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PAUL and Timotheus, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Jesus Christ who are at Philippi, together with the elders and deacons:
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Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
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¶ I give thanks to my God for your steady remembrance of me.
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In all my prayers for you, I make supplication with joy,
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For your fellowship in the gospel from the very first day until now,
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Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun the good work among you, the same will continue it until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ;
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¶ And this is the right way for me to think of you all, for I have you in my heart because through all my imprisonment and my defense and confirmation of the truth of the gospel, you have been partakers with me of grace.
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For God is my witness of how much I love you through the love of Jesus Christ.
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¶ And for this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all spiritual understanding,
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So that you may choose the things that are excellent and that you may be pure and without offence in the day of Christ,
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And be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and the praise of God.
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¶ Now I would have you know this, my brethren, that my work has been greatly furthered by the gospel;
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And the reasons for my imprisonments have been made manifest by Christ to all Caesar’s court and to all men.
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And many of the brethren in our Lord have grown confident by my imprisonment and, with increasing boldness, speak the word of God without fear.
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While some of them preach only because of envy and strife, others preach Christ in good will and love;
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For they know that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;
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But those who preach Christ out of contention, do it not sincerely, but do it expecting to increase the hardship of my imprisonment.
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And I have rejoiced and still do rejoice in this, that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached.
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For I know that through your prayers and the gift of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, all these things will ultimately turn out for my salvation,
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Just as it is my earnest hope and expectation that in nothing shall I be ashamed, but that openly as always, so also now will Christ be magnified through my body, whether in life or death.
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¶ For Christ is my life, and to die is gain.
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Even if in this life of the flesh my labors bear fruits, I do not know what to choose.
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For I am torn between two desires, the one to depart, that I may be with Christ, which is far better;
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Nevertheless, for me to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
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And this I surely know, that I shall be spared and remain for your joy and for the furtherance of your faith.
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So that when I come again to you, your rejoicing in Jesus Christ will abound through me.
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Only conduct yourselves as becomes the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or whether I am far away, I may hear of your good conduct, that you are standing firm in one spirit and in one soul, and triumphing together through the faith of the gospel,
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And that in nothing are you terrified by our adversaries, whose conduct is the sign of their own destruction, but your salvation, and this is from God.
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For it has been given to you not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake,
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And that you may endure such trials as those which you have seen me in and such as you now hear that I am in.