in hard work and toil, ¹  through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing. ² 

and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures ¹  and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water.

And he did not enter to offer ¹  himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own,

For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, ¹  but ²  he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

(Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, knew the place too, because Jesus had met there many times ¹  with his disciples.) ² 

I punished ¹  them often in all the synagogues ²  and tried to force ³  them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged ⁴  at them, I went to persecute ⁵  them even in foreign cities.

And we are sending ¹  with them our brother whom we have tested many times and found eager in many matters, but who now is much more eager than ever because of the great confidence he has in you.

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, ¹  in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, ²  in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers,

For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

May the Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my imprisonment. ¹ 

for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice.

And every priest stands day after day ¹  serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins.

I do not want you to be unaware, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. ³ 

For the ground that has soaked up the rain that frequently falls on ¹  it and yields useful vegetation for those who tend it receives a blessing from God.