Philippians 4

¹ So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord. I miss you very much, dear friends; you are my joy and my crown.

² I appeal to Evodia and I appeal to Syntyche to come to agreement with each other, in the Lord;

³ and I ask you, Syzygus,[*a] to be truly a ‘companion’ and to help them in this. These women were a help to me when I was fighting to defend the Good News-and so, at the same time, were Clement and the others who worked with me. Their names are written in the book of life.

⁴ I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness.

⁵ Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near.

⁶ There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving,

⁷ and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.

⁹ Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.

¹⁰ It is a great joy to me, in the Lord, that at last you have shown some concern for me again; though of course you were concerned before, and only lacked an opportunity.

¹¹ I am not talking about shortage of money: I have learnt to manage on whatever I have,

¹² I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty.

¹³ There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength.

¹⁴ All the same, it was good of you to share with me in my hardships.

¹⁵ In the early days of the Good News, as you people of Philippi well know, when I left Macedonia, no other church helped me with gifts of money. You were the only ones;

¹⁶ and twice since my stay in Thessalonika you have sent me what I needed.

¹⁷ It is not your gift that I value; what is valuable to me is the interest that is mounting up in your account.

¹⁸ Now for the time being I have everything that I need and more: I am fully provided now that I have received from Epaphroditus the offering that you sent, a sweet fragrance-the sacrifice that God accepts and finds pleasing.

¹⁹ In return my God will fulfil all your needs, in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can.

²⁰ Glory to God, our Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

²¹ My greetings to every one of the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send their greetings.

²² All the saints send their greetings, especially those of the imperial household.[*b]

²³ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.