1 Corinthians 16

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¹All right. Now I want to talk to you about something else. I will answer the question you asked me about the money that you want to give to God’s people in Jerusalem. You know, I talked to the people in the churches in Galatia country, and I told them how to give money to God’s people in Jerusalem, and I want you to do it the same way.

²Do it like this. On the 1st day of every week, each of you can pick out some of the money that you got that week, and keep it in a separate place. I will come to you soon, and you will have this money ready for me. You will not have to quickly look around and try to find it when I get there.

³And you can pick a few of your men to take that money to Jerusalem and give it to God’s people there. But wait for me to get to you at Corinth. Then I will write some letters to tell the Jerusalem mob that each of these men is a good man. They can take those letters with them.

⁴And I might go with them, too, if I think it is the right thing for me to do.

⁵But before I get to Corinth I have to go through Macedonia country, and after that I will visit you.

⁶Maybe I will stay with you for a while. I might even stay till the end of the cold weather time, and then you can give me the things I will need for my trip to the next place.

⁷You see, I want to stay here in Ephesus city for a little while, and then I can come to you. And when I come, I don’t want to stay a short time then go to another place, but I want to stay with you for some time. If our leader, Jesus, agrees with this plan, I hope I can stay with you for a little longer time.

⁸But right now I will stay here till that day called Pentecost comes.

⁹You see, God has given me the chance to do great and powerful things for him here. But there are a lot of people here that are trying to stop me.

¹⁰I want to talk to you now about Timothy. He is doing God’s work, the same as me. So if he comes to visit you, make him feel good with you there. Don’t let anyone make trouble for him,

¹¹and don’t let anyone rubbish him. And when he gets up to come here to me, you mob help him and give him what he needs for his trip. I’m waiting for him here, and I’m waiting for the other Christians that are coming with him.

¹²And now I want to tell you about our friend Apollos. When those other Christians got up to go and visit you, I really wanted Apollos to go with them and visit you, too. I kept telling him to go, but he reckoned that it was not the right time. He will visit you later, when he gets the chance.

¹³Now I want to tell you this. Stay awake, and keep watching what is going on, so you will be ready for anything. Never stop believing in God. Always be brave and strong in your spirits.

¹⁴And keep on loving God and other people all the time, and do things to help them.

¹⁵You know about Stephanas and his family. They were the first people in Achaia country to believe in Jesus. And they have decided to always help God’s people. So, my friends, I strongly ask you this.

¹⁶I want you to agree with them, and do what they want. And do the same for anyone that works hard for God, like they do.

¹⁷I was very happy when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus came to me here. You see, you mob were too far away, and you couldn’t help me, but instead, they came and helped me.

¹⁸They made my spirit happy, just like they made your spirits happy. Let them know, and let anyone like them know, that you are happy with them for the good things they do.

¹⁹The people in the churches here in Asia country say hello to you. And so do Aquila, and his wife Priscilla, and the Christians that meet in their house. They know that you belong to Jesus, and they love you, and they say hello to you.

²⁰All the Christians here say hello to you. And you, too, whenever you meet each other, show that you love each other in a special way.

²¹Look, I’m now writing this part of this letter with my own hand, so that you can know for sure that it is me, Paul, sending this letter to you.

²²And I want to say this to anyone that doesn’t love our leader, Jesus, “God will punish you.” And I’m telling Jesus, “Please come back soon.”

²³I’m asking our leader, Jesus, to be good to all of you.

²⁴I love all of you that belong to Jesus Christ. From Paul