Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ¹  “My Father, if possible, ²  let this cup ³  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Now ¹  John’s ²  disciples and the Pharisees ³  were fasting. ⁴  So ⁵  they came to Jesus ⁶  and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”

You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” ¹ 

And he ¹  said to him, “To you ²  I will grant this whole realm ³  – and the glory that goes along with it, ⁴  for it has been relinquished ⁵  to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.

Sell your possessions ¹  and give to the poor. ²  Provide yourselves purses that do not wear out – a treasure in heaven ³  that never decreases, ⁴  where no thief approaches and no moth ⁵  destroys.

but he answered ¹  his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave ²  for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet ³  you never gave me even a goat ⁴  so that I could celebrate with my friends!

Won’t ¹  the master ²  instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready ³  to serve me while ⁴  I eat and drink. Then ⁵  you may eat and drink’?

Day after day when I was with you in the temple courts, ¹  you did not arrest me. ²  But this is your hour, ³  and that of the power ⁴  of darkness!”

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, ¹  so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I wrote this very thing to you, ¹  so that when I came ²  I would not have sadness from those who ought to make me rejoice, since I am confident in you all that my joy would be yours.

Now I rejoice, not because you were made sad, ¹  but because you were made sad to the point of repentance. For you were made sad as God intended, ²  so that you were not harmed ³  in any way by us.

because I know your eagerness to help. ¹  I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, ²  that Achaia has been ready to give ³  since last year, and your zeal to participate ⁴  has stirred up most of them. ⁵ 

I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison ¹  to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

Now we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong, not so that we may appear to have passed the test, ¹  but so that you may do what is right ²  even if we may appear to have failed the test. ³ 

And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling ¹  and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith,

You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you ¹  – not the washing off of physical dirt ²  but the pledge ³  of a good conscience to God – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

with these words: ¹  “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, ²  the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign. ³ 

(The ripe fruit ¹  you greatly desired ²  has gone from you, and all your luxury ³  and splendor ⁴  have gone from you – they will never ever be found again!) ⁵ 

But ¹  he said to me, “Do not do this! ²  I am a fellow servant ³  with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey ⁴  the words of this book. Worship God!”