For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, of the tribulation which came to us in Asia, that above measure we have been burdened beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life:

for we ourselves, in ourselves have received the sentence of death, that we should have no confidence in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead.

For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with carnal wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and peculiarly towards you.

As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your glory, as also ye are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

But I appeal to God as a witness unto my soul, that to spare you I have not yet come to Corinth:

not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow-helpers of your joy; for by faith ye stand.

And I have written unto you for this very purpose, that I might not, when I come to you, have sorrow from those in whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears, not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly towards you.

For to this end also have I written, that I may know by this proof of you if ye are obedient in all things.

because ye are manifestly seen to be the letter of Christ, of which we have been the secretaries, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart.

And such confidence have we through Christ towards God:

THEREFORE having this ministry, as we have obtained mercy, we faint not;

but have renounced all shameful secret practices, not conducting ourselves with artifice, nor deceitfully disguising the word of God, but by clear manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience as in the presence of God.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the transcendent excellence of the power might be of God, and not of us.

Having then the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore I have spoken, we also believe, and therefore speak;

FOR we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle should be taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Therefore we have always confidence, and know that whilst we are indwelling in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we have been made manifest to God, and I hope also have been made manifest in your consciences.

For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion of glorying on our behalf, that ye may have an answer for those who glory in countenance, and not in heart.

Wherefore from the present moment know we no man after the flesh: yea though we have also known Christ after the flesh, yet so henceforth know we him no more.

for he saith, "In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I succoured thee." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Let us have a like return; I speak as unto children; be ye also enlarged.

Give us a favourable reception: we have injured no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

I speak not for your condemnation, for I have already said, that ye are in our hearts to die and live together.

Now I rejoice, not that ye have been made sorrowful, but that ye have sorrowed unto repentance; for ye have been made sorry in a godly manner, that ye might receive damage from us in nothing.

For behold this very thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly manner, how great diligence did it produce in you! yea, what apologizing! yea, what indignation! yea, what fear! yea, what earnest desire! yea, what zeal! yea, what vengeance! In every step ye have approved yourselves as pure in this affair.

For if I have boasted of you to him in any thing, I am not ashamed; but as we have spoken all things to you in truth, so our boasting of you to Titus hath been found truth.

I rejoice therefore that in every thing I have confidence in you.

And in this I give my opinion: for this is expedient for you, who have before begun not only to do, but also to be willing a year ago.

Now then accomplish also the doing it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be also to perform out of that which ye have.

We have sent with him also a brother, whose praise in the gospel is [spread] through all the churches;

And we have sent with him our brother, whom we have often experienced in many things to be a man of diligence, but now much more diligent, through the great confidence which I have in you.

But I have sent the brethren, that our glorying in you might not be vain in this matter; that as I have said, ye may be prepared.

have thought it necessary therefore to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and prepare before your promised bounty, that it may be ready as a matter of bounty, and not as [extorted] of covetousness.

For we will not presume to put ourselves on the level, or compare ourselves with some who vaunt themselves; but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, have no understanding.

For we stretch not our pretensions beyond bounds, as though we reached not unto you; for we have advanced even unto you in the gospel of Christ:

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ.

For if he indeed that cometh preach another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not embraced, ye might well bear with him.

For though I may be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but on every occasion we have been made manifest in all things among you.

And when I was with you, and in want, I was burdensome to no man; for my want the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied; and on every occasion I have kept myself from being burdensome, and will keep myself.

Of the Jews five times I have received forty stripes save one.

Thrice I have been scourged with rods, once I have been stoned, thrice I have suffered shipwreck, a whole night and day I have passed in the deep;

Have I become a fool in boasting? ye have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing have I been inferior to the very chief apostles, though I be nothing.

The signs indeed of an apostle have been wrought among you in all patience, in miracles, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

For what is there wherein ye have been inferior to the other churches, except that I have not been burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.

and lest when I come to you again, my God should bow me down, and I should lament over many who have sinned before, and have not repented of the impurities, and whoredom, and lasciviousness which they have committed.

I have told you before, and I repeat it, as when I was present the second time, and now absent, I write to those who have sinned already, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare you:

For this cause, though absent, I have written these things, that when I am present I may not use severity, according to the power which the Lord hath given me for edification, and not for destruction.