But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,
traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!
. . .
Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds—
He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,
who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm.
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve.
. . .
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”
And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
These are the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.
So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael to consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.
I will break down the gates of Damascus; I will cut off the ruler of the Valley of Aven and the one who wields the scepter in Beth-eden. The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the LORD.
. . .
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?
Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.
Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.
But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
. . .
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.