Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
- BSB So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are 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 ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
- Col 1:24Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
- 2 Cor 1:6And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
- Isa 40:30–31Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
- Eph 3:1For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
- Phil 1:12–14But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
- Gal 6:9And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
- Deut 20:3And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
- Acts 14:22Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
- Zeph 3:16In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
- Heb 12:3–5For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
- 1 Th 3:2–4And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:
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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
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