⁵⁵ and the priest shall look, after that the plague is washed; and, behold, if the plague have not changed its color, and the plague be not spread, it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire: it is a fret, whether the bareness be within or without.

¹³ In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed thee and thou wast not cleansed, thou shalt not be cleansed from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my wrath toward thee to rest.

⁴ For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

⁵ and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,

⁶ and `then' fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

⁷ For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from God:

⁸ but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned.

⁹ For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first.

²¹ For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

²² It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.