy will, O God.
Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law),
then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
{Or, In}By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every {Some ancient authorities read high priest.}priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins:
but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for {Or, sins, for ever sat down &c.}sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet.
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us; for after he hath said,
{Jeremiah 31:33 f.}This is the covenant that {Greek: I will covenant.}I will make with themAfter those days, saith the Lord:I will put my laws on their heart,And upon their mind also will I write them;then saith he,
And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
and having a great priest over the house of God;
let us draw near with a true heart in {Or, full assurance}fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil {Or, conscience, and our body washed with pure water: let us hold fast}conscience: and having our body washed with pure water,
let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised:
and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works;
not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a {Or, jealously}fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.
A man that hath set at nought Moses' law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses:
of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified {Greek: a common thing.}an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know him that said, {Deuteronomy 32:35}Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, {Deuteronomy 32:36}The Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of sufferings;
partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used.
For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that {Many ancient authorities read ye have your own selves for a better possession &c. Compare Luke 9:25; 21:19.}ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.
Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward.
For ye have need of {Or, stedfastness}patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.
{Habakkuk 2:3 f.}For yet a very little while,He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.
But {Some ancient authorities read the righteous one.}my righteous one shall live by faith:And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.
But we are not {Greek: of shrinking back.}of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the {Or, gaining}saving of the soul.
Being therefore justified {Greek: out of.}by faith, {Many ancient authorities read let us have.}we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
through whom also we have had our access {Some ancient authorities omit by faith.}by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and {Or, let us rejoice}we {Greek: glory. Verse 11; Hebrew 3:6.}rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
But we all, with unveiled face {Or, reflecting as a mirror}beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision:
for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:
though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man {Or, seemeth}thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
Howbeit what things were {Greek: gains.}gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,
and be found in him, {Or, not having as my righteousness that which is of the law}not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God {Greek: upon.}by faith:
that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;
if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may {Or, lay hold, seeing that also I was laid hold on}lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself {Many ancient authorities omit yet.}yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before.
I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the {Or, upward}high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are {Or, full-grown 1 Corinthians 2:6.}perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you:
only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.
Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample.
For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
For our {Or, commonwealth}citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.
Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if {Or, it}he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.
{Some ancient authorities read Now to glory is not expedient, but i will come &c.}I must needs glory, though it is not expedient; but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven.
And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth),
how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
On behalf of such a one will I glory: but on mine own behalf I will not glory, save in my weaknesses.
For if I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth: but I forbear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me to be, or heareth from me.
And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the {Some ancient authorities read revelations—wherefore, that &c.}revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a {Or, stake}thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch.
Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may {Or, cover me Greek: spread a tabernacle over me. See Revelation 7:15.}rest upon me.
Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
I am become foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind {Or, those preeminent apostles}the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing.
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all {Or, stedfastness}patience, by signs and wonders and {Greek: powers.}mighty works.
For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except it be that I myself was not a burden to you? forgive me this wrong.
Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be a burden to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
And I will most gladly spend and be {Greek: spent out.}spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
Did I take advantage of you by any one of them whom I have sent unto you?
I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? walked we not {Or, by the same Spirit}in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
{Or, Think ye…you?}Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.
For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means there should be strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, {Or, disorders}tumults;
lest again when I come my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn for many of them that have sinned heretofore, and repented not of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they committed.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?
Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become {Or, united with the likeness…with the likeness}united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection;
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin;
for he that hath died is {Or, released Compare Ecclus. 26.29 (Greek); chapter 7:1.}justified from sin.
But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him;
knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him.
For {Or, in that}the death that he died, he died unto sin {Greek: once for all. Hebrews 7:27}once: but {Or, in that}the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof:
neither present your members unto sin as {Or, weapons Compare 2 Corinthians 10:4.}instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as {Or, weapons Compare 2 Corinthians 10:4.}instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid.
Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as {Greek: bondservants.}servants unto obedience, his {Greek: bondservants.}servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
But thanks be to God, {Or, that ye were…but ye became}that, whereas ye were {Greek: bondservants.}servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that {Or, pattern}form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered;
and being made free from sin, ye became {Greek: bondservants.}servants of righteousness.
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification.
For when ye were {Greek: bondservants.}servants of sin, ye were free in regard of righteousness.
What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin;
And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.
Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same {Or, thought}mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased {Some ancient authorities read unto sins.}from sin;
But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.