Do your best to come to me soon.

Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia send their greetings, and so do all the other Christians.

For I want very much to see you, in order to share a spiritual blessing with you to make you strong.

I urge you, friends, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit gives: join me in praying fervently to God for me.

And so I will come to you full of joy, if it is God's will, and enjoy a refreshing visit with you.

God is my witness that I tell the truth when I say that my deep feeling for you all comes from the heart of Christ Jesus himself.

He is anxious to see you all and is very upset because you had heard that he was sick.

As for us, friends, when we were separated from you for a little while---not in our thoughts, of course, but only in body---how we missed you and how hard we tried to see you again!

After all, it is you---you, no less than others!---who are our hope, our joy, and our reason for boasting of our victory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes.

Finally, we could not bear it any longer. So we decided to stay on alone in Athens

With all humility and many tears I did my work as the Lord's servant during the hard times that came to me because of the plots of some Jews.

Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

They were all crying as they hugged him and kissed him good-bye.

They were especially sad because he had said that they would never see him again. And so they went with him to the ship.

because the Lamb, who is in the center of the throne, will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared."

Let those who wept as they planted their crops, gather the harvest with joy!

To give to those who mourn in Zion Joy and gladness instead of grief, A song of praise instead of sorrow. They will be like trees That the LORD himself has planted. They will all do what is right, And God will be praised for what he has done.

Then the young women will dance and be happy, and men, young and old, will rejoice. I will comfort them and turn their mourning into joy, their sorrow into gladness.

That is how it is with you: now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your hearts will be filled with gladness, the kind of gladness that no one can take away from you.

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your happiness may be complete.

We write this in order that our joy may be complete.