⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

Judgment on False Teachers

³ Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our ^(A)common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you ^(B)to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Walking in Truth and Love

^4 (A)I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

¹⁷ Elijah was a man ^(A)with a nature like ours, and ^(B)he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for ^(C)three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

^9 (A)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (B)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

2 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

⁸ For now we live, if you ^(A)are standing fast in the Lord.

Timothy's Encouraging Report

⁶ But ^(A)now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of ^(B)your faith and love and reported ^(C)that you always remember us kindly and ^(D)long to see us, as we long to see you—

⁵ For ^(A)though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your ^(B)good order and ^(C)the firmness of your faith in Christ.

²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope ^(A)that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full ^(B)courage now as always Christ ^(C)will be honored in my body, ^(D)whether by life or by death.