and most of the brothers and sisters, ¹  having confidence in the Lord ²  because of my imprisonment, now more than ever ³  dare to speak the word ⁴  fearlessly.

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ¹  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, ¹  so that when you see him again you can rejoice ²  and I can be free from anxiety.

– though mine too are significant. ¹  If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, ²  I have more:

In the same way ¹  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ²  and so he intervened with an oath,

not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day ¹  drawing near. ² 

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets.

and the blast of a trumpet and a voice uttering words ¹  such that those who heard begged to hear no more. ² 

Then his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven too.” ¹ 

Now this phrase “once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, that is, of created things, so that what is unshaken may remain.

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ¹  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ² 

‘I know your deeds: your love, faith, ¹  service, and steadfast endurance. ²  In fact, ³  your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones.

Then ¹  I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, ²  and the sea existed no more.

Finally then, brothers and sisters, ¹  we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how ²  you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) ³  that you do so more and more.

“I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy ¹  to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ² 

Look at the birds in the sky: ¹  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ²  them. Aren’t you more valuable ³  than they are?

And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, ¹  which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, ²  won’t he clothe you even more, ³  you people of little faith?

If you then, although you are evil, ¹  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts ²  to those who ask him!

It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household!

And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength ¹  and to love your neighbor as yourself ²  is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”