³ so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”

⁴ As long as it is day,^(A) we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save^(A) both yourself and your hearers.

¹⁶ “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.^(A) Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.^(B)

³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’