¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.

Support and Opposition

⁵ Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for ^(A)these brothers, ^(B)strangers as they are, ⁶ who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner ^(C)worthy of God. ⁷ For they have gone out for the sake of ^(D)the name, ^(E)accepting nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸ Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

⁶ and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full ^(A)knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.^{[a] 7} For I have derived much joy and ^(B)comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints ^(C)have been refreshed through you.

⁵ As for you, ^(A)always be sober-minded, ^(B)endure suffering, do the work of ^(C)an evangelist, ^(D)fulfill your ministry.

⁶ For ^(E)I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my ^(F)departure has come. ^7 (G)I have fought the good fight, ^(H)I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Henceforth there is ^(I)laid up for me ^(J)the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, ^(K)the righteous judge, will award to me on ^(L)that day, and not only to me but also to all ^(M)who have loved his appearing.

⁶ It is ^(A)the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

¹⁷ As for the rich in ^(A)this present age, charge them ^(B)not to be haughty, nor ^(C)to set their hopes on ^(D)the uncertainty of riches, but on God, ^(E)who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ They are to do good, ^(F)to be rich in good works, to be generous and ^(G)ready to share,

¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For ^(A)necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with ^(B)a stewardship. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That in my preaching ^(C)I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For ^(D)though I am free from all, ^(E)I have made myself a servant to all, that I might ^(F)win more of them. ^20 (G)To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To ^(H)those outside the law I became ^(I)as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but ^(J)under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ^22 (K)To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. ^(L)I have become all things to all people, that ^(M)by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, ^(N)that I may share with them in its blessings.

¹⁸ For I will not venture to speak of anything except ^(A)what Christ has accomplished through me ^(B)to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, ^19 (C)by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that ^(D)from Jerusalem and all the way around ^(E)to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;

³⁶ For David, after he had ^(A)served the purpose of God in his own generation, ^(B)fell asleep and ^(C)was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,