⁴ These are they who have not made themselves unclean with women; for they are virgins. These are they who go after the Lamb wherever he goes. These were taken from among men to be the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

⁴ But you have some names in Sardis who have kept clean their robes; and as a reward they will go in white with me.

¹⁸ Of his purpose he gave us being, by his true word, so that we might be, in a sense, the first-fruits of all the things which he had made.

² For I have a very great care for you: because you have been married by me to one husband, and it is my desire to give you completely holy to Christ.

²⁷ My sheep give ear to my voice, and I have knowledge of them, and they come after me:

²⁶ If any man is my servant, let him come after me; and where I am, there will my servant be. If any man becomes my servant, my Father will give him honour.

⁹ And their voices are sounding in a new song, saying, It is right for you to take the book and to make it open: for you were put to death and have made an offering to God of your blood for men of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation,

¹⁴ These will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because he is the Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him are named, marked out, and true.

¹⁵ This is why they are before the high seat of God; and they are his servants day and night in his house: and he who is seated on the high seat will be a tent over them.

¹⁶ They will never be in need of food or drink: and they will never again be troubled by the burning heat of the sun:

¹⁷ For the Lamb who is on the high seat will be their keeper and their guide to fountains of living water: and God will make glad their eyes for ever.

¹² Then again Jesus said to them, I am the light of the world; he who comes with me will not be walking in the dark but will have the light of life.

¹ Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, the friends of the bride, who took their lights, and went out with the purpose of meeting the husband.

⁹ But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven.

³ Who keep men from being married and from taking food which God made to be taken with praise by those who have faith and true knowledge.

¹⁴ Which is the first-fruit of our heritage, till God gets back that which is his, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵ Now I make my request to you, my brothers, for you have knowledge that the house of Stephanas is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have made themselves the servants of the saints,

²⁸ If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.

¹⁴ She will come before the king in robes of needlework; the virgins in her train will come before you.

² Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.

³ Sweet is the smell of your perfumes; your name is as perfume running out; so the young girls give you their love.

⁸ There are sixty queens, and eighty servant-wives, and young girls without number.

³ Israel was holy to the Lord, the first-fruits of his increase: all who made attacks on him were judged as wrongdoers, evil came on them, says the Lord.

¹ Sorrow to those who are resting in comfort in Zion, and to those who have no fear of danger in the mountain of Samaria, the noted men of the chief of the nations, to whom the people of Israel come!

¹⁹ And there came a scribe and said to him, Master, I will come after you wherever you go.

⁵⁷ And when they were on the way, a certain man said to him, I will come after you wherever you go.

⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have resting-places, but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.

⁵⁹ And he said to another, Come after me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.

⁶⁰ But he said to him, Let the dead take care of their dead; it is for you to go and give news of the kingdom of God.

⁶¹ And another man said, I will come with you, Lord, but first let me say a last good-day to those who are at my house.

⁶² But Jesus said, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is good enough for the kingdom of God.

²⁸ Give attention to yourselves, and to all the flock which the Holy Spirit has given into your care, to give food to the church of God, for which he gave his blood.

²⁰ For a payment has been made for you: let God be honoured in your body.

²⁵ Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.

²⁶ In my opinion then, because of the present trouble, it is good for a man to keep as he is.

³⁷ Peter said to him, Why may I not come with you even now? I will give up my life for you.