| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: | 1This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God's holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the elders and deacons. |
| 2Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. | 2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. |
| 3I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, | 3Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. |
| 4Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, | 4Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, |
| 5For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; | 5for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. |
| 6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: | 6And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. |
| 7Even as 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 defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. | 7So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. |
| 8For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. | 8God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. |
| 9And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; | 9I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. |
| 10That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; | 10For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ's return. |
| 11Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. | 11May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation--the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ--for this will bring much glory and praise to God. |
| 12But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; | 12And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. |
| 13So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; | 13For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. |
| 14And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. | 14And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear. |
| 15Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: | 15It's true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. |
| 16The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: | 16They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. |
| 17But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. | 17Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. |
| 18What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. | 18But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. |
| 19For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, | 19For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. |
| 20According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall 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. | 20For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. |
| 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. | 21For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. |
| 22But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. | 22But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better. |
| 23For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: | 23I'm torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. |
| 24Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. | 24But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. |
| 25And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; | 25Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. |
| 26That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. | 26And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me. |
| 27Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be 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; | 27Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. |
| 28And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. | 28Don't be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. |
| 29For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; | 29For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. |
| 30Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. | 30We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it. |
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