Salutation

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops^[a] and deacons:^[b]

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.^(A)

Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians

³ I thank my God for every remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy ⁵ for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.^{(B) 6} I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete^[c] it until the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart,^[d] for all of you are my partners in God’s grace,^[e] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.^{(C) 8} For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus.^{(D) 9} And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight^{(E) 10} to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹ having produced the harvest^[f] of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s Present Circumstances

¹² I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the progress of the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard^[g] and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ,

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

²³ When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”^{(A) 24} Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.”^{(B) 27} So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’^{(C) 29} He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ The father^[a] went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.^{(D) 32} For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.^(E)