Bible

Philippians

Chapter 1

¹Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

²May grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³I thank my God every time I remember you,⁴always, in every prayer of mine for all of you, making my prayer with joy⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.⁶I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷It is proper for me to feel this way about all of you because I have you in my heart. You all have been my partners in grace both in my imprisonment and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel.⁸For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

⁹So this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and all understanding¹⁰so that you may approve what is excellent, and so you may be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ,¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

¹²Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.¹³As a result, my chains in Christ came to light throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else.¹⁴Most of the brothers have far more confidence in the Lord because of my chains, and they have courage to fearlessly speak the word.

¹⁵Some indeed even proclaim Christ out of envy and strife, and also others out of good will.¹⁶The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.¹⁷But the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely. They think they will cause me distress while I am in chains.

¹⁸What then? Only that in every way—whether from false motives or from true—Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,¹⁹for I know that this will result in my deliverance through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

²⁰It is my eager expectation and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.²¹For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

²²But if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which to choose? I do not know.²³For I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, which is far better,²⁴yet to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

²⁵Being convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,²⁶so that in me you may have increasing reasons to boast in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.²⁷Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to see you or am absent, I may hear about you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.

²⁸Do not be frightened in any respect by those who are your opponents. This is a sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation—and this from God.²⁹For it has been freely given to you for the sake of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake,³⁰having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now you hear in me.

Chapter 2

¹If there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any comfort provided by love, if there is any fellowship in the Spirit, if there are any tender mercies and compassions,²then make my joy full by being of the same mind, having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose.

³Do nothing out of ambition or empty conceit. Instead, with humility consider others better than yourselves.⁴Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

⁵Have this mind in yourselves which also was in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, though he existed in the form of God,

did not consider his equality with God as something to hold on to.

⁷Rather, he emptied himself,

taking the form of a servant,

and he was born in the likeness of men.

And being found in the form of a man,

⁸he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross!

⁹Therefore also God highly exalted him

and gave him the name that is above every name,

¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

¹²So then, my beloved, as you always obey, not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.¹³For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without complaining or arguing¹⁵so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without blemish in the middle of a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine as lights in the world.¹⁶Hold on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I may boast that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

¹⁷But even if I am being poured out as an offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.¹⁸In the same manner, you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

¹⁹But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may also be encouraged when I know the things about you.²⁰For I have no one else like him, who is truly concerned for you.²¹For they all seek their own interests, not the things of Jesus Christ.

²²But you know his proven worth, because as a son with his father, so he served with me in the gospel.²³So I hope to send him as soon as I see how things will go with me.²⁴But I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.

²⁵But I think it is necessary to send Epaphroditus back to you. He is my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and servant for my needs.²⁶For he was very distressed, and he longed to be with you all, because you heard that he was sick.²⁷For indeed he was so sick that he almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.

²⁸So it is all the more eagerly that I am sending him, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I can have less sorrow.²⁹Therefore, welcome him in the Lord with all joy. Honor people like him.³⁰For it was for the work of Christ that he came near death. He risked his life so that he could bring to completion what was lacking in your service to me.

Chapter 3

¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write these same things again to you is no trouble for me, and it keeps you safe.²Watch out for the dogs. Watch out for those evil workers. Watch out for the mutilation.³For it is we who are the circumcision—the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, and take pride in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

⁴Even so, I myself could have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I could have even more.⁵I was circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; with regard to the law, a Pharisee.

⁶As for zeal, I persecuted the church; as for righteousness under the law, I was blameless.⁷But whatever things were a profit for me, I have considered them as loss because of Christ.

⁸In fact, now I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have given up all things—and I consider them rubbish—so that I may gain Christ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God that is by faith.¹⁰So now I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,¹¹so somehow I may experience the resurrection from the dead.

¹²Not that I have already obtained these things, or am already perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.¹³Brothers, I do not think that I myself have yet taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead,¹⁴I press on toward the goal with a view to the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵All of us who are mature, let us think this way; and if you think differently about anything, God will also reveal that to you.¹⁶Nevertheless, let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷Be imitators of me, brothers. Closely watch those who are walking by the example that you have in us.¹⁸Many are walking—those about whom I have often told you, and now I am telling you with tears—as enemies of the cross of Christ.¹⁹Their end is destruction. For their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. They think about earthly things.

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.²¹He will transform our lowly bodies into bodies formed like his glorious body, formed by the might of his power to subject all things to himself.

Chapter 4

¹Therefore, my beloved brothers whom I long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved friends.

²I am pleading with Euodia, and I am pleading with Syntyche, be of the same mind in the Lord.³Yes, I ask you, my true companion, to help these women who labored with me in spreading the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.⁵Let your gentleness be known to all people. The Lord is near.⁶Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in everything by prayer and earnest appeal with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God,⁷and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is anything excellent, if there is anything to be praised, think about these things.⁹The things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

¹⁰I greatly rejoice in the Lord because now at last you have renewed your concern for me. You had indeed been concerned for me before, but there was no opportunity for you to help.¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need. For I have learned to be content in all circumstances.¹²I know what it is to be poor, and I also know what it is to have plenty. In every way and in all things I have learned the secret of how to be well fed or to be hungry, and how to have an abundance or to be in need.¹³I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

¹⁴However, you did well to share with me in my difficulties.¹⁵You Philippians know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church supported me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.¹⁶Even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent help for my needs more than once.¹⁷It is not that I seek the gift. Instead, I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

¹⁸I have received everything in full, and even more. I have been well supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the things you sent. They are a sweet-smelling aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.¹⁹My God will meet all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.²⁰Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

²¹Greet all God's holy people in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.²²All God's holy people who are here greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.

²³The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. ¹

¹Some ancient and important Greek copies add Amen , and there are some ancient Greek copies that have that word at the end of every New Testament book. There are also many important and ancient Greek copies that do not have the final Amen .

English: Unlocked Literal Bible for Philippians

Formatted for Translators

Philippians