I urge you, brethren, to watch out for those who incite dissensions and obstacles in opposition to the teaching that you have learned. Take care to avoid them.
Commit your way to the Lord; place your trust in him, and he will act. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, and the justice of your cause, like the noonday.
For they said to you, “In the final age there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly passions.” It is these people who create divisions, who follow their natural instincts and do not possess the Spirit.
However, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, then I will allow you to live in this place, in the land that I gave as a permanent gift to your fathers long ago.
They will never again experience hunger or thirst, nor will the sun or any scorching heat cause them discomfort. For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
But for that very reason I was treated mercifully, so that in me Jesus Christ might exhibit his inexhaustible patience, making me an example for those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.