American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through {Or, his eternal spirit}the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse {Many ancient authorities read our.}your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Thou {Or, sparest}meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou wast wroth, and we sinned: {Or, in those is continuance, and we shall be saved The Hebrew is obscure.}in them have we been of long time; and shall we be saved?
in all things showing thyself an ensample of good works; in thy doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity,
sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of us.
Exhort {Greek: bondservants.}servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing to them in all things; not gainsaying;
whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of {Or, a}the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
{Many ancient authorities read For we reckon.}We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from {Or, works of law}the works of the law.
Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.
and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned unto them;
And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you.
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together.
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?
And Abraham said, God will {Hebrew: see for himself.}provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son: so they went both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.
And Abraham called the name of that place {That is, Jehovah will see, or provide.}Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah {Or, he shall be seen}it shall be provided.
And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven,
and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,
that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth {Or, bless themselves}be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.
So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not {Some ancient authorities omit as.}as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not of works, that no man should glory.
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus {Many ancient authorities omit Christ.}Christ.
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.
but declared both to them of Damascus first and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judæa, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of {Or, their repentance}repentance.
Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
{Or, But some one will say}Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith.
Thou believest that {Some ancient authorities read there is one God.}God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?
Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, {Numbers 16:5?}The Lord knoweth them that are his: and, {Isaiah 26:13?}Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.
For he that lacketh these things is blind, {Or, closing his eyes}seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.
Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
giving thanks unto the Father, who made {Some ancient authorities read you.}us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own {Greek: bondservants.}servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey.
Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents.
In like manner he also that received the two gained other two.
But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
Now after a long time the lord of those {Greek: bondservants.}servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them.
And he that received the five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents.
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful {Greek: bondservant.}servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
And he also that received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents.
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful {Greek: bondservant.}servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter;
and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own.
But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful {Greek: bondservant.}servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter;
thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest.
Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents.
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.
And cast ye out the unprofitable {Greek: bondservant.}servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear.
He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
And he called ten {Greek: bondservants.}servants of his, and gave them ten {Mina, here translated pound, is equal to a one hundred drachmas. See chapter 15:8.}pounds, and said unto them, Trade ye herewith till I come.
But his citizens hated him, and sent an ambassage after him, saying, We will not that this man reign over us.
And it came to pass, when he was come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these {Greek: bondservants.}servants, unto whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading.
And the first came before him, saying, Lord, thy pound hath made ten pounds more.
And he said unto him, Well done, thou good {Greek: bondservant.}servant: because thou wast found faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
And the second came, saying, Thy pound, Lord, hath made five pounds.
And he said unto him also, Be thou also over five cities.
And {Greek: the other.}another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I kept laid up in a napkin:
for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that which thou layedst not down, and reapest that which thou didst not sow.
He saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked {Greek: bondservant.}servant. Thou knewest that I am an austere man, taking up that which I laid not down, and reaping that which I did not sow;
then wherefore gavest thou not my money into the bank, and {Or, I should have gone and required}I at my coming should have required it with interest?
And he said unto them that stood by, Take away from him the pound, and give it unto him that hath the ten pounds.
And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.
I say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him.
But these mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge;
and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control {Or, stedfastness}patience; and in your {Or, stedfastness}patience godliness;
and in your godliness {Greek: love of the brethren.}brotherly kindness; and in your {Greek: love of the brethren.}brotherly kindness love.
For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For he that lacketh these things is blind, {Or, closing his eyes}seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.
Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:
for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.