Brotherly Love 1 UDB Continue to love your fellow believers. BSB BSB: Continue in brotherly love.
2 UDB Do not forget to be hospitable to needy travelers. By caring for strangers, some people have welcomed angels into their homes without knowing it. BSB BSB: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
3 UDB Remember to help those who are in prison because they are believers as though you were in prison with them and were suffering physically as they are doing. BSB BSB: Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.
Christ’s Unchanging Nature 5 UDB Live without constantly wanting money, and be happy no matter how much or little you own. Remember what Moses wrote that God said: "I will never leave you; I will never stop providing for you." BSB BSB: Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
6 UDB So we can say confidently as the psalmist said, "Since the Lord is the one who helps me, I will not be afraid! People can do nothing to me that will keep God from helping me." BSB BSB: So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
7 UDB Your spiritual leaders have told you the message about Christ. Remember how they have conducted their lives, and imitate how they have trusted in Christ. BSB BSB: Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
8 UDB Jesus Christ is the same now as he always has been, and he will be the same forever. BSB BSB: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
9 UDB So do not let other people persuade you to believe other things about God, strange things that you have not learned from us. For example, do not let anything make you obey various rules about what to eat and what not to eat. These rules cannot help us. BSB BSB: Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.
10 UDB Those who serve in the sacred tent have no right to eat at the sacred altar where we worship Christ. BSB BSB: We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 UDB After the high priest brings into the very holy place the blood of animals that they have sacrificed to atone for sins, other people burn the bodies of those animals outside the camp. BSB BSB: Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp.
13 UDB So we must go to Jesus to be saved; we must allow others to insult us just as people insulted him. BSB BSB: Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.
14 UDB Here on earth, we believers do not have a city such as Jerusalem. Instead, we are waiting for the heavenly city that will last forever. BSB BSB: For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Sacrifice, Obedience, and Prayer 15 UDB Because Jesus has died for us, we must continually praise God no matter what happens. That will be something we can sacrifice to him instead of animals. We must be ready to openly say to others that we trust in Christ. BSB BSB: Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
16 UDB Always be doing good deeds for others and sharing the things you have because doing things like that will be as though you are offering sacrifices that will please God. BSB BSB: And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
17 UDB Obey your leaders and do what they tell you since they are the ones who are guarding your welfare. One day they will have to stand before God so that he can say if he approves of what they have done. Obey them so that they can do the work of guarding you joyfully and not have to do it sadly because if you cause them to do it sadly then that will certainly not help you at all. BSB BSB: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.
18 UDB Pray for me and those with me. I am certain that I have not done anything that displeases God. I have tried to act well toward you in every way. BSB BSB: Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.
19 UDB I urge you earnestly to pray that God will quickly remove the things that stop my coming to you. BSB BSB: And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you soon.
Benediction and Farewell 20 UDB Jesus provides for us, protects us, and guides us as a great shepherd does for his sheep. And God, who gives us inner peace, raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. By doing that, God confirmed his eternal covenant with us by the blood that flowed from Christ when he died on the cross. BSB BSB: Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
21 UDB So I pray that God may equip you with everything good so that you may do what he desires. May he accomplish in us what pleases him as he watches us follow Jesus, who offered up himself for us. May all people praise Jesus Christ forever. May it be so! BSB BSB: equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 UDB My fellow believers, since this is a short letter that I have written to you, I ask you that you patiently consider what I have just written to encourage you. BSB BSB: I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.
23 UDB I want you to know that our fellow believer Timothy is now free from prison. If he comes here soon, he will accompany me when I go to see you. BSB BSB: Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.
24 UDB Tell all your spiritual leaders and all your other fellow believers who belong to God in your city that I greet them. The believers in this area who have come from Italy greet you also. BSB BSB: Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings.
25 UDB May God continue to love you and protect you by his kindness. BSB BSB: Grace be with all of you.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.