Book of Common Prayer

²¹ Are they Hebrew people? So am I. Are they Israel's people? So am I. Is Abraham their father? He is mine too.

²² Are they workers for Christ? (I talk like one who is not in his right mind.) I am a better worker. I have worked much harder. I have been in prison more often. I have been beaten many, many times. Often I have almost died.

²³ The Jewish leaders five times gave me thirty nine strikes with the rope.

²⁴ Three times people beat me with sticks, and once they threw rocks at me. Three times I was in a boat when it broke in the sea. I have been in the water all one night and day.

²⁵ I have travelled much. I have crossed bad rivers. I have gone where men might steal my things. The Jews and those who are not Jews have troubled me. I have been in hard places in the city. I have had hard times in the desert. I have had hard times on the water. I have had hard times among those who should have been my brothers and were not.

²⁶ I have worked hard. I have been tired out. I have often had no sleep at night. I have been hungry and thirsty. I have often had nothing to eat. I have been cold and did not have enough clothes to wear.

²⁷ Beside all other things, my heart is troubled about the churches. That is a load I carry every day.

²⁸ When anyone is weak, I am weak too. When anyone is made to fall away, my heart burns within me

³⁰ If I must talk about myself, I will talk about the things that show I am weak.

³¹ God knows I am not telling lies. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and he is to be praised forever. 32In the city of Damascus a man ruled for king Aretas. He had the gates of the city guarded because he wanted to catch me.

³² But I sat in a basket. Then it was put out through a window in the wall and was let down. And so I got away from him.

²⁴ `No man can work for two masters. He will hate one and love the other. Or he will obey one and despise the other. You cannot work for both God and money.

²⁵ `So, I tell you this. Do not be troubled about what you will eat or drink to keep alive. Do not be troubled about what you will wear on your body. Life itself is worth more than food, and the body is worth more than clothes.

²⁶ `Look at the birds that fly in the air. They do not plant or cut or keep any food. Yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not worth more than birds?

²⁷ Can any one of you live any longer by troubling yourself about these things?

²⁸ And why are you troubled about clothes? See how the flowers grow in the fields. They do not work or make cloth.

²⁹ I tell you, King Solomon was a great man. But he was not dressed as fine as one of these flowers.

³⁰ God dresses the grass in the fields so it looks nice. It is in the field one day and the next day it is put on the fire. If God dresses the grass like that, he cares much more that you have clothes to wear. You do not believe in God very much!

³¹ `So then, do not keep asking, "What shall we eat?" "What shall we drink?" and "What shall we wear?"

³² It is the people who do not believe in God who work for all these things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need them all.

³³ `Work first for God's kingdom and what he calls good. Then you will have all these things also.

³⁴ `So do not be troubling yourself about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own trouble. Today's trouble is enough for today.'