15 “See, ^vI have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God¹ that I command you today, ^wby loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,² then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if ^xyour heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 ^yI declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^zblessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ^aand holding fast to him, for ^bhe is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ^cthe land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

1 Paul, ^aa prisoner for Christ Jesus, and ^bTimothy our brother,

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and ^cArchippus our ^dfellow soldier, and ^ethe church in your house:

3 ^fGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 ^gI thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I ^hhear of your love and ⁱof the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full ^jknowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.¹ 7 For I have derived much joy and ^kcomfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints ^lhave been refreshed through you.

8 Accordingly, ^mthough I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do ⁿwhat is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now ^oa prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for ^pmy child, ^qOnesimus,^{2 r}whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me ^son your behalf ^tduring my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be ^uby compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why ^vhe was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 ^wno longer as a bondservant³ but more than a bondservant, as ^xa beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, ^yboth in the flesh and in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me ^zyour partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 ^aI, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. ^bRefresh my heart in Christ.

21 ^cConfident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 ⁿ“If anyone comes to me and ^odoes not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, ^pyes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 ^qWhoever does not ^rbear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not ^sfirst sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not ^tsit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 ^uSo therefore, any one of you who ^vdoes not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

34 ^w“Salt is good, ^xbut if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. ^yHe who has ears to hear, let him hear.”