And in this confidence I intended to go to you before, that you might have a second benefit;

And I wrote to you this very thing, that, on coming to you, I might not have sorrow from those from whom I ought to receive joy; because I have confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

For out of much affliction and distress of heart, I wrote to you with many tears: not that you might be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly for you.

For I wrote to you for this purpose also, that I might have a sure proof from you, whether you are obedient in all things.

for he has made him, who knew no sin, a sin-offering for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed in order to repentance. For you sorrowed in a way acceptable to God, that you might in nothing receive injury from us.

Therefore, though I wrote to you, it was not on account of him who did the wrong, nor on account of him who received the wrong; but that our diligent care for you, in the sight of God, might be made manifest to you.

beseeching us, with much entreaty, that they might give, and take part in the ministering to the saints;

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet, for your sakes, he became poor, that you, through his poverty, might become rich.

lest, possibly, should the Macedonians come with me, and find you unprepared, we (not to say you) might be made ashamed by this same confident boasting.

Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go before to you, and make ready beforehand your bounty, which has been so much talked of before, that this might be ready as a bounty, and not as a gift extorted from you.

(for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God, for the overthrowing of strongholds,)

Have I committed a sin, in making myself lowly, that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel to you without cost?

And, lest I should be too much exalted by the excellence of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I might not be too much exalted.

With regard to this, I three times entreated the Lord that it might leave me;

Truly, the signs of an apostle were worked among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

since you seek a proof of Christ's speaking in me, who toward you is not weak, but who is mighty in you: