Promising, freedom to them, they themselves, being all the while, slaves of corruption,—for, by whom one hath been defeated, by the same, hath he become enslaved,—
For, ye, on a footing of freedom, were called, brethren,—only, turn not your freedom into an occasion to the flesh, but, by means of your love, be serving one another;
For, even we, used, at one time, to be—thoughtless, unyielding, deceived, in servitude unto manifold covetings and pleasures, in malice and envy, leading on, detestable, hating one another.
As for the prophets,—Broken is my heart within me Trembled have all my bones, I have become as a drunken man, And as a strong man whom wine hath overcome,—Because of Yahweh, And because of his holy words.
Alas! for the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, And for his fading wreath of majestic beauty,—Which is on the head of the fertile valley, of them who are overcome with wine.
For, if, having escaped from the defilements of the world by a personal knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but, by the same having again become entangled, they are defeated, the, last, state hath become, for them, worse than, the first;
And the man in whom was the wicked spirit, springing upon them, mastering them both, prevailed against them, so that, naked and wounded, fled they out of that house.
Through which, his precious, and very great, promises, have, unto us, been given, in order that, through these, ye might become sharers in a divine nature—escaping the corruption that is in the world by coveting.