But if we are afflicted, [it is] for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, [it is] for your comfort that is at work in the patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.

But [we] ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not be putting confidence in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

For our reason for boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, in holiness and purity of motive from God, not in merely human wisdom, but by the grace of God.

For we are not writing [anything] else to you except what you can read or also understand. But I hope that you will understand {completely},

But God [is] faithful, so that our word to you is not "yes" and "no."

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, did not become "yes" and "no," but has become "yes" in him.

But I call upon God [as] witness against my life, that [in order to] spare you, I did not come again to Corinth.

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not so that you may be caused to be sad, but so that you may know the love that I have especially for you.

But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused me sorrow, but {to some degree}--{in order not to say too much}--[to] all [of] you.

I did not experience rest in my spirit, [because] I did not find Titus my brother, but saying farewell to them, I departed for Macedonia.

But thanks [be] to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and who reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of him through us in every place.

For we are not like the majority who peddle the word of God, but as from pure motives--but as from God--we speak before God in Christ.

revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as from ourselves, but our adequacy [is] from God,

who also makes us adequate [as] servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

But if the ministry of death in letters carved on stone came with glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look intently into the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was transitory,

But their minds were hardened. For until this very day, the same veil remains upon the reading of the old covenant, not being uncovered, because it is done away with in Christ.

But until today, whenever Moses is read aloud, a veil lies upon their heart,

but whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

but we have renounced shameful hidden things, not behaving with craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but with the open proclamation of the truth commending ourselves to every person's conscience before God.

But if indeed our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing,

For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Christ Jesus [as] Lord, and ourselves [as] your slaves for the sake of Jesus.

But we have this treasure in earthenware jars, in order that the extraordinary degree of the power may be from God and not from us.

We are afflicted in every [way], but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed;

So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

But [because we] have the same spirit of faith in accordance with [what is] written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak,

Therefore we do not lose heart, but even if our outer person is being destroyed, yet our inner [person] is being renewed day after day.

[because] we are not looking at what is seen, but what is not seen. For what is seen [is] temporary, but what is not seen [is] eternal.

For indeed we who are in this tent groan, being burdened {for this reason, that} we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Therefore, [because we] know the fear of the Lord, we are attempting to persuade people, but we are revealed to God, and I hope to be revealed in your consciences.

We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to boast about us, in order that you may have [an answer] for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

And he died for all, in order that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

So then, from now on we know no one {from a human point of view}, if indeed we have known Christ {from a human point of view}, but now we know [him this way] no longer.

but commending ourselves as servants of God in every [way], in much endurance, in afflictions, in distresses, in difficulties,

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

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your affections.

For even [when] we arrived in Macedonia, our body had no rest, but we were afflicted in every [way]--quarrels outside, fears within.

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 among you, [because he] reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved according to [the will of] God, so that you suffered loss in no way through us.

For grief according to [the will of] God brings about a repentance [leading] to salvation, not to be regretted, but worldly grief brings about death.

Consequently, even if I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong or because of the one who had been wronged, but in order that your diligence {on our behalf} might be revealed to you before God.

For if I have boasted anything to him about you, I have not been put to shame, but as I have spoken everything to you in truth, thus also our boasting to Titus {has proven to be true}.

and not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and [then] to us, by the will of God.

But just as you excel in everything--in faith and in speaking and in knowledge and with all diligence and in the love from us [that is] in you--so may you excel in this grace also.

I am not saying [this] as a command, but proving the genuineness of your love by means of the diligence of others.

And I am giving an opinion in this [matter], because this is profitable for you who not only began previously, a year ago, to do [something], but also to want [to do it].

For [this is] not that for others [there may be] relief, [and] for you difficult circumstances, but [as a matter] of equality.

But thanks [be] to God, who has put in the heart of Titus the same devotion {on your behalf},

because he not only welcomed our request, but being very earnest, by his own choice he went out to you.

And not only [this], but he was also chosen by the churches [as] our traveling companion together with this gift that is being administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself and [to show] our readiness [to help].

For we are taking into consideration what is honorable not only before the Lord, but also before people.

And we are sending with them our brother whom we have tested many times in many [things] that he is diligent, but now much more diligent [because of his] great confidence in you.

But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you would not prove to be empty in this case, so that you may be prepared just as I was saying,

because the service of this ministry is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also is overflowing through many [expressions of] thanksgiving to God.

Now I, Paul, appeal to you myself by the humility and gentleness of Christ, who {when I am present in person} [am] humble among you, but [when I] am absent am bold toward you--

for the weapons of our warfare [are] not merely human, but powerful to God for the tearing down of fortresses, tearing down arguments

because it is said, "His letters [are] severe and powerful, but his bodily presence [is] weak and his speech is of no account."

For we do not dare to classify or to compare ourselves with some who commend themselves, but [they] themselves, [when they] measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, do not understand.

But we will not boast {beyond limits}, but according to the measure of the assignment that God has assigned to us as a measure to reach even as far as you.

not boasting {beyond limits} in the labors of others, but having hope [that as] your faith is growing to be enlarged greatly by you according to our assignment,

But "the one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord."

For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but [the one] whom the Lord commends.

I wish that you would put up with me {in something a little foolish}--but indeed you are putting up with me.

But I am afraid lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds may be led astray from the sincerity and the purity of [devotion] to Christ.

But even if [I am] unskilled in speech, yet [I am] not in knowledge; certainly in everything [we] have made this clear to you in every [way].

But what I am doing, I will also do, in order that I may remove the opportunity of those who want an opportunity, that they may be found just as also we [are] in what they are boasting about.

Again I say, do not let anyone think I am foolish. But indeed, if [you do], accept me even as foolish, in order that I also may boast a little.

What I am saying in this project of boasting, I am not saying as the Lord [would say], but as in foolishness.

I say [this] to [my] shame, namely, that we have been weak. But in whatever anyone dares to [boast]--I am speaking in foolishness--I also dare to [boast].

It is necessary to boast; [it is] not profitable, but I will proceed to visions and revelations of the Lord.

On behalf of such a person I will boast, but on behalf of myself I will not boast, except in my weaknesses.

For if I want to boast, I will not be foolish, because I will be telling the truth, but I am refraining, so that no one can credit to me more than what he sees [in] me or hears anything from me,

Behold, this third [time] I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden [to you]. For I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

But I will spend and be expended most gladly for your lives. If I love you much more, am I to be loved less?

But let [it] be. I have not been a burden to you, but [because I] was crafty, I took you by cunning.

since you are demanding proof that Christ, who [is] not weak toward you, but is powerful among you, is speaking in me.

For indeed, he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him because of the power of God toward you.

Now we pray to God that you not do wrong in any way, not that we are seen as approved, but that you do what is good, even [though] we are [seen] as though unqualified.

For we are not able [to do] anything against the truth, but rather [only] for the truth.

For we rejoice whenever we are weak, but you are strong, and we pray for this: your maturity.