²⁵ Yet I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, who is my brother and companion in labor, fellow soldier, your messenger, and he who ministered to my necessity. ²⁶ For he longed after you all and was filled with heaviness, because you heard that he was sick. ²⁷ Indeed he was sick, near death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but also on me, lest I should have had sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful. ²⁹ So receive him in the Lord with all joy. And hold such ones in high regard, ³⁰ because for the work of Christ he was near death, not regarding his life, endeavoring to make up for your lack of service toward me.