Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Benediction

¹² But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you;^(A)

¹⁷ Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing, for that would be harmful to you.^(A)

⁷ Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

¹⁷ Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor,^[a] especially those who labor in preaching and teaching,^{(A) 18} for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” and “The laborer deserves to be paid.”^(B)

¹⁸ for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such persons.^(A)

¹⁶ I urge you to put yourselves at the service of such people and of everyone who works and toils with them.^(A)

¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me.^(A)

³ in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior,^(A)

⁷ Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.^(A)

The Message to Laodicea

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin^[a] of God’s creation:^(A)