⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid;^(A) do not be discouraged,^(B) for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”^(C)

²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

²⁶ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God,^(A) come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, ²⁷ and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers^(B) crowded around them.^(C) They saw that the fire^(D) had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace^(A) is sufficient for you, for my power^(B) is made perfect in weakness.^(C)”^(D) Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight^(E) in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,^(F) in persecutions,^(G) in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.^(H)

Suffering for Being a Christian

¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you^(A) to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice^(B) inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ,^(C) so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.^(D)