Then the Spirit entered Amasai, the leader of the Thirty, and he said: “We belong to you, David. We are with you, son of Jesse. Success, success to you. Success to those who help you, because your God helps you.” So David welcomed these men and made them leaders of his army.
Greetings to Tryphena and Tryphosa, women who work very hard for the Lord. Greetings to my dear friend Persis, who also has worked very hard for the Lord.
In the church God has given a place first to apostles, second to prophets, and third to teachers. Then God has given a place to those who do miracles, those who have gifts of healing, those who can help others, those who are able to govern, and those who can speak in different languages.
And I ask you, my faithful friend, to help these women. They served with me in telling the Good News, together with Clement and others who worked with me, whose names are written in the book of life.
We continually recall before God our Father the things you have done because of your faith and the work you have done because of your love. And we thank him that you continue to be strong because of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, I know you remember our hard work and difficulties. We worked night and day so we would not burden any of you while we preached God’s Good News to you.
Obey your leaders and act under their authority. They are watching over you, because they are responsible for your souls. Obey them so that they will do this work with joy, not sadness. It will not help you to make their work hard.
God is fair; he will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people. And he will remember that you are still helping them.
In the same way, younger people should be willing to be under older people. And all of you should be very humble with each other. “God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”