1 You children, because you ◄belong to/have a close relationship with► the Lord Jesus, obey your parents, because it is right for you to do that. 2 God commanded in the Scriptures,

Greatly respect your father and mother.

3  If you do that, you will prosper, and you will live a long time on the earth.

4 You parents (OR, You fathers), do not treat your children so severely that they become angry. Instead, bring them up well by instructing them and by disciplining them in the manner that the Lord Jesus wants you to do.

5 You slaves, obey those who are your masters here on the earth. Obey them very respectfully and sincerely [DOU], just like you obey Christ. 6 Obey them, not only when they are watching [MTY] you, and not only to cause them to think highly/well of you. Instead, obey them as though you were [MET] slaves of Christ, not slaves of your masters. Do enthusiastically what God wants you to do. 7 Serve your masters zealously/wholeheartedly, as you would serve the Lord Jesus, not as you would serve ordinary people. 8  Do this because you know that some day the Lord Jesus will reward each person for whatever good deeds that person has done. He will reward people who are slaves and people who are not slaves.

9 You masters, just like your slaves should serve you well, you similarly must treat them well. Stop threatening to beat them if they do not do their work well. Do not forget that the one who is their Lord and your Lord is in heaven. So he is the one who will say to you and your slaves whether he approves of what you and they have done, and when he judges people, he does not act more favorably toward some than he acts toward others.

10 Finally, at all times rely/depend completely on the Lord Jesus to strengthen you spiritually by his own mighty power. 11  Just like a soldier puts on all his ◄armor/things to help him fight► [MET], you should use every spiritual resource/help that God provides for you, in order that you may successfully resist the devil when he cleverly tries to oppose you. 12 You must do this because the fighting that we believers do is not only against human beings [SYN]. Instead, we are also fighting against evil spirits who rule and have authority over all that is evil [MET] in the world. We are fighting against evil spirits who are in heavenly places (OR, everywhere). 13 Therefore, just like a soldier puts on all his ◄armor/things to help him fight► [MET], use well all the spiritual resources/helps that God provides for you. Do that in order that you may be able to resist successfully the devil and all his powerful evil spirits [MTY] every time they ◄attack you/tempt you to sin or cause something bad to happen to you►. Do it also in order that when you have done all that you can to resist them when they attack you, you will still be ready to resist them when they attack you the next time.

14 You must be ready to firmly resist the devil and his evil spirits [MET], just like soldiers must be ready to resist the enemy. Prepare for doing that by doing these things: To be strong spiritually, hold firmly to God's truth, just like soldiers prepare ◄to stand firm against/to firmly resist► their enemies by fastening their belts around their waists [MET]. Act righteously in order to protect yourself against demonic attacks, just like soldiers put on breastplates to protect their chests against his enemies' attacks [MET]. 15 Hold firmly the good message that gives us peace with God, just like soldiers put on their boots firmly [MET] ◄to stand firm against/to firmly resist► their enemies. 16 In addition, keep trusting firmly in the Lord. That will enable you to protect yourselves from anything that Satan, the evil one, may do to harm you spiritually, just like soldiers carry shields to protect themselves against the arrows that have flaming tips that their enemies shoot at them [MET]. 17 And rely/depend on the fact that God has saved you, in order to protect yourselves against demonic attacks, just like soldiers put on a helmet to protect their heads from attacks by their enemies [MET]. And be ready to use the weapon that God's Spirit has given you, which is the message of God, in order to fight against ◄ demonic powers/Satan►, just like soldiers use their swords to fight against their enemies [MET]. 18 As you are doing that, keep praying to God at all times, and requesting him to do things for you and others; and let God's Spirit direct what you pray. For this purpose, always be spiritually alert/watchful, and ◄always be persistent in/never quit► praying for all God's people. 19 And specifically, pray for me. Pray that God will tell me what I should say [MTY] whenever I speak, in order that I may boldly tell others the good message about Christ. People did not know that message before, but God has now revealed it to me. 20 I am ◄a representative of Christ/one who speaks on behalf of Christ► as I tell this message to others, and I am in prison [MTY] because of that. Pray that when I tell others about Christ, I may speak without being afraid, because that is how I ought to speak.

21 In order that you may know about what is happening to me and what I am doing, I am sending Tychicus to you with this letter. He will tell you everything that is happening here. He is a fellow believer whom we all (inc) love very much, and he serves the Lord Jesus faithfully. 22 That is the reason that I am sending him to you; I want you to know ◄how my companions and I are/what is happening to my companions and me►, and I want him to encourage you [SYN].

23  I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will cause all of you fellow believers to have inner peace, and enable you to love each other and to continue trusting in Christ. 24 I pray that God will continue to act kindly to you and to all others who love our Lord Jesus Christ and will never quit loving him.