Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and fairness of Christ; who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

Behold, I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers on account of My name.

Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done.

And Paul said, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these bonds.

And it came to pass after three days that Paul called those being chief of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans,

But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation.

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I excel them: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.

just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of the grace.

so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ;

Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will:

I now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of His body, which is the church,

meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds,

This salutation by my own hand: Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but partake in the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God,

The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain;

for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of bonds; but the Word of God is not bound.

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved and fellow laborer,

yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you; being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ;

Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have affliction ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.

I now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of His body, which is the church,

who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have driven us out; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men,

forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the end.

Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.