So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
- KJV Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
- NKJV Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
- NASB Therefore I ask you not to become discouraged about my tribulations in your behalf, since they are your glory.
- NLT So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul asks them not to be discouraged by his sufferings, which are for their glory. It reframes his hardships as serving their benefit.
Overview
Paul urges his readers 'not to lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.' His imprisonment, far from a cause for despair, advances the gospel that brings them honor. He turns attention from his own plight to their good, modeling a Christlike view of suffering in service.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Th 3:13But as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in well-doing.
- Col 1:24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
- 2 Cor 1:6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience.
- Isa 40:30–31Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
- Eph 3:1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles...
- Phil 1:12–14Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel.
- Gal 6:9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- Deut 20:3saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them.
- Acts 14:22strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
- Zeph 3:16On that day they will say to Jerusalem: “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands fall limp.
- Heb 12:3–5Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
- 1 Th 3:2–4We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 3:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.