Philippians 2

1 If then I can appeal to you as the followers of Christ, if there is any persuasive power in love and any common sharing of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compassion, make my joy complete by being of one mind,

If [there be] therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

2 united by mutual love, with harmony of feeling giving your minds to one and the same object.

Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one mind.

3 Do nothing in a spirit of factiousness or of vainglory, but, with true humility, let every one regard the rest as being of more account than himself;

[Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4 each fixing his attention, not simply on his own interests, but on those of others also.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

5 Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Although from the beginning He had the nature of God He did not reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped.

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men.

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other,

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld,

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;

11 and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling--not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you--labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.

14 Be ever on your guard against a grudging and contentious spirit,

Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15 so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless--irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,

That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

16 holding out to them a Message of Life. It will then be my glory on the day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain nor toil in vain.

Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

17 Nay, even if my life is to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice, and I congratulate you all.

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.

18 And I bid you also share my gladness, and congratulate me.

For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.

19 But, if the Lord permits it, I hope before long to send Timothy to you, that I, in turn, may be cheered by getting news of you.

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.

20 For I have no one likeminded with him, who will cherish a genuine care for you.

For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.

21 Everybody concerns himself about his own interests, not about those of Jesus Christ.

For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.

22 But you know Timothy's approved worth--how, like a child working with his father, he has served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.

23 So it is he that I hope to send as soon as ever I see how things go with me;

Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.

24 but trusting, as I do, in the Lord, I believe that I shall myself also come to you before long.

But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.

25 Yet I deem it important to send Epaphroditus to you now--he is my brother and comrade both in labour and in arms, and is your messenger who has ministered to my needs.

Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

26 I send him because he is longing to see you all and is distressed at your having heard of his illness.

For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.

27 For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.

For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

28 I am therefore all the more eager to send him, in the hope that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have the less sorrow.

I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

29 Receive him therefore with heartfelt Christian joy, and hold in honour men like him;

Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:

30 because it was for the sake of Christ's work that he came so near death, hazarding, as he did, his very life in endeavouring to make good any deficiency that there might be in your gifts to me.

Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.