Each one of you should give ¹  just as he has decided in his heart, ²  not reluctantly ³  or under compulsion, ⁴  because God loves a cheerful giver.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself ¹  so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed ²  the gospel of God to you free of charge?

But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach ¹  a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, ²  let him be condemned to hell! ³ 

The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law ¹  or by believing what you heard? ² 

Does God then give ¹  you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law ²  or by your believing what you heard? ³ 

Brothers and sisters, ¹  I offer an example from everyday life: ²  When a covenant ³  has been ratified, ⁴  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.

nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. ¹  Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan ²  that operates by faith.

An elder must be blameless, ¹  the husband of one wife, ²  with faithful children ³  who cannot be charged with dissipation or rebellion.

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.

And see to it that no one becomes ¹  an immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ² 

Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ¹  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ¹  “The spirit that God ²  caused ³  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ⁴ 

You ought to say instead, ¹  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.”

You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed – not by perishable things like silver or gold,

Let your ¹  beauty ²  not be external – the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry ³  or fine clothes –

‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. ¹  I wish you were either cold or hot!

Whenever ¹  you enter a town or village, ²  find out who is worthy there ³  and stay with them ⁴  until you leave.

Whenever ¹  they hand you over for trial, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, ²  for what you should say will be given to you at that time. ³ 

Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty?

But he has no root in himself and does not endure; ¹  when ²  trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.