And that every tongue may give witness that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So that you may be holy and gentle, children of God without sin in a twisted and foolish generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

Offering the word of life; so that I may have glory in you in the day of Christ, because my running was not for nothing and my work was not without effect.

But I am hoping in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you before long, so that I may be comforted when I have news of you.

But I have faith in the Lord that I myself will come before long.

Because his heart was with you all, and he was greatly troubled because you had news that he was ill:

For in fact he was ill almost to death: but God had mercy on him; and not only on him but on me, so that I might not have grief on grief.

I have sent him, then, the more gladly, so that when you see him again, you may be happy and I may have the less sorrow.

Yes truly, and I am ready to give up all things for the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, which is more than all: for whom I have undergone the loss of all things, and to me they are less than nothing, so that I may have Christ as my reward,

And be seen in him, not having my righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death;

Not as if I had even now got the reward or been made complete: but I go on in the hope that I may come to the knowledge of that for which I was made the servant of Christ Jesus.

Brothers, it is clear to me that I have not come to that knowledge; but one thing I do, letting go those things which are past, and stretching out to the things which are before,

But I am very glad in the Lord that your care for me has come to life again; though you did in fact take thought for me, but you were not able to give effect to it.

And you have knowledge, Philippians, that when the good news first came to you, when I went away from Macedonia, no church took part with me in the business of giving to the saints, but you only;

Not that I am looking for an offering, but for fruit which may be put to your credit.

For this reason, we, from the day when we had word of it, keep on in prayer for you, that you may be full of the knowledge of his purpose, with all wisdom and experience of the Spirit,

Full of strength in the measure of the great power of his glory, so that you may undergo all troubles with joy;

And he is the head of the body, the church: the starting point of all things, the first to come again from the dead; so that in all things he might have the chief place.

In the body of his flesh through death, so that you might be holy and without sin and free from all evil before him:

Whom we are preaching; guiding and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that every man may be complete in Christ;

So that their hearts may be comforted, and that being joined together in love, they may come to the full wealth of the certain knowledge of the secret of God, even Christ,

I say this so that you may not be turned away by any deceit of words.

Take care that no one takes you away by force, through man's wisdom and deceit, going after the beliefs of men and the theories of the world, and not after Christ:

Fathers, do not be hard on your children, so that their spirit may not be broken.

Being certain that the Lord will give you the reward of the heritage: for you are the servants of the Lord Christ.

Masters, give your servants what is right and equal, conscious that you have a Master in heaven.

And making prayer for us, that God may give us an open door for the preaching of the word, the secret of Christ, for which I am now in chains;

So that I may make it clear, as it is right for me to do.

Let your talk be with grace, mixed with salt, so that you may be able to give an answer to everyone.

And I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may have news of how we are, and so that he may give your hearts comfort;

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his love, ever taking thought for you in his prayers, that you may be complete and fully certain of all the purpose of God.

For I give witness of him that he has undergone much trouble for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.

And when this letter has been made public among you, let the same be done in the church of Laodicea; and see that you have the letter from Laodicea.

Say to Archippus, See that you do the work which the Lord has given you to do.

I, Paul, give you this word of love in my handwriting. Keep in memory that I am a prisoner. Grace be with you.

Being conscious, my brothers, dear to God, that you have been marked out by God's purpose;

Because our good news came to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, so that you were completely certain of it; even as you saw what our behaviour to you was like from our love to you.

So that you became an example to all those who have faith in Christ in Macedonia and Achaia.

For not only was the word of the Lord sounding out from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God is made clear; so that we have no need to say anything.

For you yourselves, brothers, are conscious that our coming among you was not without effect:

For it is common knowledge among you that we never made use of smooth-sounding false words, and God is witness that at no time were we secretly desiring profit for ourselves,

For you have the memory, my brothers, of our trouble and care; how, working night and day, so that we might not be a trouble to any of you, we gave you the good news of God.

So that your lives might be pleasing to God, who has given you a part in his kingdom and his glory.

And for this cause we still give praise to God, that, when the word came to your ears through us, you took it, not as the word of man, but, as it truly is, the word of God, which has living power in you who have faith.

At last our desire to have news of you was so strong that, while we ourselves were waiting at Athens,

So that no man might be moved by these troubles; because you see that these things are part of God's purpose for us.

And when we were with you, we said to you that trouble was before us; and so it came about, as you see.

For this reason, when I was no longer able to keep quiet, I sent to get news of your faith, fearing that you might be tested by the Evil One and that our work might come to nothing.

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has given us good news of your faith and love, and that you have happy memories of us, desiring greatly to see us, even as we do to see you;

Night and day requesting God again and again that we may see your face and make your faith complete.

So that your hearts may be strong and free from all sin before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

And last of all, the prayer which we make to you from our heart and in the name of the Lord Jesus, is this: that as we made clear to you what sort of behaviour is pleasing to God, as in fact you are doing now, so you will go on in these ways, but more and more.

For the purpose of God for you is this: that you may be holy, and may keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh;

So that every one of you may keep his body holy and in honour;

And that no man may make attempts to get the better of his brother in business: for the Lord is the judge in all these things, as we said to you before and gave witness.

Because it is God's purpose that our way of life may be not unclean but holy.

But about loving the brothers, there is no need for me to say anything to you in this letter: for you have the teaching of God that love for one another is right and necessary;

And, truly, you are lovers of all the brothers in Macedonia; but it is our desire that your love may be increased still more;

And that you may take pride in being quiet and doing your business, working with your hands as we gave you orders;

That you may be respected by those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.

But it is our desire, brothers, that you may be certain about those who are sleeping; so that you may have no need for sorrow, as others have who are without hope.

For if we have faith that Jesus underwent death and came back again, even so those who are sleeping will come again with him by God's power.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are still living at the coming of the Lord, will not go before those who are sleeping.

For you yourselves have the knowledge that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

But you, my brothers, are not in the dark, for that day to overtake you like a thief:

Who was put to death for us, so that, awake or sleeping, we may have a part in his life.

And our desire is that you will keep control over those whose lives are not well ordered, giving comfort to the feeble-hearted, supporting those with little strength, and putting up with much from all.

I give orders in the name of the Lord that all the brothers are to be present at the reading of this letter.

So that we ourselves take pride in you in the churches of God for your untroubled mind and your faith in all the troubles and sorrows which you are going through;

At his coming, when he will have glory in his saints, and will be a cause of wonder in all those who had faith (because our witness among you had effect) in that day.

For this reason, you are ever in our prayers, that you may seem to our God such as may have a part in his purpose and that by his power he will make all his good purpose, and the work of faith, complete;

So that glory may be given to the name of our Lord Jesus through you, and you may have glory in him, by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That you may not be moved in mind or troubled by a spirit, or by a word, or by a letter as from us, with the suggestion that the day of the Lord is even now come;

Who puts himself against all authority, lifting himself up over all which is named God or is given worship; so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, putting himself forward as God.

And then will come the revelation of that evil one, whom the Lord Jesus will put to death with the breath of his mouth, and give to destruction by the revelation of his coming;

And with every deceit of wrongdoing among those whose fate is destruction; because they were quite without that love of the true faith by which they might have salvation.

So that they all may be judged, who had no faith in what is true, but took pleasure in evil.

But it is right for us to give praise to God at all times for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because it was the purpose of God from the first that you might have salvation, being made holy by the Spirit and by faith in what is true:

And in this purpose he gave you a part through the good news of which we were the preachers, even that you might have part in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the rest, my brothers, let there be prayer for us that the word of the Lord may go forward with increasing glory, even as it does with you;

And that we may be made free from foolish and evil men; for not all have faith.

And we have faith in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things about which we give you orders.

Not because we have not the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, so that you might do the same.

For it has come to our ears that there are some among you whose behaviour is uncontrolled, who do no work at all, but are over-interested in the business of others.

Now to such we give orders and make request in the Lord Jesus, that, working quietly, they get their living.

And if any man does not give attention to what we have said in this letter, take note of that man, and keep away from him, so that he may be shamed.

It was my desire, when I went on into Macedonia, that you might make a stop at Ephesus, to give orders to certain men not to put forward a different teaching,

We are conscious that the law is good, if a man makes a right use of it,

With the knowledge that the law is made, not for the upright man, but for those who have no respect for law and order, for evil men and sinners, for the unholy and those who have no religion, for those who put their fathers or mothers to death, for takers of life,

It is a true saying, in which all may put their faith, that Christ Jesus came into the world to give salvation to sinners, of whom I am the chief:

But for this reason I was given mercy, so that in me, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might make clear all his mercy, as an example to those who in the future would have faith in him to eternal life.

This order I give to you, Timothy my son, in harmony with the words of the prophets about you, so that by them you may be strong, fighting the good fight,

Such are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have given up to Satan, so that they may say no more evil words against God.

My desire is, first of all, that you will make requests and prayers and give praise for all men;

For kings and all those in authority; so that we may have a calm and quiet life in all fear of God and serious behaviour.

Whose desire is that all men may have salvation and come to the knowledge of what is true.

It is my desire, then, that in every place men may give themselves to prayer, lifting up holy hands, without wrath or argument.

And that women may be dressed in simple clothing, with a quiet and serious air; not with twisted hair and gold or jewels or robes of great price;

Not one newly taken into the church, for fear that, through his high opinion of himself, he may come into the same sin as the Evil One.