For it is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? ¹ 

Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ¹  of the church in Cenchrea,

From there they sailed back to Antioch, ¹  where they had been commended ²  to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. ³ 

but Paul chose Silas and set out, commended ¹  to the grace of the Lord by the brothers and sisters. ² 

But as God’s servants, ¹  we have commended ourselves in every way, ²  with great endurance, in persecutions, ³  in difficulties, in distresses,

A person ¹  is praised in accordance with ²  his wisdom, but the one who has a twisted mind ³  is despised.

For by it the people of old ¹  received God’s commendation. ² 

And these all were commended ¹  for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. ² 

We are not trying to commend ¹  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ²  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ³  in outward appearance ⁴  and not in what is in the heart.

The ¹  master commended the dishonest ²  manager because he acted shrewdly. ³  For the people ⁴  of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries ⁵  than the people ⁶  of light.

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 food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.

And now I entrust ¹  you to God and to the message ²  of his grace. This message ³  is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

For we would not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who recommend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. ¹ 

The people gave their blessing on all the men who volunteered to settle in Jerusalem.

But we have rejected ¹  shameful hidden deeds, ²  not behaving ³  with deceptiveness ⁴  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

So I recommend the enjoyment of life, ¹  for there is nothing better on earth ²  for a person to do ³  except ⁴  to eat, drink, and enjoy ⁵  life. ⁶  So ⁷  joy ⁸  will accompany him in his toil during the days of his life which God gives him on earth. ⁹ 

“As soon as the ear heard these things, ¹  it blessed me, ²  and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

One generation will praise your deeds to another, and tell about your mighty acts! ¹