In Malta

¹When we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta.

²The natives there were very friendly to us. It had started to rain and was cold, so they built a fire and made us all welcome.

³Paul gathered up a bundle of sticks and was putting them on the fire when a snake came out on account of the heat and fastened itself to his hand.

⁴The natives saw the snake hanging on Paul's hand and said to one another, “This man must be a murderer, but Fate will not let him live, even though he escaped from the sea.”

⁵But Paul shook the snake off into the fire without being harmed at all.

⁶They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after waiting for a long time and not seeing anything unusual happening to him, they changed their minds and said, “He is a god!”

⁷Not far from that place were some fields that belonged to Publius, the chief of the island. He welcomed us kindly and for three days we were his guests.

⁸Publius' father was in bed, sick with fever and dysentery. Paul went into his room, prayed, placed his hands on him, and healed him.

⁹When this happened, all the other sick people on the island came and were healed.

¹⁰They gave us many gifts, and when we sailed, they put on board what we needed for the voyage.

From Malta to Rome

¹¹After three months we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria, called “The Twin Gods,” which had spent the winter in the island.

¹²We arrived in the city of Syracuse and stayed there for three days.

¹³From there we sailed on and arrived in the city of Rhegium. The next day a wind began to blow from the south, and in two days we came to the town of Puteoli.

¹⁴We found some believers there who asked us to stay with them a week. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵The believers in Rome heard about us and came as far as the towns of Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and was greatly encouraged.

In Rome

¹⁶When we arrived in Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier guarding him.

¹⁷After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders to a meeting. When they had gathered, he said to them, “My fellow Israelites, even though I did nothing against our people or the customs that we received from our ancestors, I was made a prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

¹⁸After questioning me, the Romans wanted to release me, because they found that I had done nothing for which I deserved to die.

¹⁹But when the Jews opposed this, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor, even though I had no accusation to make against my own people.

²⁰That is why I asked to see you and talk with you. As a matter of fact, I am bound in chains like this for the sake of him for whom the people of Israel hope.”

²¹They said to him, “We have not received any letters from Judea about you, nor have any of our people come from there with any news or anything bad to say about you.

²²But we would like to hear your ideas, because we know that everywhere people speak against this party to which you belong.”

²³So they set a date with Paul, and a large number of them came that day to the place where Paul was staying. From morning till night he explained to them his message about the Kingdom of God, and he tried to convince them about Jesus by quoting from the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets.

²⁴Some of them were convinced by his words, but others would not believe.

²⁵So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Paul had said this one thing: “How well the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophet Isaiah to your ancestors!

²⁶For he said, ‘Go and say to this people: You will listen and listen, but not understand; you will look and look, but not see,

²⁷because this people's minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand, and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.’”

²⁸And Paul concluded: “You are to know, then, that God's message of salvation has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen!”

²⁹[And when he had said these things, the Jews went out from him, having much reasoning among themselves.] (Vulgate/DR Patch)

³⁰For two years Paul lived in a place he rented for himself, and there he welcomed all who came to see him.

³¹He preached about the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking with all boldness and freedom.

¹From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus— To all God's people in Philippi who are in union with Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and helpers:

²May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul's Prayer for His Readers

³I thank my God for you every time I think of you;

⁴and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy

⁵because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now.

⁶And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus.

⁷You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you. For you have all shared with me in this privilege that God has given me, both now that I am in prison and also while I was free to defend the gospel and establish it firmly.

⁸God is my witness that I tell the truth when I say that my deep feeling for you all comes from the heart of Christ Jesus himself.

⁹I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgment,

¹⁰so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ.

¹¹Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.

To Live Is Christ

¹²I want you to know, my friends, that the things that have happened to me have really helped the progress of the gospel.

¹³As a result, the whole palace guard and all the others here know that I am in prison because I am a servant of Christ.

¹⁴And my being in prison has given most of the believers more confidence in the Lord, so that they grow bolder all the time to preach the message fearlessly.

¹⁵Of course some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good will.

¹⁶These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel.

¹⁷The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from a spirit of selfish ambition; they think that they will make more trouble for me while I am in prison.

¹⁸It does not matter! I am happy about it—just so Christ is preached in every way possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be happy,

¹⁹because I know that by means of your prayers and the help which comes from the Spirit of Jesus Christ I shall be set free.

²⁰My deep desire and hope is that I shall never fail in my duty, but that at all times, and especially right now, I shall be full of courage, so that with my whole being I shall bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.

²¹For what is life? To me, it is Christ. Death, then, will bring more.

²²But if by continuing to live I can do more worthwhile work, then I am not sure which I should choose.

²³I am pulled in two directions. I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ, which is a far better thing;

²⁴but for your sake it is much more important that I remain alive.

²⁵I am sure of this, and so I know that I will stay. I will stay on with you all, to add to your progress and joy in the faith,

²⁶so that when I am with you again, you will have even more reason to be proud of me in your life in union with Christ Jesus.

²⁷Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel.

²⁸Don't be afraid of your enemies; always be courageous, and this will prove to them that they will lose and that you will win, because it is God who gives you the victory.

²⁹For you have been given the privilege of serving Christ, not only by believing in him, but also by suffering for him.

³⁰Now you can take part with me in the battle. It is the same battle you saw me fighting in the past, and as you hear, the one I am fighting still.

Christ's Humility and Greatness

¹Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another.

²I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind.

³Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves.

⁴And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own.

⁵The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:

⁶He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God.

⁷Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness.

⁸He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death— his death on the cross.

⁹For this reason God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.

¹⁰And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees,

¹¹and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Shining as Lights in the World

¹²So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation,

¹³because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.

¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing,

¹⁵so that you may be innocent and pure as God's perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and sinful people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky,

¹⁶as you offer them the message of life. If you do so, I shall have reason to be proud of you on the Day of Christ, because it will show that all my effort and work have not been wasted.

¹⁷Perhaps my life's blood is to be poured out like an offering on the sacrifice that your faith offers to God. If that is so, I am glad and share my joy with you all.

¹⁸In the same way, you too must be glad and share your joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹If it is the Lord's will, I hope that I will be able to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be encouraged by news about you.

²⁰He is the only one who shares my feelings and who really cares about you.

²¹Everyone else is concerned only with their own affairs, not with the cause of Jesus Christ.

²²And you yourselves know how he has proved his worth, how he and I, like a son and his father, have worked together for the sake of the gospel.

²³So I hope to send him to you as soon as I know how things are going to turn out for me.

²⁴And I trust in the Lord that I myself will be able to come to you soon.

²⁵I have thought it necessary to send to you our brother Epaphroditus, who has worked and fought by my side and who has served as your messenger in helping me.

²⁶He is anxious to see you all and is very upset because you had heard that he was sick.

²⁷Indeed he was sick and almost died. But God had pity on him, and not only on him but on me, too, and spared me an even greater sorrow.

²⁸I am all the more eager, then, to send him to you, so that you will be glad again when you see him, and my own sorrow will disappear.

²⁹Receive him, then, with joy, as a believer in the Lord. Show respect to all such people as he,

³⁰because he risked his life and nearly died for the sake of the work of Christ, in order to give me the help that you yourselves could not give.

²⁵It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the Lord, you are safe.

²⁶Everybody wants the good will of the ruler, but only from the Lord can you get justice.

²⁷The righteous hate the wicked, and the wicked hate the righteous.