Translation:Philippians

by Paul of Tarsus

For other English-language translations of this work, see Philippians (Bible).

Chapter 1

Greetings

¹Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus Christ, to all the saints who are in in Christ Jesus at Philippi, including the overseers and deacons, ²grace to you with peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayers for the Philippians

³I give thanks to my God whenever I remember you, ⁴always in all of my prayers for all of you by making my prayers with joy, ⁵because of your continued partnership in the Gospel from the beginning until now, ⁶having total confidence in this: that He Who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Christ Jesus, ⁷just as it is suitable for me to have this mindset regarding all of you, because I hold you in my heart, both in my bondage and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, for all of you collectively share in the same grace as myself. ⁸For God is my witness of how much I long for you by the compassion of Christ. ⁹And this I pray: that your love may continue abounding more and more in insight and all discernment, ¹⁰in order that you may approve that which is proper and, thus, you may be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with fruit of righteousness which comes from Jesus Christ, so that God may receive glory and adoration. ¹²But I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me resulted in the spread of the gospel, ¹³so that it came to light among the whole Praetorian Guard, along with everyone else, that my imprisonment is for Christ, ¹⁴and that more brothers, who have trusted in the Lord because of my imprisonment may dare even more to speak the word without fear. ¹⁵Now indeed, some, out of envy and wrongdoing, preach Christ, but others do so out of good-will. ¹⁶ Indeed, those people preach from love, seeing that I was appointed to the defense of the gospel, ¹⁷but those former people proclaim Christ from a spirit of self-promotion, without sincerity, thinking to bring about tribulation against me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ Then what? Simply that, in both ways, either with bad motives, or with genuineness, Christ is proclaimed, and so I rejoice in that.

Indeed, I will continue rejoicing. ¹⁹For I know that this will result in my deliverance, through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰in accordance with my eager expectation and hope that I will never be shamed, but always be bold, including now, just as always, so Christ will be glorified through what happens with my body, either in life or in death.