Philippians 1

1. Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

2. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

4. always in my every prayer for you all making request with joy,

5. for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now,

6. being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ.

7. It is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, ye are all partakers of my grace.

8. For God is my record how greatly I long for you all in the compassion of Jesus Christ.

9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,

10. that ye may approve things that are excellent, and that ye may be sincere and without offense until the Day of Christ,

11. being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

12. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which have happened unto me have turned out unto the furtherance of the Gospel,

13. so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places;

14. and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much bolder to speak the Word without fear.

15. Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.

16. The one preaches Christ out of contention and not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds;

17. but the other out of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel.

18. What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

19. For I know that this shall turn out to my salvation through your prayer and the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20. according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing shall I be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

22. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall choose, I know not.

23. For I am in a strait between the two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better;

24. nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

25. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy in faith,

26. that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.

27. Only let your manner of living be as becometh the Gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else am absent, I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel,

28. and terrified in nothing by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

29. For unto you it is given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

30. having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.