⁹ For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, ^(A)like men sentenced to death, because we ^(B)have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. ^10 (C)We are fools for Christ's sake, but ^(D)you are wise in Christ. ^(E)We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹ To the present hour ^(F)we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and ^(G)buffeted and ^(H)homeless, ¹² and we ^(I)labor, working with our own hands. ^(J)When reviled, we bless; ^(K)when persecuted, we endure; ¹³ when slandered, we entreat. ^(L)We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ^(M)the refuse of all things.

¹⁴ I do not write these things ^(N)to make you ashamed, but to admonish you ^(O)as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For ^(P)though you have countless^[a] guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For ^(Q)I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Who Is the Greatest?

^24 (A)A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. ^25 (B)And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles ^(C)exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. ^26 (D)But not so with you. Rather, let ^(E)the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. ²⁷ For who is the greater, ^(F)one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But ^(G)I am among you as the one who serves.

²⁸ “You are those who have stayed with me ^(H)in my trials, ²⁹ and ^(I)I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, ^30 (J)that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and ^(K)sit on thrones judging ^(L)the twelve tribes of Israel.