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

Indeed 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 for My name's sake.

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 chains."

And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders 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 [am] more: 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 chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.

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

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

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake 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 chains,

This salutation by my own hand -- Paul. Remember my chains. Grace [be] with you. Amen.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for 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 chains; but the word of God is not chained.

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy [our] brother, To Philemon our beloved [friend] 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 tribulation ten days. Be faithful until 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 for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,

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

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

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.