2 Corinthians 6 Cross References - Williams

¹ As God's fellow-worker I beg you too not to accept God's favor and throw it away. ² For He says: "At a welcome time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." Right now the time of welcome is here; right now it is the day of salvation. ³ To keep my ministry from being found fault with, I am trying not to put a single hindrance in anybody's way. ⁴ On the contrary, I am trying in everything to prove to people that I am a true servant of God: by my tremendous endurance in sorrows, distresses, difficulties; ⁵ in floggings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger; ⁶ through my personal purity, my knowledge, my patience, my kindness; through the Holy Spirit, my genuine love, ⁷ my message of truth, and the power of God; with the weapons of right-doing in my right hand and my left; ⁸ in honor or dishonor, in slander or praise; considered a deceiver and yet true, ⁹ obscure and yet well-known, on the point of dying and yet I go on living, punished and yet not put to death, ¹⁰ sad but always glad, poor but making many people rich, penniless but really possessing everything. ¹¹ O Corinthians, my tongue is telling you everything; my heart is stretched with love for you. ¹² You are not squeezed into a tiny corner in my heart, but you are in your own affections. ¹³ To pay me back, I tell you, my children, you too must stretch your hearts with love for me. ¹⁴ Stop forming intimate and inconsistent relations with unbelievers. What partnership can right-doing have with law-breaking, or how can light participate with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony exists between Christ and Belial, or what is common between a believer and an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they will be my people." ¹⁷ Therefore: "'Come out of company with them, and separate from them,' the Lord has said, 'And stop touching what is unclean; then I will welcome you, ¹⁸ I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters of mine,' The Lord Almighty said."

⁴ "Blessed are the mourners, for they will be comforted.

¹¹ "Blessed are you when people abuse you, and persecute you, and keep on falsely telling all sorts of evil against you for my sake. ¹² Keep on rejoicing and leaping for ecstasy, for your reward will be rich in heaven; for this is the way they persecuted the prophets who lived before you.

¹² Keep on rejoicing and leaping for ecstasy, for your reward will be rich in heaven; for this is the way they persecuted the prophets who lived before you.

¹⁹ "Stop storing up your riches on earth where moths and rust make away with them, and where thieves break in and steal them. ²⁰ But keep on storing up your riches in heaven where moths and rust do not make away with them and where thieves do not break in and steal them.

²⁴ No one can be a slave to two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and money.

¹⁵ Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot mourn, can they, as long as they have the bridegroom with them? But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

²⁸ After He had gone into the house, and the blind men had gone up to Him, Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe that I can do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, and said, "In accordance with your faith it must be done for you."

²⁵ The pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and the slave should be satisfied to become like his master. If men have called the Head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they heap upon the members of His family!

³ For Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him out of the way by putting him in prison, just to please Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

¹⁰ And he sent and had John beheaded in prison.

¹⁹ After that the disciples came to Jesus and privately asked, "Why is it we could not drive it out?" ²⁰ He answered them, "Because you have so little faith! For I solemnly say to you, if you have the faith that is living like a grain of mustard, you can say to this mountain, 'Move over from here to yonder,' and it will move over, and nothing will be impossible for you to do."

²⁷ but still, that we may not influence them to do anything wrong, go down to the sea and throw over a hook. Pull in the first fish that bites, open its mouth and you will find in it a dollar. Take it and pay the tax for both of us."

⁶ But whoever leads one of these little ones, who believe in me, to do wrong, had better have a great millstone hung around his neck to sink him to the bottom of the sea.

¹⁶ So they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, to say to Him, "Teacher, we know that you are in the habit of telling the truth and of teaching the way of God in honesty, and you do not care what anyone says, for you are not partial.

³⁷ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that has kept on murdering the prophets, and stoning those who have been sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused!

⁶³ and said, "Sir, we remember that that pretender said while He was living, 'After three days I will rise again.'

⁴ But Jesus said to them, "A prophet never fails to be honored except in his native neighborhood, among his kinsmen, and in his own home." ⁵ He could not do any mighty deeds there, except that He put His hands on a few ailing people and cured them. ⁶ And He wondered at their lack of faith in Him. Then He made a circle of the villages and continued teaching.

²⁴ So then I tell you, whenever you pray and ask for anything, have faith that it has been granted you, and you will get it.

¹⁴ And they came up and said to Him, "We know that you always tell the truth, and pay no personal consideration to anyone, but teach the way of God honestly. Is it right to pay poll-tax to Caesar, or not?

³⁴ It will be like a man who leaves his home and goes on a journey, after he has given orders to his slaves, to each his particular task, and has given orders to the watchman to keep watch. ³⁵ So you must keep alert, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming -- in the evening or at midnight or at daybreak or early in the morning -- ³⁶ so that he may not come unexpectedly and find you asleep. ³⁷ And so what I say to you, I say to everybody, keep alert."

¹⁶ He who believes it and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe it will be condemned.

²⁰ Then they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept on working with them and confirming their message by the signs that attended it.

¹⁹ to announce the year of favor from the Lord."

²¹ Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be completely satisfied! Blessed are you who are weeping now, for you will laugh!

¹¹ So if you have not proved dependable in handling your ill-gotten riches, who will trust you with the true riches? ¹² And if you have not proved dependable in what belongs to someone else, who will trust you with what belongs to you?

⁴² and said: "If today you yourself had only known the conditions of peace! But now they are hidden from you. ⁴³ For a time is coming upon you when your enemies will throw up earthworks around you and surround you and hem you in on all sides, ⁴⁴ and they will throw you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know when God visited you."

¹⁹ By your endurance you will win your souls.

¹² But to all who did accept Him, and trust in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God,

³⁷ All that my Father gives to me will come to me, and I will never, no, never reject anyone who comes to me, ³⁸ because I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.

⁵⁶ Whoever continues to eat my flesh and drink my blood continues to live in union with me and I in union with him.

⁷ It is impossible for the world to hate you; it is I whom it hates, because I continue to testify that its works are wicked.

¹² And there was a great deal of grumbling about Him among the crowds, some saying that He was a good man, and others that He was not, but was misleading the masses.

¹⁷ If anyone is willing to keep on doing God's will, he will know whether my teaching comes from God, or merely expresses my own ideas. ¹⁸ Whoever utters merely his own ideas is seeking his own honor, but whoever seeks the honor of him who sent him is sincere, and there is no dishonesty in him.

¹⁸ If the world continues to hate you, remember that it has first hated me. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love what is its own. But it is because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, that the world hates you.

²² So you too are now in sorrow, but I am going to see you again, and then your hearts will be happy, and no one can rob you of your happiness.

²² "Fellow Israelites, listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, as you yourselves well know, a man accredited to you by God through mighty deeds and wonders and wonder-works which God performed through Him right here among you,

⁴⁰ With many more words he continued to testify and to plead with them to save themselves from that crooked age.

⁶ But Peter said, "No silver or gold have I, but what I do have I will give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth start walking."

²¹ So, after further threatening them, they turned them loose, because they could not find any way to punish them, on account of the people, because they all continued to praise God for what had taken place,

²³ When they were turned loose, the apostles went back to their companions and told them what the high priests and elders had said to them.

¹³ Not one of those on the outside dared to associate with them, although the people continued to hold them in high regard, ¹⁴ but still a vast number of people, both men and women, who believed in the Lord, continued to join them,

¹⁸ they had the apostles arrested and put into the common jail.

⁴⁰ They were convinced by him, and after calling the apostles in and having them flogged, they charged them to stop speaking on the authority of Jesus, and then turned them loose. ⁴¹ So they went out from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer disgrace for Jesus' name;

⁴¹ So they went out from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer disgrace for Jesus' name;

³ So, brothers, you must select from your number seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit, and of good practical sense, and we will assign them to this business,

²⁰ But Peter said to him, "Your money go to perdition with you for even dreaming you could buy the gift of God with money!

¹⁶ For I am going to show him how great are the sufferings he must endure for my name's sake."

²² They answered, "Cornelius, a colonel in the army, an upright man and one who reveres God, and a man of high reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to listen to a message you would bring."

²¹ And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

⁴ He had him seized and put into prison, and turned him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, planning after the Passover to bring him out again to the people. ⁵ So Peter was being kept in prison, but earnest prayer to God for him was persistently made by the church.

³ So after fasting and praying, they laid their hands upon them and let them go.

³ In spite of this, however, they stayed there a considerable time and continued to speak with courage from the Lord, who continued to bear testimony to His gracious message and kept on granting signs and wonders to be done by them.

¹¹ So the crowds, because they saw what Paul had done, shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods in human form have come down to us!" ¹² They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul, because he was the principal speaker, Hermes. ¹³ The priest of the temple of Zeus, which stood at the entrance to the town, came with crowds of people to the gates, bringing bulls and garlands; he meant to offer sacrifices to them. ¹⁴ But the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, when they heard it, tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, ¹⁵ and shouted, "Men, why are you doing this? We are merely men with natures like your own, who are telling you the good news, so that you may turn from these foolish things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain. ¹⁶ In ages past He let all the heathen go on in their own ways; ¹⁷ though He did not fail to furnish evidences about Himself, in constantly showing His kindness to you, in sending you rain from heaven and fruit-producing seasons, in giving you food and happiness to your heart's content." ¹⁸ Even by saying this it was all that they could do to keep the crowds from offering sacrifices to them. ¹⁹ But some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and won the crowds by persuasion, and they stoned Paul, and dragged him outside the town, supposing he was dead.

¹⁹ But some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and won the crowds by persuasion, and they stoned Paul, and dragged him outside the town, supposing he was dead. ²⁰ But the disciples formed a circle about him, and he got up and went back to town. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

²³ They helped them select elders in each church, and after praying and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁰ and brought them to the chiefs of the police court. They said, "These men are Jews; they continue to make great disturbance in our town ²¹ and to advocate practices which it is against the law for us Romans to accept or observe." ²² The crowd also joined in the attack upon them, and the chiefs of the police court had them stripped and flogged. ²³ After flogging them severely, they put them into jail, and gave the jailer orders to keep close watch on them. ²⁴ Because he had such strict orders, he put them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. ²⁵ But about midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

³⁹ and came and pleaded with them, and took them out and begged them to leave town.

⁵ But this enraged the Jews; so they got together some wicked loafers about the public square, formed a mob, and set the town in an uproar.

¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers began to debate with him; and some said, "What is this scraps-of-truth-picker trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities." They said so because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

¹² While Gallio was governor of Greece, the Jews unanimously attacked Paul and one day brought him before the court, ¹³ and said, "This fellow is inducing people to worship God in ways that violate our laws." ¹⁴ As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were some misdemeanor or underhanded rascality, O Jews, I would in reason listen to you; ¹⁵ but as it is questions about words and titles and your own law, you will have to see to it yourselves. I refuse to act as judge in these matters." ¹⁶ So he drove them away from the court. ¹⁷ Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and kept beating him right in front of the court; but Gallio paid no attention to it.

²³ Now just about that time a great commotion arose about The Way. ²⁴ A silversmith named Demetrius, by manufacturing silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing in great profits to his workmen. ²⁵ He called together his workmen, and others engaged in similar trades, and said to them: "Men, you well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours, ²⁶ and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.

²⁶ and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. ²⁷ Now the danger facing us is, not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into contempt and that she whom all Asia and all the world now worship will soon be dethroned from her majestic glory!" ²⁸ When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" ²⁹ So the whole city was thrown into confusion and with one impulse the people rushed into the theatre and dragged with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. ³⁰ Paul wanted to go into the assembly and address the people, but the disciples would not let him. ³¹ Some of the public officials in Asia, who were friendly to him, also sent word to him, begging him not to risk himself in the theatre. ³² So they kept on shouting, some one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know why they had met. ³³ Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front, and since Alexander had made a gesture of the hand as though he would make a defense before the people. ³⁴ But as soon as they saw that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them all as the shout of one man, lasting for two hours: "Great Artemis of Ephesus!"

²³ except that in town after town the Holy Spirit emphatically assures me that imprisonment and sufferings are awaiting me. ²⁴ But now I count as nothing the sacrifice of my life, if only I can finish my race and render the service entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, of faithfully telling the good news of God's favor.

³¹ So ever be on your guard and always remember that for three years, night and day, I never ceased warning you one by one, and that with tears.

³⁴ You know yourselves that these hands of mine provided for my own needs and for my companions.

²⁷ As the seven days were drawing to a close, the Jews from Asia caught a glimpse of him in the temple and began to stir up all the crowd, and seized him, ²⁸ as they kept shouting, "Men of Israel, help! help! This is the man who teaches everybody everywhere against our people and the law and this place; yea, more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and desecrated this sacred place." ²⁹ For they had previously seen Trophimus of Ephesus in the city with him, and so they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰ The whole city was stirred with excitement, and all at once the people rushed together, and seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and its gates at once were shut. ³¹ Now while they were trying to kill him, news reached the colonel of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in a ferment. ³² So he at once got together some soldiers and captains and hurried down against them, but as soon as they saw the colonel and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ Then the colonel came up and seized Paul and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he then asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ But they kept shouting in the crowd, some one thing, some another. As he could not with certainty find out about it, because of the tumult, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. ³⁵ When Paul got to the steps, he was actually borne by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob,

³⁷ As he was about to be taken into the barracks, Paul said to the colonel, "May I say something to you?" The colonel asked, "Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Are you not the Egyptian who sometime ago raised a mob of four thousand cut-throats and led them out into the desert?"

¹² There a man named Ananias, a man devout in strict accordance with the law, of good reputation among all the Jews who lived there,

²³ While they were shouting and tossing their clothes about and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴ the colonel ordered Paul to be brought into the barracks, and told them to examine him by flogging, in order that he might find out why they were crying out against him in such a way.

¹⁰ Since the dispute kept growing hotter and hotter, the colonel became alarmed that Paul might be torn in pieces by them, and so ordered the army to march down and take him out of their hands and bring him back to the barracks.

³⁵ he said, "I will carefully hear your case as soon as your accusers arrive." Then he ordered him to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.

⁵ For we have found this man a perfect pest and a distributor of the peace among the Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes;

²⁷ But at the close of two whole years Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and as he wanted to gratify the Jews, Felix left Paul still in prison.

¹⁴ and as they stayed for several days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. He said, "There is a man here who was left in prison by Felix, ¹⁵ and when I was in Jerusalem, the Jewish high priests and elders presented their case against him, and continued to ask for a judgment against him.

¹⁹ They merely had a quarrel with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died, but who Paul kept saying was still alive.

²⁶ Yet, I have nothing definite to write our Sovereign about him. So I have brought him before all of you, especially before you, King Agrippa, to get from your examination something to put in writing.

¹⁰ That was what I did at Jerusalem; yes, I received authority from the high priests and shut behind the prison bars many of God's people. Yes, when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them, and often in all the synagogues

²⁹ Paul answered, "In brief or at length, I would to God that not only you but all my hearers today were what I am -- excepting these chains!"

⁴ When the natives saw the reptile hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "Beyond a doubt this man is a murderer, for though he has been rescued from the sea, justice will not let him live." ⁵ But he simply shook the reptile off into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶ The natives kept on looking for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual take place on him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. ⁷ The governor of the island, whose name was Publius, owned estates in that part of the island, and he welcomed us and entertained us with hearty hospitality for three days. ⁸ Publius' father chanced to be sick in bed with fever and dysentery, and Paul went to see him and after praying laid his hands upon him and cured him. ⁹ Because this cure was performed, the rest of the sick people on the island kept coming to him and by degrees were cured. ¹⁰ They also honored us with many presents, and when we set sail, they supplied us with everything that we needed.

¹⁶ When we did arrive at Rome, Paul was granted permission to live by himself -- excepting a soldier to guard him. ¹⁷ Three days later, he invited the leading men of the Jews to come to see him, and when they came, he said to them, "Brothers, I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our forefathers; yet at Jerusalem I was turned over to the Romans as a prisoner.

²² But we think it fitting to let you tell us what your views are, for as to this sect it is known by all of us that it is everywhere denounced."

³⁰ So Paul for two whole years lived in a rented house of his own; he continued to welcome everybody who came to see him;

⁸ Why should we not say, as people abusively say of us, and charge us with actually saying, "Let us do evil that good may come from it"? Their condemnation is just.

² by whom we have an introduction through faith into this state of God's favor, in which we safely stand; and let us continue exulting in the hope of enjoying the glorious presence of God. ³ And not only that, but this too: let us continue exulting in our sufferings, for we know that suffering produces endurance,

³ And not only that, but this too: let us continue exulting in our sufferings, for we know that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance, tested character, and tested character, hope,

⁸ But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

⁹ But you are not living on the plane of the lower nature, but on the spiritual plane, if the Spirit of God has His home within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

¹¹ If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead has His home within you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through His Spirit that has His home within you.

¹⁴ For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. ¹⁵ For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father." ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are God's children; ¹⁷ and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ if in reality we share His sufferings, so that we may share His glory too.

²⁹ For those on whom He set His heart beforehand He marked off as His own to be made like His Son, that He might be the eldest of many brothers;

³² Since He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not with Him graciously give us everything else?

³⁵ Who can separate us from Christ's love? Can suffering or misfortune or persecution or hunger or destitution or danger or the sword? ³⁶ As the Scripture says: "For your sake we are being put to death the livelong day; we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered."

³⁶ As the Scripture says: "For your sake we are being put to death the livelong day; we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered."

² that I have deep grief and constant anguish in my heart;

²⁶ And in the place where it was said, 'You are no people of mine,' they shall be called sons of the living God."

¹² But if their stumbling has resulted in the enrichment of the world, and their overthrow becomes the enrichment of heathen peoples, how much richer the result will be when the full quota of Jews comes in!

¹ I beg you, therefore, brothers, through these mercies God has shown you, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies as a living sacrifice, devoted and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

⁹ Your love must be true. You must always turn in horror from what is wrong, but keep on holding to what is right.

¹⁵ Practice rejoicing with people who rejoice, and weeping with people who weep.

¹² The night has almost passed; the day is at hand. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the weapons of light.

¹² The night has almost passed; the day is at hand. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the weapons of light. ¹³ Let us live becomingly for people who are in the light of day, not in carousing and drunkenness, nor in sexual immorality and licentiousness, nor in quarreling and jealousy.

¹³ Let us live becomingly for people who are in the light of day, not in carousing and drunkenness, nor in sexual immorality and licentiousness, nor in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and put a stop to gratifying the evil desires that lurk in your lower nature.

¹³ Then let us stop criticizing one another; instead, do this, determine to stop putting stumbling blocks or hindrances in your brother's way.

¹⁸ whoever in this way continues serving Christ is well-pleasing to God and approved by men.

⁷ Therefore, practice receiving one another into full Christian fellowship, just as Christ has so received you to Himself.

¹³ May the hope-inspiring God so fill you with perfect joy and peace through your continuing faith, that you may bubble over with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I have completed the telling of the good news of Christ all the way from Jerusalem around to Illyricum.

¹⁰ Remember me to Apelles, that most venerated Christian. Remember me to the members of Aristobulus' family.

⁵ because you have in everything been richly blessed through union with Him, with perfect expression and fullness of knowledge.

²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks alike, the Christ who is God's power and God's wisdom.

¹ Now when I came to you, brothers, I did not come and tell you God's uncovered secret in rhetorical language or human philosophy, ² for I determined, while among you, to be unconscious of everything but Jesus Christ and Him as crucified.

⁴ and my language and the message I preached were not adorned with pleasing words of worldly wisdom, but they were attended with proof and power given by the Spirit,

⁴ and my language and the message I preached were not adorned with pleasing words of worldly wisdom, but they were attended with proof and power given by the Spirit, ⁵ so that your faith might not be in men's wisdom, but in God's power.

¹⁶ For who has ever known the Lord's thoughts, so that he can instruct Him? But we now possess Christ's thoughts.

⁵ Then what is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Mere servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave each of us his task.

⁹ for we belong to God as His fellow-workers; you belong to God as His field to be tilled, as His building to be built.

¹⁶ Are you not conscious that you are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God has His permanent home in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is sacred to Him, and you are that temple.

²¹ So let no one boast in men. For everything belongs to you -- ^{22 (46:21)} Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future -- they all belong to you. ²³ Yes, you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

¹ As for us apostles, men ought to think of us as ministers of Christ and trustees to handle God's uncovered truths.

⁹ For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on exhibition at the disgraced end of the procession, as they do with men who are doomed to die in the arena. ¹⁰ For we have become a spectacle to the universe, to angels as well as men. For Christ's sake we are held as fools, while you through union with Christ are men of wisdom. We are weak; you are strong. You are held in honor; we in dishonor. ¹¹ To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home.

¹¹ To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home.

¹¹ To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home. ¹² We have worked hard with our own hands for a living. When abused by people, we bless them. When persecuted, we patiently bear it.

¹² We have worked hard with our own hands for a living. When abused by people, we bless them. When persecuted, we patiently bear it. ¹³ When we are slandered by them, we try to conciliate them. To this very hour we have been made the filth of the world, the scum of the universe! ¹⁴ I do not write this to make you blush with shame but to give you counsel as my dear children. ¹⁵ For though you have ten thousand teachers in the Christian life, you certainly could not have many fathers. For it was I myself who became your father through your union with Christ Jesus, which resulted from my telling you the good news.

⁹ I wrote you in my letter to stop associating with sexually immoral people --

¹⁹ Or, are you not conscious that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you, whom you have as a gift from God? Furthermore, you are not your own,

⁵ You husbands and wives must stop refusing each other what is due, unless you agree to do so just for awhile, so as to have plenty of time for prayer, and then to be together again, so as to keep Satan from tempting you because of your lack of self-control.

³⁹ A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she pleases, except that he must be a Christian.

⁹ But you must see to it that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block to overscrupulous people. ¹⁰ For if somebody sees you, who have an intelligent view of this matter, partaking of a meal in an idol's temple, will he not be emboldened, with his overscrupulous conscience, to eat the food which has been sacrificed to an idol? ¹¹ Yes, the overscrupulous brother, for whom Christ died, is ruined by your so-called knowledge. ¹² Now if in such a way you sin against your brothers and wound their overscrupulous consciences, you are actually sinning against Christ. ¹³ So then, if food can make my brother fall, I will never, no, never, eat meat again, in order to keep my brother from falling.

¹¹ If we have sown the spiritual seed for you, is it too great for us to reap a material support from you? ¹² If others share this right with you, have we not a stronger claim? Yet, we have never used this right; no, we keep on bearing everything, to keep from hindering the progress of the good news of Christ.

²² To the overscrupulous I have become overscrupulous, to win the overscrupulous; yes, I have become everything to everybody, in order by all means to save some of them.

²⁰ I mean that what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be in fellowship with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot eat at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons.

²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot eat at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons.

²³ Everything is permissible for people, but not everything is good for them. Everything is permissible for people, but not everything builds up their personality. ²⁴ No one should always be looking after his own welfare, but also that of his neighbor.

³² Stop being stumbling blocks to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, ³³ just as I myself am in the habit of pleasing everybody in everything, not aiming at my own welfare but at that of as many people as possible, in order that they may be saved.

³² But since we do bring down upon us this judgment, we are being disciplined by the Lord, so that finally we may not be condemned along with the world.

⁴ Love is so patient and so kind; love never boils with jealousy; it never boasts, is never puffed with pride;

¹⁰ But by God's unmerited favor I have become what I am, and His unmerited favor shown to me was not bestowed for nothing, for I have toiled more extensively than any of them, and yet it was not I but God's unmerited favor working with me.

³¹ I protest, by the boasting which I do about you, my brothers, through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord, I myself run the risk of dying every single day!

³³ Do not be so misled: "Evil companionships corrupt good character."

⁸ For I do not want you to be uninformed about the sorrow that I suffered in Asia, because I was so crushed beyond any power to endure that I was in dire despair of life itself. ⁹ Yes, I felt within my very self the sentence of death, to keep me from depending on myself instead of God who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He saved me from a death so horrible, and He will save me again! He it is on whom I have set my hope that He will still save me,

¹² For my boast is this, to which my conscience testifies, that before the world, but especially before you, I have acted from pure motives and in sincerity before God, not depending on worldly wisdom but on God's unmerited favor.

¹⁸ As certainly as God is to be trusted, my message to you has not been a "Yes" that might mean "No." ¹⁹ For God's Son, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, Silvanus, Timothy, and me, did not become a "Yes" that might mean "No." ²⁰ But with Him it is always "Yes," for, as many as the promises of God may be, through Him they are always "Yes." This is why our "Amen" through Him is for the glory of God when spoken by us.

⁴ For out of great sorrow and distress of heart, yes, while shedding many tears, I wrote you, not to make you sad but to make you realize that my love for you continues running over.

¹⁷ Now who is qualified for such a task? I am, for I am not a peddler of God's message, like the most of them, but like a man of sincerity, like a man that is sent from God and living in His presence, in union with Christ I speak His message.

³ for you are always showing that you are a letter of Christ, produced by my service, written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

⁶ He has qualified even me as a minister of the new covenant, which is not a written but a spiritual covenant. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

² On the other hand, I have renounced all underhanded, disgraceful methods; I neither practice cunning nor do I tamper with God's message, but by clear and candid statements of truth I try to commend myself to every human conscience in God's sight.

⁶ For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in my heart, to give me the light of the knowledge of God's glory, reflected on the face of Christ. ⁷ But I am keeping this jewel in an earthen jar, to prove that its surpassing power is God's, not mine. ⁸ On every side I am ever hard-pressed, but never hemmed in; always perplexed, but never to the point of despair;

¹⁰ always being exposed to death as Jesus was, so that in my body the life of Jesus may be clearly shown. ¹¹ For all the time I continue to live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that in my mortal lower nature the life of Jesus may be clearly shown.

¹⁵ For everything is for your sakes, in order that His favor by multiplying the thanksgiving of many may make the cup run over to the praise of God.

¹⁷ For this slight and momentary sorrow continues to accumulate for me a solid and eternal glory far beyond any comparison,

¹¹ So, since I know what the fear of God can do, I am trying to win men. My inner self is perfectly known to God, and I hope, to your consciences too.

¹⁸ This has all originated with God, for He through Christ has reconciled me to Himself and has given me the ministry of reconciliation. ¹⁹ For it was through Christ that God was reconciling the world to Himself instead of debiting men's offenses against them, and He has committed to me the message of this reconciliation. ²⁰ So I am an envoy to represent Christ, because it is through me that God is making His appeal. As one representing Christ I beg you, be reconciled to God.

¹ So, since we have such promises as these, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles our bodies and spirits, and in reverence to God carry on our consecration to completeness. ² Make room for me in your hearts, I have not wronged or harmed or taken advantage of a single one of you. ³ I do not mean this for your condemnation, because, as I have said before, you have such a place in my heart that I would live with you or die with you.

³ I do not mean this for your condemnation, because, as I have said before, you have such a place in my heart that I would live with you or die with you. ⁴ I have the greatest confidence in you; I speak most highly of you. I am fully comforted; in the face of all my sorrow my cup is running over with joy.

⁴ I have the greatest confidence in you; I speak most highly of you. I am fully comforted; in the face of all my sorrow my cup is running over with joy. ⁵ For even after I had gotten to Macedonia, my frail, human nature could find no relief; I was crushed with sorrow at every turn -- fighting without and fears within. ⁶ But God, who comforts the downhearted, comforted me by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming but by the comfort he had gotten from you, because he kept on telling me how you were longing to see me, how sorry you were, and how loyal you were to me, so that I was gladder still. ⁸ For, although I did cause you sorrow by that letter, I do not now regret it; although I did regret it then. I see that the letter caused you sorrow only for a time. ⁹ I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me. ¹⁰ For the sorrow that comes in accordance with the will of God results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets, but the sorrow the world produces results in death. ¹¹ For see what this very sorrow, suffered in accordance with the will of God, has done for you! How earnest it has made you, how concerned to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how much it made you long to see me, how loyal to me, how determined to punish the offender! At every point you have cleared yourselves in the matter.

¹⁴ Indeed, if I have been doing some boasting of you to him, I have never been ashamed of it; but just as all I said to him was true, so now my boasting before Titus has been shown to be true.

¹ Now I am going to tell you, brothers, of God's spiritual blessing which was given in the churches of Macedonia, ² because in spite of a terrible test of trouble, the mighty flood of their gladness mingling with the depths of their poverty has overflowed and resulted in the abundance of their liberality.

⁹ For by experience you know the unmerited favor shown by our Lord Jesus Christ; that although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, in order that by His poverty you might become rich.

²⁰ I am arranging it so that no one can blame me in the matter of this munificent fund that is being handled by me.

¹ Now I appeal to you in person, by the gentleness and fairness of Christ, I, Paul, who am so "condescending when face to face with you, but so courageous toward you when far away!"

⁴ for the weapons used in my warfare are not mere human ones, but through my God are mighty for demolishing fortresses. ⁵ For I am demolishing arguments and every barrier that is raised against the genuine knowledge of God, taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,

⁴ For if anybody comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one I preached, or you receive another spirit different from the one you did receive or a glad message different from the one you did accept, you listen to it all right!

⁶ Although I am untrained as an orator, yet I am not so in the field of knowledge. Surely, I have always made that perfectly clear to you.

⁹ and when I was with you and needed money, I never burdened a single one of you for a cent, for the brothers came from Macedonia and supplied what I needed. And so I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way.

¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.

²³ Are they ministers of Christ? So am I. I am talking like a man that has gone crazy -- as such I am superior! -- serving Him with labors greater by far, with far more imprisonments, with floggings vastly worse, and often at the point of death.

²³ Are they ministers of Christ? So am I. I am talking like a man that has gone crazy -- as such I am superior! -- serving Him with labors greater by far, with far more imprisonments, with floggings vastly worse, and often at the point of death. ²⁴ Five times I have taken thirty-nine lashes from the Jews, ²⁵ three times I have been beaten by the Romans, once I was pelted with stones; three times I have been shipwrecked, and once I have spent a day and a night adrift at sea.

²⁷ through toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger and thirst, through many a fasting season, poorly clad and exposed to cold.

¹⁰ So I most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the strength of Christ may overshadow me. That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecution, and difficulties, which I endure for Christ's sake, for it is when I am consciously weak that I am really strong.

¹² The marks that signify the genuine apostle were exhibited among you in my perfect patience, in signs, wonders, and wonder-works.

¹⁵ So in my own case, I will most happily spend my money and myself for your sakes. If I love you much more than I love others, am I to be loved less by you?

⁴ For though He was crucified in weakness, yet by the power of God He goes on living. We too, indeed, show weakness through our union with Him, yet by the power of God we too shall be alive toward you through fellowship with Him.

²² But I was personally unknown to the Christian churches in Judea; ²³ only they kept hearing people say, "Our former persecutor is now preaching as good news the faith which once he tried to destroy," ²⁴ and they kept on praising God for me.

²¹ I never can nullify the unmerited favor of God. For if right standing with God could come through law, then Christ died for nothing.

¹ O senseless Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was pictured as the crucified One? ² I want to ask you only this one thing: Did you receive the Spirit by doing what the law commands, or by believing the message you heard?

⁴ Have you suffered so much for nothing? If it really is for nothing. ⁵ Now when He supplies you with the Spirit and performs His wonder-works among you, does He do it because you do what the law commands, or because you believe the message that you heard --

²⁶ For all of you are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

⁵ to ransom those who were subject to law, so that we might be adopted as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba," that is, "Father." ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir by God's own act.

¹¹ I am beginning to fear that I have bestowed my labors on you for nothing. ¹² I beg you, brothers, take my point of view, just as I took yours. You did me no injustice then.

¹² I beg you, brothers, take my point of view, just as I took yours. You did me no injustice then.

¹⁹ O my dear children, I am suffering a mother's birth pangs for you again, until Christ is formed in you.

²² But the product of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

⁵ He foreordained us to become His sons by adoption through Christ Jesus, to carry out the happy choice of His will,

¹³ You too, as you have heard the message of the truth, the good news that means your salvation, and as you have trusted in Him too, have been stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,

¹⁹ and how surpassingly great is His power for us who believe, measured by His tremendously mighty power ²⁰ when He raised Christ from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in heaven,

²⁰ for you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself the cornerstone.

¹ This is why I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the heathen --

⁴ By reading this you will be able to understand my insight into the secret about the Christ --

⁸ yes, on me, the very least of all His people, this unmerited favor was bestowed -- that I might preach as good news to the heathen the boundless riches of Christ,

¹⁶ and beg Him to grant you, in accordance with the riches of His perfect character, to be mightily strengthened by His Spirit in your inmost being, ¹⁷ and that Christ in His love, through your faith, may make His permanent home in your hearts. You must be deeply rooted, your foundations must be strong,

²⁰ To Him who by His power that is at work within us can do surpassingly more than all we ask or imagine,

² with perfect humility and gentleness, with patience, lovingly bearing with one another,

¹⁷ So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds, ¹⁸ with darkened understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that exists among them and because of the stubbornness of their hearts; ¹⁹ for in their recklessness they have abandoned themselves to sensuality which leads to excessive practices of all sorts of immorality. ²⁰ But this is not the way you have learned what Christ means, ²¹ if, as I take it, you have heard Him and in union with Him have been taught the truth as it is seen in Jesus,

³² You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

⁶ Stop letting anyone deceive you with groundless arguments about these things, for it is because of these very sins that God's anger comes down upon the disobedient. ⁷ So you must stop having anything to do with them. ⁸ For at one time you were darkness itself, but now in union with the Lord you are light itself. You must live like children of light, ⁹ for the product of light consists in practicing everything that is good and right and true; ¹⁰ you must approve what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Stop having anything to do with the profitless doings of darkness; instead you must continue to expose them. ¹² For it is disgraceful even to mention the vices practiced in secret by them; ¹³ and yet anything that is exposed by the light is made clear to them, for anything that is made clear is light. ¹⁴ So it is said: "Wake up, sleeper; get up from the dead, and Christ will make day dawn on you."

⁸ for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.

¹¹ You must put on God's full armor, so as to be able to stand up against the devil's stratagems. ¹² For our contest is not with human foes alone, but with the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark world; that is, with the spirit-forces of evil challenging us in the heavenly contest. ¹³ So you must take on God's full armor, so as to be able to take a stand in the day when evil attacks you, and, after having completely finished the contest, to hold your own. ¹⁴ Hold your position, then, with your waist encircled with the belt of truth, put on right-doing as a coat of mail, ¹⁵ and put on your feet the preparation the good news of peace supplies. ¹⁶ Besides all these, take on the shield which faith provides, for with it you will be able to put out all the fire-tipped arrows shot by the evil one, ¹⁷ take the helmet salvation provides, and take the sword the Spirit wields, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ Keep on praying in the Spirit, with every kind of prayer and entreaty, at every opportunity, be ever on the alert with perfect devotion and entreaty for all God's people, ¹⁹ and for me that a message may be given me when I open my lips, so that I may boldly make known the open secret of the good news, ²⁰ for the sake of which I am an envoy in prison: so that, when I tell it, I may speak as courageously as I ought.

⁸ For God is my witness how I never stop yearning for all of you with the affection Christ Jesus inspires.

¹³ in this way it has become well known throughout the Imperial Guard and to all the rest here that I am a prisoner in the service of Christ,

¹⁵ so that you may prove to be blameless and spotless, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverted age, in which you shine as light-bearers in the world as you continue

¹⁷ Yes, even if I am pouring out my life as a libation on the sacrifice and service your faith is rendering, I am glad to do so and congratulate you upon it;

⁴ By the help of the Lord always keep up the glad spirit; yes, I will repeat it, keep up the glad spirit.

¹¹ Not that I refer to any personal want, for I have learned to be contented in whatever circumstances I am. ¹² I know how to live in lowly circumstances and I know how to live in plenty. I have learned the secret, in all circumstances, of either getting a full meal or of going hungry, of living in plenty or being in want.

¹⁵ And you Philippians yourselves know that immediately after the good news was first preached to you, when I left Macedonia, no church but yours went into partnership with me to open an account of credits and debits.

⁵ because of your hope of what is laid up for you in heaven. Long ago you heard of this hope through the message of the good news

⁹ This is why, ever since I heard of it, I have never ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you, through full wisdom and spiritual insight, with a clear knowledge of His will, ¹⁰ so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord to His full satisfaction, by perennially bearing fruit in every good enterprise and by a steady growth in fuller knowledge of God; ¹¹ then you will be perfectly empowered by His glorious might for every sort of joyous endurance and forbearance,

¹¹ then you will be perfectly empowered by His glorious might for every sort of joyous endurance and forbearance,

²⁴ I am now glad to be suffering for you, and in my own person I am filling in what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for His body, that is, the church.

²⁷ to whom God has chosen to make known how glorious are the riches of this open secret among the heathen, namely, Christ in you the hope of your glorification.

³ in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up.

¹² So as God's own chosen people, consecrated and dearly loved, you must once for all clothe yourselves with tenderheartedness, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; you must keep on

¹⁶ Let the message of Christ continue to live in you in all its wealth of wisdom; keep on teaching it to one another and training one another in it with thankfulness, in your hearts singing praise to God with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

⁵ for our preaching of the good news came to you not entirely in words but with power and with the Holy Spirit and with absolute certainty (for you know the kind of men we were among you for your own sakes). ⁶ And you followed the example set by us and by the Lord, because you welcomed our message with a joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, in spite of the painful persecutions it brought you,

⁶ And you followed the example set by us and by the Lord, because you welcomed our message with a joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, in spite of the painful persecutions it brought you,

³ For our appeal did not originate from a delusion or an impure motive; it was not made in fraud; ⁴ for since we have been so approved by God as to be entrusted with the good news, we are now telling it, not to please men but God, who proves and finds approved our hearts. ⁵ Indeed, we never resorted to flattery, as you are well aware, nor to any pretext for making money; God is our witness. ⁶ We never sought praise from men, either from you or from anyone else; although as apostles we could have stood on our official dignity. ⁷ Instead we were little children among you; we were like a mother nursing her children. ⁸ Because we were yearning for you so tenderly, we were willing, not only to share with you God's good news, but to lay down our very lives too for you, all because you were so dearly loved by us. ⁹ You remember, brothers, our hard labor and toil. We kept up our habit of working night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you when we preached to you.

⁹ You remember, brothers, our hard labor and toil. We kept up our habit of working night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you when we preached to you. ¹⁰ You can testify, and God too, with what pure, upright, and irreproachable motives I dealt with you who believed;

¹⁰ You can testify, and God too, with what pure, upright, and irreproachable motives I dealt with you who believed; ¹¹ for you know how, as a father deals with his children, we used to encourage you, cheer you on, and charge each of you

¹¹ for you know how, as a father deals with his children, we used to encourage you, cheer you on, and charge each of you

² and so I sent my brother Timothy, God's minister in the preaching of the good news of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, ³ so that none of you might be deceived amid these difficulties. For you knew yourselves that this is our appointed lot,

⁷ this is the very reason, namely, through your faith, brothers, that I have been encouraged about you, in spite of all my distresses and crushing difficulties,

⁷ this is the very reason, namely, through your faith, brothers, that I have been encouraged about you, in spite of all my distresses and crushing difficulties, ⁸ for now I am really living, since you are standing firm in the Lord. ⁹ For how can I render God enough thanks for you, for all the joy I have on account of you in the presence of our God, ¹⁰ as night and day I continue to pray with deepest earnestness and keenest eagerness that I may see your faces and round out to completeness what is lacking in your faith?

⁴ But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that that day, like a thief, should take you by surprise; ⁵ for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. ⁶ So let us stop sleeping as others do, but let us stay awake and keep sober. ⁷ For those who sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunken at night, ⁸ but let us who belong to the day keep sober, clothed with faith and love for a coat of mail and with the hope of salvation for a helmet.

⁸ but let us who belong to the day keep sober, clothed with faith and love for a coat of mail and with the hope of salvation for a helmet.

¹⁴ We beg you, brothers, continue to warn the shirkers, to cheer the faint-hearted, to hold up the weak, and to be patient with everybody.

¹⁶ Always be joyful.

¹⁵ But women will be saved through motherhood, if they continue to live in faith, love, and purity, blended with good sense.

⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, or else he may incur reproach and fall into the devil's trap.

⁶ If you continue to put these things before the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, ever feeding your own soul on the truths of the faith and of the fine teaching which you have followed.

⁸ Physical training, indeed, is of some service, but religion is of service for everything, for it contains a promise for the present life as well as the future.

¹⁰ To this end we are toiling and struggling, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers.

¹² Let no one think little of you because you are young, but always set an example for believers, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

² older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, with perfect purity.

⁸ Whoever fails to provide for his own relatives, and especially for those of his immediate family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

¹¹ But you, as a man of God, must be fleeing always from these things; you must constantly strive for uprightness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

¹⁸ charge them to continue doing good and being rich in good deeds, open-handed and generous hearted,

⁸ So you must never be ashamed of me His prisoner, but suffer for the good news in fellowship with me and by the power of God.

¹⁴ Guard this fine deposit of truth by the aid of the Holy Spirit who has His home in our hearts.

⁹ for the sake of which I am suffering hardships even to the extent of wearing chains as though I were a criminal. But God's message is not in chains.

¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God an approved workman who has nothing to be ashamed of, who properly presents the message of truth.

²⁴ and a slave of the Lord must not quarrel but must be gentle to everybody; he must be a skillful teacher, and not resentful under injuries.

¹⁰ But you, on your part, have faithfully followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

¹⁰ But you, on your part, have faithfully followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, ¹¹ my persecutions, my sufferings, such as befell me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, such as I endured but the Lord delivered me out of them all. ¹² Yes, indeed, everyone who wants to live a godly life as a follower of Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

² preach the message, stay at it in season and out of season; convince, reprove, exhort people with perfect patience as a teacher.

⁵ But you, on your part, must always keep your head cool, suffer hardship, do your work as a herald of the good news, and so fill your ministry to the brim.

⁷ I have fought the fight for the good, I have run my race, I have kept faith.

⁷ In everything you yourself continue to set them a worthy example of doing good; be sincere and serious in your teaching,

¹¹ For God's favor has appeared with its offer of salvation to all mankind,

⁴ while God continued to confirm their testimony with signs, marvels, and various sorts of wonder-works, and with gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed in accordance with His will.

⁶ but Christ as a Son set over the house of God was faithful; and we are that house, if we keep up our courage and the joy that hope inspires to the very end. ⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "If you but hear His voice today,

¹³ but day by day, as long as "Today" shall last, continue to encourage one another, so that not one of you may be hardened by sin's deceiving ways,

⁷ He again fixes a definite day, saying long afterward through David, as has been quoted: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts."

¹⁰ 'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel in those days,' says the Lord; 'I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And nevermore will each one need to teach his fellow-citizen,

³⁴ For you showed sympathy with those who were in prison and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, for you knew that you had in yourselves and in heaven one that was lasting.

³⁶ Still others stood the test of taunts and tortures, and even chains and prisons.

¹ Therefore, as we have so vast a crowd of spectators in the grandstands, let us throw off every impediment and the sin that easily entangles our feet, and run with endurance the race for which we are entered,

⁵ and you have forgotten the encouragement which is addressed to you as sons: "My son, refrain from thinking lightly of the discipline the Lord inflicts, and giving up when you are corrected by Him. ⁶ For He disciplines everyone He loves, and chastises every son whom He heartily receives."

¹⁵ Continue to look after one another, that no one fails to gain God's spiritual blessing; or some evil like a bitter root may spring up and trouble you, and many of you be contaminated by it --

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they did not escape, because they refused to listen to him who warned them here on earth, how much less can we, if we reject Him who is from heaven?

¹³ Let us, therefore, go to Him outside the camp, enduring the reproach that He endured;

¹⁷ Continue to obey and to be submissive to your leaders, for they are ever watching in defense of your souls, as men who will have to give account of their trust. Treat them in this way, so that they may work with joy and not with grief.

²³ You must know that our brother Timothy has been released from prison. If he comes soon, he and I will see you together.

² You must consider it the purest joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials, ³ for you surely know that what is genuine in your faith produces the patient mind that endures; ⁴ but you must let your endurance come to its perfect product, so that you may be fully developed and perfectly equipped, without any defects.

⁶ But he must ask in faith, without a doubt, for the man who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is whirled and swayed by the wind. ⁷ Such a man, indeed, a person with two minds,

¹⁸ In accordance with His will He made us His children by the message of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

⁵ Listen, my dearly loved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁴ You faithless wives! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wants to be a friend to the world puts himself down as an enemy to God.

⁷ So be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer keeps on waiting and waiting for the precious crop from his land; how he keeps up his patience over it until he gets the early and late rains, ⁸ You must be patient, too; you must put iron into your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is close at hand. ⁹ Stop muttering against one another, brothers, so as to keep from being judged yourselves. Look! The Judge is standing at the very door. ¹⁰ As an example of ill-treatment and patience, brothers, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord.

⁶ In such a hope keep on rejoicing, although for a little while you must be sorrow-stricken with various trials, ⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even after it is shown by the test of fire to be genuine, may result in your praise and glory and honor at the unveiling of Jesus Christ. ⁸ You must continue to love Him, although you have never seen Him, but because you do believe in Him, although you do not now see Him, you must continue to rejoice with an unutterable and triumphant joy,

¹² It was made known to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in their searching for these things that have already been told to you by those who through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven brought you the good news. The angels long to take a peep into these things.

²² Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth, in sincere love for the brotherhood you must love one another heartily and fervently,

⁵ and keep on building yourselves up, as living stones, into a spiritual house for a consecrated priesthood, to offer up, through Jesus Christ, spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God.

⁹ But you are the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the consecrated nation, the people to be His very own, to proclaim the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once His mercy had not been shown you, but now it has.

² so that he no longer can spend the rest of his earthly life in harmony with human desires but in accordance with God's will. ³ For the time that is past is enough for you to have accomplished what the heathen like to do, leading lives that are steeped in sensuality, lustful desires, drunkenness, carousing, revelry, dissipation, and idolatry that leads to lawlessness, ⁴ They are astonished that you are not still rushing hand in hand with them into the same excesses of profligate living, and they abuse you for it;

¹⁰ As all of you have received your spiritual talents, you must keep on using them in serving one another, as good trustees of God's many-sided favor.

¹³ but so far as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that at the uncovering of His glory you may rejoice triumphantly. ¹⁴ If you are suffering abuse because you bear the name of Christ, you are happy, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

⁵ And this is the message that we have heard from Him and now announce to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him. ⁶ If we say "We have fellowship with Him," and yet live in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. ⁷ But if we continue to live in the light, just as He is in the light, we have unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son continues to cleanse us from every sin.

¹ My dear children, I am writing you this so that you may not sin; yet if anyone ever sins, we have One who pleads our case with the Father, Jesus Christ, One who is righteous.

¹² I am writing to you, dear children, because for His sake your sins have been forgiven. ¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father. ¹⁴ I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and God's message is always in your hearts, and you have conquered the evil one.

¹ See what wonderful love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are! This is why the world does not know what we are, because it has never come to know Him. ² Dearly beloved, we are now God's children, but what we are going to be has not been unveiled. We know that if it is unveiled, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

⁷ Dear children, avoid letting anyone lead you astray. Whoever practices doing right is upright, just as He is upright.

¹² We must not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and butchered his brother. And why did he butcher him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's upright. ¹³ You must not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love our brothers. Whoever does not continue to love continues still in death.

¹⁷ But if anyone has the world's means of supporting life and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can love to God remain in him? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us stop loving with words or lips alone, but let us love with actions and in truth.

¹² No one has ever seen God; yet if we practice loving one another, God remains in union with us, and our love for Him attains perfection in our hearts,

¹⁵ Whoever owns that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in union with him and he in union with God.

¹¹ And this testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and this life is given through union with His Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life. ¹³ I have written this to you who believe in the person of the Son of God, so that you may know that you already have eternal life. ¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask for anything that is in accordance with His will, He will listen to us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He listens to us in whatever we ask Him for, we know that we get from Him the things that we have asked Him for.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us insight to recognize the True One; and we are in union with the True One through His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ²¹ Dear children, once for all put yourselves beyond the reach of idols.

⁴ I have no greater spiritual blessing than this, to hear that my children are living by the truth.

¹² Demetrius has a good testimony from everybody and from truth itself; yea, from me too, and you know that my testimony to him is true.

⁸ "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come, the Almighty. ⁹ I, John, your brother and companion with you in the trouble, the kingdom, and the patient endurance which Jesus gives, found myself on the island called Patmos, for preaching God's message and testifying to Jesus.

¹ "To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: 'The One who is holding the seven stars in His right hand and is walking among the golden lampstands speaks as follows:

⁹ "I know your pressing trouble and poverty, but still you are rich; I know how you are abused by those who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are only a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be so afraid of what you are to suffer. See! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison to be tested there and for ten days to suffer pressing troubles. Each one of you must prove to be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life.

⁹ I will make some, who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are lying -- I will make them come and fall at your feet and find out that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Because you have kept my message with the patient endurance that I give you, I also will keep you from the time of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test the inhabitants of the earth.

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins and suffer from her plagues.

³ Then I heard a loud voice from the throne say: "See! God's dwelling place is with men, and He will live with them,

⁷ Whoever conquers will come into possession of these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

²² I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty Himself and the Lamb Himself are its temple.

¹² "See! I am coming soon, and my rewards are with me, to repay each one just as his work has been.