21 For you yourselves know , brethren , that our coming to you was not in vain , 2 but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi , as you know , we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition . 3 For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit ; 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel , so we speak , not as pleasing men , but God who examines our hearts . 5 For we never e came with flattering speech , as you know , nor with a pretext for greed - God is witness - 6 nor did we seek glory from men , either from you or from others , even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted e our authority .
7 But we proved to be gentle among e you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children . 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives , because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you recall , brethren , our labor and hardship , how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God . 10 You are witnesses , and so is God , how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers ; 11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children , 12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory .
13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men , but for what it really is, the word of God , which also performs its work in you who believe . 14 For you, brethren , became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea , for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen , even as they did from the Jews , 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets , and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God , but hostile to all men , 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved ; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins . But wrath has come upon them to the utmost .
17 But we, brethren , having been taken away from you for a short e while - in person , not in spirit -were all the more eager with great desire to see your face . 18 For we wanted to come to you-I, Paul , more e than once -and yet Satan hindered us. 19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation ? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming ? 20 For you are our glory and joy .
