Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 If there is therefore any exhortation in Messiah, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
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If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care -
2 make my joy full, that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
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then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.
3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
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Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.
4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
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Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Messiah Yeshua,
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Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.
6 who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God,
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He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
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Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
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Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death - and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
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Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever,
10 that at the name of Yeshua every knee would bow, of those in heaven, those on eretz, and those under the eretz,
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so that all created beings in heaven and on earth - even those long ago dead and buried - will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ,
11 and that every tongue would confess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father.
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and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God.
13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
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That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
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Do everything readily and cheerfully - no bickering, no second-guessing allowed!
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
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Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night
16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Messiah, that I didn't run in vain nor labor in vain.
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so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing.
17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
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Even if I am executed here and now, I'll rejoice in being an element in the offering of your faith that you make on Christ's altar, a part of your rejoicing.
18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
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But turnabout's fair play - you must join me in my rejoicing. Whatever you do, don't feel sorry for me.
19 But I hope in the Lord Yeshua to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.
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I plan (according to Jesus' plan) to send Timothy to you very soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will do my heart good!
20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
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I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you.
21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Yeshua the Messiah.
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Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
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But you know yourselves that Timothy's the real thing. He's been a devoted son to me as together we've delivered the Message.
23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
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As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan to send him off.
24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
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And then I'm hoping and praying to be right on his heels.
25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need;
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But for right now, I'm dispatching Epaphroditus, my good friend and companion in my work. You sent him to help me out; now I'm sending him to help you out.
26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
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He has been wanting in the worst way to get back with you. Especially since recovering from the illness you heard about, he's been wanting to get back and reassure you that he is just fine.
27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
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He nearly died, as you know, but God had mercy on him. And not only on him - he had mercy on me, too. His death would have been one huge grief piled on top of all the others.
28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
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So you can see why I'm so delighted to send him on to you. When you see him again, hale and hearty, how you'll rejoice and how relieved I'll be.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,
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Give him a grand welcome, a joyful embrace! People like him deserve the best you can give.
30 because for the work of Messiah he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
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Remember the ministry to me that you started but weren't able to complete? Well, in the process of finishing up that work, he put his life on the line and nearly died doing it.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.