Chapter 9

¹ Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, which has the Lord as its shepherd in my place—the one who said, I am the good shepherd. He alone will oversee it, along with your love for him. But I’m even ashamed to be counted as one of them, for I am not worthy, being the least of them and an untimely birth.

² But I have been shown mercy to be someone, if I attain to God. My spirit greets you, and so does the love of the churches that received me in the name of Jesus Christ—not as someone just passing through. For even the churches that were not on my route escorted me from city to city.