Sin, Faith, Duty

17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble^(A) are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.^{(B) 2} It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones^(C) to stumble.^{(D) 3} So watch yourselves.

“If your brother or sister^[a] sins against you, rebuke them;^(E) and if they repent, forgive them.^{(F) 4} Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”^(G)

⁵ The apostles^(H) said to the Lord,^(I) “Increase our faith!”

⁶ He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed,^(J) you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.^(K)

⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me^(L) while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”^(M)

⁸ So do not be ashamed^(A) of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner.^(B) Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel,^(C) by the power of God. ⁹ He has saved^(D) us and called^(E) us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done^(F) but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but it has now been revealed^(G) through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus,^(H) who has destroyed death^(I) and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹ And of this gospel^(J) I was appointed^(K) a herald and an apostle and a teacher.^{(L) 12} That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame,^(M) because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard^(N) what I have entrusted to him until that day.^(O)

¹³ What you heard from me,^(P) keep^(Q) as the pattern^(R) of sound teaching,^(S) with faith and love in Christ Jesus.^{(T) 14} Guard^(U) the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.^(V)

Examples of Disloyalty and Loyalty

¹⁵ You know that everyone in the province of Asia^(W) has deserted me,^(X) including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁶ May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus,^(Y) because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed^(Z) of my chains.^{(AA) 17} On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day!^(AB) You know very well in how many ways he helped me^(AC) in Ephesus.^(AD)

Further Opposition to the Rebuilding

6 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah,^(A) Geshem^(B) the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— ² Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages^[a] on the plain of Ono.^(C)”

But they were scheming to harm me; ³ so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” ⁴ Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.

⁵ Then, the fifth time, Sanballat^(D) sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter ⁶ in which was written:

⁸ I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”

⁹ They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”

But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

¹⁰ One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple^(F), and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”

¹¹ But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” ¹² I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me^(G) because Tobiah and Sanballat^(H) had hired him. ¹³ He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.^(I)

¹⁴ Remember^(J) Tobiah and Sanballat,^(K) my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet^(L) Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets^(M) have been trying to intimidate me. ¹⁵ So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

Opposition to the Completed Wall

¹⁶ When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

¹⁷ Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. ¹⁸ For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. ¹⁹ Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.