18. For this same reason you also should be filled with joy and share that joy with me.
19. I hope that the Lord Jesus will allow me to send Timothy to you soon so that I can receive some encouraging news about you.
20. I don’t have anyone else like Timothy. He takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
21. Everyone else looks after his own interests, not after those of Jesus Christ.
22. But you know what kind of person Timothy proved to be. Like a father and son we worked hard together to spread the Good News.
23. I hope to send him as soon as I see how things are going to turn out for me.
24. But the Lord gives me confidence that I will come ⌊to visit you⌋ soon.
25. I feel that I must send Epaphroditus—my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier—back to you. You sent him as your personal representative to help me in my need.
26. He has been longing to see all of you and is troubled because you heard that he was sick.
27. Indeed, he was so sick that he almost died. But God had mercy not only on him but also on me and kept me from having one sorrow on top of another.