¹⁷ Since you call on a Father^(A) who judges each person’s work^(B) impartially,^(C) live out your time as foreigners^(D) here in reverent fear.^(E)

¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray,^(A) one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself^(B) and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast^(C) twice a week and give a tenth^(D) of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast^(E) and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’^(F)

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(G)

¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind^(A) and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on^(B) toward the goal to win the prize^(C) for which God has called^(D) me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

⁷ Do not be deceived:^(A) God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.^(B)