Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;

who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.

But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not "Yes and no."

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

For however many are the promises of God, in him they are "Yes." Therefore also through him they are "Amen," to the glory of God through us.

Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;

But I call God for a witness to my soul, that I did not come to Corinth to spare you.

Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,

Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.

For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish;

For we are not, like so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God;

not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God;

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing;

in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, to prevent the light shining from the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

seeing it is God who said, "Light will shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.

For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.

We are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

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

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.

But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;

namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain,

but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,

in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;

What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Nevertheless, he who comforts the lowly, God, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

So although I wrote to you, I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be revealed in you in the sight of God.

I rejoice that in everything I am of good courage concerning you.

Moreover, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia;

This was not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.

But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

We have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the Good News is known through all the churches.

Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.

you being enriched in everything to all liberality, which works through us thanksgiving to God.

For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through many thanksgivings to God;

seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all;

while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift.

Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ; I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am of good courage toward you.

for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty in God for the tearing down of strongholds,

throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;

But we will not boast beyond proper limits, but within the boundaries with which God appointed to us, which reach even to you.

For we do not stretch ourselves too much, as though we did not reach to you. For we came even as far as to you with the Good News of Christ,

so as to proclaim the Good News even to the parts beyond you, not to boast in what someone else has already done.

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not proclaim, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different "good news", which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough.

Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God's Good News free of charge?

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

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forevermore, knows that I do not lie.

I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I do not know, or whether out of the body, I do not know; God knows), such a one caught up into the third heaven.

I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I do not know; God knows),

Have you been thinking all this time that we have been defending ourselves before you? In the sight of God we speak in Christ; and all things, beloved, are for your edifying.

that again when I come my God would humble me before you, and I would mourn for many of those who have sinned before now, and not repented of the uncleanness and sexual immorality and lustfulness which they committed.

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

Now we pray to God that you do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is honorable, though we are as reprobate.

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Be perfected, be comforted, be of the same mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.