My hope for you is well founded; because I know that just as you, brothers, are sharers of my sufferings, so you will be sharers of my comfort too.

For I do not want you to be uninformed about the sorrow that I suffered in Asia, because I was so crushed beyond any power to endure that I was in dire despair of life itself.

because you are helping me by your prayers for me, so that thanks to God will be given by many on my behalf for God's gracious gift to me in answer to the prayers of many.

It was because of this confidence that first I planned to visit you, to give you a double delight;

I had no rest of spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

Now if the old religious service which resulted in death, although its law was carved in letters of stone, was introduced with a splendor so great that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on Moses' face because of the splendor that was fading from it,

Besides, their minds were made dull; for to this day that same veil remains unlifted, whenever they read the Old Covenant; because it is only through union with Christ that it is removed.

And all of us, with faces uncovered, because we continue to reflect like mirrors the splendor of the Lord, are being transformed into likeness to Him, from one degree of splendor to another, since it comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

So, because I hold a place in this ministry and that because I have had God's mercy shown me, I never give up.

because I know that He who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise me too in fellowship with you.

because I do not keep my eyes on things that are seen but things that are unseen. For things that are seen are temporary, but things that are unseen are eternal.

For in this one I am sighing, because I long to put on, like a robe, my heavenly body, my future home,

For I who am still in my tent am sighing beneath my burdens, because I do not want it to be put off but to put on the other over it, so that my dying body may be absorbed in life.

Now it is God Himself who has put the finishing touches on me for this change, because He has given me the Spirit as the first installment of future bliss.

For the love of Christ continuously constrains me, because I am convinced that as One died for all, all have died,

So I am an envoy to represent Christ, because it is through me that God is making His appeal. As one representing Christ I beg you, be reconciled to God.

I do not mean this for your condemnation, because, as I have said before, you have such a place in my heart that I would live with you or die with you.

and not only by his coming but by the comfort he had gotten from you, because he kept on telling me how you were longing to see me, how sorry you were, and how loyal you were to me, so that I was gladder still.

I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me.

In addition to my own comfort, I was made so glad that my cup ran over at the gladness Titus felt, because his spirit has been set at rest by you.

because in spite of a terrible test of trouble, the mighty flood of their gladness mingling with the depths of their poverty has overflowed and resulted in the abundance of their liberality.

Now I will give you my opinion on this matter. For this is for your interest, because you were not only the first to do anything about it, but the first to want to do so; you started it a year ago.

because he has acceded to my request, or rather, because he is so enthusiastic for you, of his own accord he is off to visit you.

I send with them another brother of ours, whom I have often in many ways tested and found to be enthusiastic, but now he is more enthusiastic than ever, because of his great confidence in you.

Because the service rendered by this sacred offering is not only fully supplying the needs of God's people, but it is also running over with many thanks to God for it.

and so in their prayers for you they will continue longing for you, because of God's surpassing favor shown you.

Indeed, I do not dare to count or compare myself with certain men who are always recommending themselves. But they do not show good sense, because they do continue measuring themselves with one another and comparing themselves with one another.

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.