Holman Christian Standard Bible CSB
New International Version NIV
12 we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
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We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
13 when we are slandered, we entreat. We are, even now, like the world's garbage, like the filth of all things.
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when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
14 I'm not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.
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I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children.
15 For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can't have many fathers. Now I have fathered you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
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Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
16 Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me.
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Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
17 This is why I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
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For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Now some are inflated with pride, as though I were not coming to you.
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Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.
19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will know not the talk but the power of those who are inflated with pride.
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But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.
20 For the kingdom of God is not in talk but in power.
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For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
21 What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
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What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.