Philippians 1:22

Now if I am to go on living in the body, ¹  this will mean productive work ²  for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: ³ 

If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!

But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.

Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don’t know which is better.

As long as I'm alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I'd choose.

But if I go on living in the flesh—if this is the fruit of my work—then I do not see what decision to make.

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer.

But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.

Now if I am to go on living in the body, ¹  this will mean productive work ²  for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: ³ 

¹ tn Grk “flesh.”

² tn Grk “fruit of work”; the genitive ἔργου (ergou) is taken as an attributed genitive in which the head noun, καρπός (karpos), functions attributively (cf. ExSyn 89-91).

³ tn Grk “what I shall prefer.” The Greek verb αἱρέω (Jairew) could also mean “choose,” but in this context such a translation is problematic for it suggests that Paul could perhaps choose suicide (cf. L&N 30.86).

sn I don’t know what I prefer. Paul is here struggling with what would be most beneficial for both him and the church. He resolves this issue in vv. 24-25.