¹⁵ But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting!

⁹ You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.^(A)

⁸ and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you.^(A)

¹² If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.^(A)

⁹ And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the brothers who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way.^{(A) 10} As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.^{(B) 11} And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!^(C)

¹² And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about.

³⁴ You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions.^(A)

²⁴ But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.^(A)

³ and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers.^(A)

²⁰ It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way but that by my speaking with all boldness Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death.^{(A) 21} For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet I cannot say which I will choose. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better,^(B)

¹³ How have you been worse off than the other churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!^(A)

¹⁴ Here I am, ready to come to you this third time, and I will not be a burden because I do not want what is yours but you, for children ought not to save up for their parents but parents for their children.^{(B) 15} I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?^{(C) 16} Be that as it may, I did not burden you. But, crafty person that I am, did I take you in by deceit? ¹⁷ Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? ¹⁸ I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves with the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same footsteps?^(D)