Final Instructions and Benediction

¹² We ask you, brothers, ^(A)to respect those who labor among you and ^(B)are over you in the Lord and admonish you,

¹⁷ Obey ^(A)your leaders and submit to them, ^(B)for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to ^(C)give an account. ^(D)Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

⁷ Remember ^(A)your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and ^(B)imitate their faith.

¹⁷ Let the elders ^(A)who rule well be considered worthy of ^(B)double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For the Scripture says, ^(C)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, ^(D)“The laborer deserves his wages.”

¹⁸ for they ^(A)refreshed my spirit as well as yours. ^(B)Give recognition to such people.

^16 (A)be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.

³ and ^(A)at the proper time manifested in his word^{[a] (B)}through the preaching ^(C)with which I have been entrusted ^(D)by the command of God our Savior;

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

⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for ^(A)the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.

To the Church in Laodicea

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the ^(A)Amen, ^(B)the faithful and true witness, ^(C)the beginning of God's creation.