But ¹  those tenants ²  seized his slave, ³  beat him, ⁴  and sent him away empty-handed. ⁵ 

by holding on to ¹  the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

So ¹  he sent another slave. They beat this one too, treated him outrageously, and sent him away empty-handed. ² 

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.

Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ¹ 

When harvest time came, he sent a slave ¹  to the tenants so that they would give ²  him his portion of the crop. ³  However, the tenants beat his slave ⁴  and sent him away empty-handed.

I went there ¹  because of ²  a revelation and presented ³  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ⁴  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ⁵  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ⁶  – in vain.

So ¹  when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.