Warning Against Idleness

⁶ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,^(A) we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from^(B) every believer who is idle and disruptive^(C) and does not live according to the teaching^[a] you received from us.^{(D) 7} For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example.^(E) We were not idle when we were with you, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked^(F) night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. ⁹ We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help,^(G) but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.^{(H) 10} For even when we were with you,^(I) we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work^(J) shall not eat.”

Final Greetings

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace^(A) himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.^(B)

¹⁷ I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand,^(C) which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.

¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.^(D)

Psalm 128

A song of ascents.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,^(A) which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets^(B) and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.^{(C) 32} Go ahead, then, and complete^(D) what your ancestors started!^(E)

¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.^(A) You must listen to him. ¹⁶ For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”^(B)

¹⁷ The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet^(C) like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words^(D) in his mouth.^(E) He will tell them everything I command him.^(F)

Psalm 91

⁹ For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die^(A) in the arena. We have been made a spectacle^(B) to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ,^(C) but you are so wise in Christ!^(D) We are weak, but you are strong!^(E) You are honored, we are dishonored! ¹¹ To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.^{(F) 12} We work hard with our own hands.^(G) When we are cursed, we bless;^(H) when we are persecuted,^(I) we endure it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage^(J) of the world—right up to this moment.

Paul’s Appeal and Warning

¹⁴ I am writing this not to shame you^(K) but to warn you as my dear children.^{(L) 15} Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father^(M) through the gospel.^(N)

²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.^{(A) 25} Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ²⁶ But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest,^(B) and the one who rules like the one who serves.^{(C) 27} For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.^{(D) 28} You are those who have stood by me in my trials. ²⁹ And I confer on you a kingdom,^(E) just as my Father conferred one on me, ³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom^(F) and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^(G)