Truly, truly, I say unto you, When you were young, you girded yourself, and walked where you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not [go on your own].
The words “girded” and “gird” above (John 21:18) are from the Greek words zonnumi, which only appears here, meaning “to bind about (especially with a belt).” In the previous post, we discussed the Hebrew words chabash and ‘acar, both meaning and rendered “bind up,” (speaking of when the LORD raises the house of David and closes up the breach thereof.)
Amos 9
11 In that day will I raise up the house of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom [the enemies mixed among us], and of all the heathen [those who don’t know {are ignorant of} God, even though they say they do] which are called by my name, says the LORD that does this.
In an earlier post, we saw the word ‘ezowr, rendered “girdle,” “from 246; something girt; a belt, also a band:–girdle.”
Also from this earlier (28 July 2021) post: “The girdle (‘ezowr), the preparation by God’s leading, teaching, and advising, is first mentioned in 2 Kings 1:8 [describing Elijah wearing it], in the pattern shown when God’s people seek advice (saving) from the gods of the world, instead of from Him with us (as Jeremiah confessed knowing).”
Malachi 3
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before [paniym – as My presence] me: and the LORD, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 4
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
As seen, this preparation is spoken of in Isaiah 61:1, before the chapter tells of repairing the ruin and breach that comes upon the house.
Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up [chabash] the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
Isaiah 11
1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle [‘ezowr] of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle [‘ezowr] of his reins.
Isaiah 30
26 Moreover the light of the moon [understanding of civil Government] shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun [the understanding of the church] shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up [chabash] the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
When the LORD, in the title verse, tells Peter, when he is old he will “stretch forth” his hand and another will gird (prepare him), he is referring to Matthew 14:31. It’s a pattern of being caught up (harpazo – to seize, against the will), a pattern of this moment, when the LORD’s hand is stretched out (ekteino), to pull His people from the fires of the world’s tribulation. There the word rendered “caught” is epilambanomai, meaning “to seize (for help, injury, attainment, or any other purpose; literally or figuratively):–catch, lay hold (up-)on, take (by, hold of, on).”
Matthew 14
22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship [the church as an institution], and to go before him unto the other side [this time], while he sent the multitudes away.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening [when darkness, ignorance, covered the earth] was come, he was there alone.
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea [among the people at large], tossed with waves [the pride of men, who’ve agitated the world by their misleading]: for the wind was contrary [their spirit resists and opposes the LORD among them unknown].
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea [among the people at large].
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I [ego eimi – I Am, the Father in me is present]; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, LORD, if it be you, bid me come unto you on the water [to understand your word].
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship [came out from the among them, away from corrupted church doctrine], he walked on the water [on the word of God], to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, LORD, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth [ekteino] his hand, and caught [epilambanomai] him, and said unto him, O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship [when His sound doctrine is returned to its rightful place in the church], the wind [the contrary spirit] ceased.
33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth you are the Son of God.
As we know, the Greek word harpazo is rendered “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, a passage twisted by the false prophets and false teachers of our time into the false (fly away) doctrine of the rapture. As we know, the same word (harpazo) is explained in Jude 1:23, there rendered “pulling,” when telling us to pull from the fire (of tribulation) with fear: telling them their garments spotted by the flesh endanger them. “And others save with fear, pulling [harpazo] them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
We know the same word (harpazo), is used by the LORD in John 10:21 in telling of the wolf that “catches” and scatters the sheep, and in Matthew 11:12 as He speaks of the kingdom of heaven suffering violence, and the violent “take it by force.”
When it appears in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, it depicts the LORD’s coming that coincides with the description in Exodus 19 referred to in Jeremiah 31:32. The passage in Jeremiah is quoted in Hebrews 8, where, in verse 9, the word epilambanomai is used speaking of when the LORD “took them by” the hand and led them out of bondage. The Hebrew equivalent word used is chazaq, meaning “to fasten upon; hence, to seize, be strong (figuratively, courageous, causatively strengthen, cure, help, repair, fortify), obstinate; to bind, restrain, conquer.”
It (chazaq) is, in Jeremiah 31:32, rendered “took them by” and Exodus 19:19 as “waxed louder and louder,” speaking of the “voice of the trumpet,” on the third day, calling all to gather to the LORD. This is the pattern of the voice of the archangel, the trumpet sounding, described by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 & 17, of which we should not be ignorant.
As we know, Hebrews 12 tell us (while the pattern of arrival and the voice are the same) the place reached is different, which is the point made in Jeremiah 31 and Hebrew 8: the new covenant learned in the presence of the LORD with us.
Exodus 19
5 Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel.
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.
10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes,
11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
12 And you shall set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder [chazaq – when the voice took hold], Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.
20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai [among the thorns – to quell the agitation of the misleading], on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for you charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
The last verses above are what is different: now all can enter the presence of God, by following the forerunner He’s sent.
Hebrews 6:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enter into that within the veil [into the Father’s presence]
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec [from outside the corrupt priest order of the moment].
Hebrews 8
8 For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by [epilambanomai] the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the LORD.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decayed and waxed old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 12
18 For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22 But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. [You should fear] For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him [I Am] that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
1 Thessalonians 4
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [harpazo] together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the LORD so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our LORD Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify [educate] one another, even as also you do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you [teaching], and are over you in the LORD, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
1 Timothy 6
1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters [teachers] worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
2 And they that have believing masters [teacher], let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.
3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our LORD Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words, whereof comes envy, strife, railings, evil surmising,
5 Perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness [as do the false prophets and false teachers of the false church]: from such withdraw yourself.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on [epilambanomai] eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
13 I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens [who brings to life from death] all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our LORD Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light [understanding] which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy;
18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate [this word of God];
19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on [epilambanomai] eternal life.
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings [the confusion of this world]: the antitheses of knowledge, while falsely so called:
21 Which some professing [the reversed reality of this deluded world] have erred concerning the faith [believing instead there is peace and safety in following their insanity]. Grace be with you. Amen.
James 5
1 Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the LORD of the army of heaven.
5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned [katadikazo] and killed the just; and he does not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the LORD. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be you also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the LORD draws nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the LORD, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the LORD; that the LORD is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest you fall into condemnation.
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael [the archangel, who is like God, whose voice is as a trumpet calling all to awaken in His presence] stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some [the woke of the world] to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
John 5
24 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Truly, truly, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.
Jeremiah 8
1 At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before the sun [the darkened church], and the moon [the ignorant civil government], and all the host of heaven [those who claim to be the stars of heaven, drunken in confusion], whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts.
4 Moreover you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
8 How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.
13 I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead [is there no healing in this testimony]; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Jude 1
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the LORD, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The LORD rebuke you.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage [because of their positions of power].
17 But, beloved, remember you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our LORD Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling [harpazo] them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted [see verse 12 above] by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Psalms 4
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
2 O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? how long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.
3 But know that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift you up the light of your countenance [understanding your presence] upon us.
7 You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for you, LORD, only make me dwell in safety.
