but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we might not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

For this is our rejoicing; the testimony of our conscience that in purity and godly sincerity, not with a carnal wisdom, but with a divine grace, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and most abundantly towards you.

For we do not write to you of other things, but of what you read and acknowledge; and I hope you will also acknowledge to the end,

But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no.

For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but was yes in him;

But I call God to witness on my soul, that to spare you I have not yet come to Corinth.

Not that we are lords of your faith, but co-laborers of your joy; for you stand firm by the faith.

But I determined this with myself, not to come again to you in sorrow;

for if I grieve you, who is he that gladdens me, but he that is grieved by me?

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

But if any one has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part, that I may not be hard upon you, [has grieved you] all,

But whom you favor I also will favor; for what favor I have shown, if I have shown any favor, has been for your sakes, in the presence of Christ,

But when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and a door was opened to me by the Lord,

I had no rest in my spirit from not finding Titus my brother; but leaving them I went to Macedonia.

But thanks be to God, who always triumphs over us in Christ and reveals the odor of his knowledge by us in every place;

For we are not as many, who adulterate the word of God, [for gain]; but as of sincerity, but as of God, we speak before God in Christ.

for you are manifestly an epistle of Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh.

not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reason out any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,

who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the writing but of the spirit; for the writing kills, but the spirit makes alive.

But if the ministry of death engraved in a writing on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses on account of the brightness of his face, which passed away,

and not as Moses put a vail on his face, that the children of Israel might not see to the end of that which has passed away;

but their minds were blinded. For to this day in reading the old covenant the same vail remains, not taken away because it is taken away in Christ;

but to this day when Moses is read a vail lies upon their minds;

but when they turn to the Lord the vail is taken away.

but have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but commending ourselves by the manifestation of the truth to every conscience of men before God.

But if our gospel is vailed it is vailed among the lost,

For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us,

being afflicted in every thing but not distressed, being perplexed but not in despair,

being persecuted but not deserted, being cast down but not destroyed,

So that death works in us, but life in you.

Wherefore we faint not, but if our outward man is destroyed our inward man is renewed day by day.

while we look not on the things which are seen but on the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are for a time, but those which are unseen are eternal.

For in this we also groan, earnestly desiring to put on our dwelling which is from heaven,

if indeed also having put it on we may not be found naked.

For being in this tabernacle we groan, being burdened, because we do not wish to put it off, but to put on [the other], that the mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Being always confident therefore, and knowing that while we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord,??7 we walk by faith, not by sight;??8 but we are confident, and are pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord we persuade men, but are made manifest to God; and I hope also to be made manifest in your consciences.

For we do not again commend ourselves to you, but give you occasion to glory on our account, that you may have something for those that glory in appearance and not in heart.

and he died for all, that those who live should no more live for themselves but for him that died for them and rose again.

but in every thing commending ourselves as ministers of God, in great patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

as grieving but always rejoicing, as poor but making many rich, as having nothing and possessing all things.

you are not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own souls;

For when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were distressed on every hand; without were conflicts, within fears;

but God who comforts the humble comforted us by the coming of Titus;

and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted on your account, telling us of your great desire, your deep sorrow, your zeal for me, so that I rather rejoiced.

For if I even grieved you by the epistle, I do not repent, though I did repent; for because I see that the epistle grieved you but for a time,

now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you grieved to a change of mind; for you were grieved in a godly manner, to suffer injury from us in nothing.

For godly sorrow produces a change of mind to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

If therefore I wrote to you, it was not on account of him that did the wrong, nor on account of him that suffered wrong, but that our diligence in your behalf might be manifest before God.

for if I had boasted of you to him I was not ashamed, but as we said all things to you in truth, so also the boasting of you to Titus was truth.

and not as we hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God,

But as you abound in every thing, in faith, and speech, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us, [we desire] that you may abound in this grace also.

I do not speak by command, but on account of the diligence of others, and to prove the genuineness of your love;

but that there may be an equality; that at the present time your abundance may supply their deficiency, and that their abundance may supply your deficiency, that there may be an equality,

But thanks be to God, who put this care for you into the heart of Titus,

and not only so, but he has also been chosen by the churches as our travelling companion in this charity ministered by us for the glory of the same Lord and our promptitude,

for we provide things honorable not only before the Lord, but also before men.

But I sent the brothers, that our boasting of you may not be in vain in this respect, as I said you were prepared,

For the performance of this service not only supplies the need of the saints, but also abounds with the thanksgivings of many to God;

I PAUL also exhort you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in appearance am humble among you, but being absent am bold towards you;

for the arms of our warfare are not of flesh, but mighty with God to the pulling down of strongholds,

[But I forbear,] that I may not seem as though I would terrify you by epistles.

For the epistles, say they, are weighty and powerful, but the bodily presence is weak and speech contemptible.

For we dare not judge or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves with themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are not wise.

But we will not boast of things not measured, but according to the measure of the rule which God has given us, to come even to you.

not boasting of things unmeasured in the labors of others, but having a hope, your faith being increased, that we shall be magnified among you according to our rule abundantly,

But let him that glories glory in the Lord;

for not he that commends himself is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

but I fear lest as the serpent deceived Eve with his craftiness, so also your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.

And even if I am rude in speech, I certainly am not in knowledge, but we have been made fully manifest to you in all things.

But what I do I also will do, that I may take away an occasion from those who wish an occasion, that wherein they boast they may be found even as we are.

Again, I say let no one think me to be foolish; but if otherwise, even as a foolish man bear with me that I may boast a little.

What I say, I do not say according to the Lord, but as it were in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

Of such a one will I boast, but of myself I will not boast except of my infirmities.

For if I shall wish to boast I shall not be foolish, for I will tell the truth. But I forbear, lest any one should think of me beyond what he sees or hears of me.

And that I might not be elated with my extraordinary revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me, that I should not be too much exalted.

Behold, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be burdensome to you; for I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up treasure for the parents, but the parents for the children.

Be it so, I was not burdensome to you; but being crafty I caught you with deceit.

since you seek a proof in me of Christ speaking, who is not weak to you but powerful in you;

for though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God; and we also are weak in him, but live with him by the power of God in you.

But I hope you will know that we are not reprobates.

We wish to God that you may do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that you may do good though we should be as reprobates.

For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.