| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, about our coming to you--it has not proven to be purposeless. | 1You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. |
| 2But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of much opposition. | 2You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. |
| 3For the appeal we make does not come from error or impurity or with deceit, | 3So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. |
| 4but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we declare it, not to please people but God, who examines our hearts. | 4For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. |
| 5For we never appeared with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is our witness-- | 5Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! |
| 6nor to seek glory from people, either from you or from others, | 6As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else. |
| 7although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ; instead we became little children among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children, | 7As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. |
| 8with such affection for you we were happy to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. | 8We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. |
| 9For you recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery: By working night and day so as not to impose a burden on any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. | 9Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. |
| 10You are witnesses, and so is God, as to how holy and righteous and blameless our conduct was toward you who believe. | 10You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. |
| 11As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his own children, | 11And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. |
| 12exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and his glory. | 12We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. |
| 13And so we too constantly thank God that when you received God's message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message, but as it truly is, God's message, which is at work among you who believe. | 13Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe. |
| 14For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, of God's churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews, | 14And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews. |
| 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us severely. They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people, | 15For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity |
| 16because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measure of sins, but wrath has come upon them completely. | 16as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last. Timothy’s Good Report about the Church |
| 17But when we were separated from you, brothers and sisters, for a short time (in presence, not in affection) we became all the more fervent in our great desire to see you in person. | 17Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again. |
| 18For we wanted to come to you (I, Paul, in fact tried again and again) but Satan thwarted us. | 18We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us. |
| 19For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not of course you? | 19After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! |
| 20For you are our glory and joy! | 20Yes, you are our pride and joy. |
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