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For you have known, brothers, that our entrance to you has not been in vain,
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but having both suffered before, and having been mistreated (as you have known) in Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak to you the good news of God in much conflict,
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for our exhortation [is] not out of deceit, nor out of uncleanness, nor in guile,
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but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who is proving our hearts,
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for at no time did we come with speech of flattery (as you have known), nor in a pretext for covetousness (God [is] witness),
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nor seeking glory from men, neither from you nor from others, being able to be burdensome, as Christ’s apostles.
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But we became gentle in your midst, as a nurse may nurture her own children,
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so being desirous of you, we are well-pleased to impart to you not only the good news of God, but also our own souls, because you have become beloved to us,
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for you remember, brothers, our labor and travail, for working night and day not to be a burden on any of you, we preached the good news of God to you;
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you [are] witnesses—God also—how piously and righteously and blamelessly we became to you who believe,
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even as you have known how we are exhorting each one of you, as a father his own children, and comforting, and testifying,
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for your walking worthily of God, who is calling you to His own kingdom and glory.
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And because of this we also continually give thanks to God, that, having received the word of God [by] your hearing from us, you accepted, not the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, who also works in you who believe;
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for you became imitators, brothers, of the assemblies of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus, because you suffered such things, even you, from your own countrymen, as they also from the Jews,
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who put to death both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and persecuted us, and they are not pleasing God, and [are] contrary to all men,
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forbidding us to speak to the nations that they might be saved, so as to always fill up their sins, but [God’s] anger came on them—to the end!
Paul’s Longing to Visit
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And we, brothers, having been taken from you for the space of an hour—in presence, not in heart—hurried more abundantly to see your face in much desire;
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for this reason we wished to come to you (I, indeed, Paul), both once and again, and Satan hindered us;
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for what [is] our hope, or joy, or garland of rejoicing? Are not even you before our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?
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For you are our glory and joy.
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