² Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer.

³ If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. ⁴ Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

³¹ Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation^[a] I am taking to Jerusalem.

⁸ We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. ⁹ In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.

¹⁶ But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?”^[a]

²⁴ Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe.

¹⁸ We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us.

³² And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus^[a]—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”^[b]

² Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas.