It so increases that we ourselves make honourable mention of you among the Churches of God because of your patience and faith amid all your persecutions and amid the afflictions which you are enduring.
Only, whatever be the condition in life which the Lord has assigned to each individual –and whatever the condition in which he was living when God called him– in that let him continue.
In fact I take pleasure in infirmities, in the bearing of insults, in distress, in persecutions, in grievous difficulties–for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
For however I may have boasted to him about you, I have no reason to feel ashamed; but as we have in all respects spoken the truth to you, so also our boasting to Titus about you has turned out to be the truth.
For I know your earnest willingness, on account of which I habitually boast of you to the Macedonians, pointing out to them that for a whole year you in Greece have been ready; and the greater number of them have been spurred on by your ardour.
for fear that, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we –not to say you yourselves– should be put to the blush in respect to this confidence.
For we never fail to remember your works of faith and labours of love and your persistent and unwavering hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father;
For you, brethren, followed the example of the Churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judaea; seeing that you endured the same ill-treatment at the hands of your countrymen, as they did at the hands of the Jews.
Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. You have also heard of Job's patient endurance, and have seen the issue of the Lord's dealings with him–how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.