For as we undergo more of the pain which Christ underwent, so through Christ does our comfort become greater.

But if we are troubled, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which takes effect through your quiet undergoing of the same troubles which we undergo:

And our hope for you is certain; in the knowledge that as you take part in the troubles, so you will take part in the comfort.

For it is our desire that you may not be without knowledge of our trouble which came on us in Asia, that the weight of it was very great, more than our power, so that it seemed that we had no hope even of life:

You at the same time helping together by your prayer for us; so that for what has been given to us through a number of persons, praise may go up to God for us from all of them.

For our glory is in this, in the knowledge which we have that our way of life in the world, and most of all in relation to you, has been holy and true in the eyes of God; not in the wisdom of the flesh, but in the grace of God.

For in our letters we say no other things to you, but those which you are reading, and to which you give agreement, and, it is my hope, will go on doing so to the end:

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we were preaching among you, even I and Silvanus and Timothy, was not Yes and No, but in him is Yes.

For he is the Yes to all the undertakings of God: and by him all the words of God are made certain and put into effect, to the glory of God through us.

But God is my witness that it was in pity for you that I did not come to Corinth at that time.

Not that we have authority over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy: for it is faith which is your support.

But it was my decision for myself, not to come again to you with sorrow.

For if I give you sorrow, who then will make me glad, but he who is made sad by me?

And I said this very thing in my letter, for fear that when I came I might have sorrow from those from whom it was right for me to have joy; being certain of this, that my joy is the joy of you all.

For out of much trouble and pain of heart and much weeping I sent my letter to you; not to give you sorrow, but so that you might see how great is the love which I have to you.

Let it be enough for such a man to have undergone the punishment which the church put on him;

So that now, on the other hand, it is right for him to have forgiveness and comfort from you, for fear that his sorrow may be over-great.

For which cause my desire is that you will make your love to him clear by your acts.

And for the same reason I sent you a letter so that I might be certain of your desire to do my orders in all things.

But if you give forgiveness to anyone, I do the same: for if I have given forgiveness for anything, I have done it because of you, in the person of Christ;

So that Satan may not get the better of us: for we are not without knowledge of his designs.

Now when I came to Troas for the good news of Christ, and there was an open door for me in the Lord,

For we are a sweet perfume of Christ to God in those who are getting salvation and in those who are going to destruction;

To the one it is a perfume of death to death; to the other a perfume of life to life. And who is enough for such things?

For we are not like the great number who make use of the word of God for profit: but our words are true, as from God, being said as before God in Christ.

You yourselves are our letter, whose writing is in our heart, open for every man's reading and knowledge;

For you are clearly a letter of Christ, the fruit of our work, recorded not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in stone, but in hearts of flesh.

Not as if we were able by ourselves to do anything for which we might take the credit; but our power comes from God;

Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life.

For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time:

For if the operation of the law, producing punishment, had its glory, how much greater will be the operation of the Spirit causing righteousness?

For the glory of the first no longer seems to be glory, because of the greater glory of that which comes after.

For if the order which was for a time had its glory, much more will the eternal order have its glory.

But their minds were made hard: for to this very day at the reading of the old agreement the same veil is still unlifted; though it is taken away in Christ.

Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free.

For this reason, because we have been made servants of this new order, through the mercy given to us, we are strong:

For our preaching is not about ourselves, but about Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants through Jesus.

Troubles are round us on every side, but we are not shut in; things are hard for us, but we see a way out of them;

For, while living, we are still being given up to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our flesh, though it is under the power of death.

Because we are certain that he who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead, will do the same for us, and will give us a place in his glory with you.

For we go through all things on account of you, because the greater the number to whom the grace is given, the greater is the praise to the glory of God.

For which cause we do not give way to weariness; but though our outer man is getting feebler, our inner man is made new day by day.

For our present trouble, which is only for a short time, is working out for us a much greater weight of glory;

While our minds are 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 the things which are not seen are eternal.

For we are conscious that if this our tent of flesh is taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in heaven.

For in this we are crying in weariness, greatly desiring to be clothed with our house from heaven:

For truly, we who are in this tent do give out cries of weariness, for the weight of care which is on us; not because we are desiring to be free from the body, but so that we may have our new body, and death may be overcome by life.

Now he who has made us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a witness of what is to come.

So, then, we are ever without fear, and though conscious that while we are in the body we are away from the Lord,

(For we are walking by faith, not by seeing,)

We are without fear, desiring to be free from the body, and to be with the Lord.

For this reason we make it our purpose, in the body or away from it, to be well-pleasing to him.

For we all have to come before Christ to be judged; so that every one of us may get his reward for the things done in the body, good or bad.

Having in mind, then, the fear of the Lord, we put these things before men, but God sees our hearts; and it is my hope that we may seem right in your eyes.

For if we are foolish, it is to God; or if we are serious, it is for you.

For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death;

And that he underwent death for all, so that the living might no longer be living to themselves, but to him who underwent death for them and came back from the dead.

For this reason, from this time forward we have knowledge of no man after the flesh: even if we have had knowledge of Christ after the flesh, we have no longer any such knowledge.

For him who had no knowledge of sin God made to be sin for us; so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

(For he says, I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: see, now is the good time; now is the day of salvation):

Giving no cause for trouble in anything, so that no one may be able to say anything against our work;

Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark?

And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

For which cause, Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and let no unclean thing come near you; and I will take you for myself,

Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.

It is not with the purpose of judging you that I say this: for I have said before that you are in our hearts for life and death together.

My words to you are without fear, I am full of pride on account of you: I have great comfort and joy in all our troubles.

For even when we had come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; there were fightings outside and fears inside.

And not by his coming only, but by the comfort which he had in you, while he gave us word of your desire, your sorrow, your care for me; so that I was still more glad.

For though my letter gave you pain, I have no regret for it now, though I had before; for I see that the letter gave you pain, but only for a time.

Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything.

For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death.

For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.

So though I sent you a letter, it was not only because of the man who did the wrong, or because of him to whom the wrong was done, but so that your true care for us might be made clear in the eyes of God.

So we have been comforted: and we had the greater joy in our comfort because of the joy of Titus, for his spirit had been made glad by you all.

For I was not put to shame in anything in which I may have made clear to him my pride in you; but as we said nothing to you but what was true, so the good things which I said to Titus about you were seen by him to be true.

And his love to you is the more increased by his memory of you all, how you gave way to his authority, and how you took him to your hearts with fear and honour.

For I give them witness, that as they were able, and even more than they were able, they gave from the impulse of their hearts,

For you see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how though he had wealth, he became poor on your account, so that through his need you might have wealth.

And in this I give my opinion: for it is to your profit, who were the first to make a start a year before, not only to do this, but to make clear that your minds were more than ready to do it.

For if there is a ready mind, a man will have God's approval in the measure of what he has, and not of what he has not.

And I am not saying this so that others may get off free, while the weight comes on you:

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

For while he gladly gave ear to our request, he was interested enough to go to you from the impulse of his heart.

For the business has been so ordered by us as to have the approval, not only of the Lord, but of men.

If any question comes up about Titus, he is my brother-worker, working with me for you; or about the others, they are the representatives of the churches to the glory of Christ.

But there is no need for me to say anything in my letter about the giving to the saints:

For I have before made clear to those of Macedonia my pride in your ready mind, saying to them that Achaia has been ready for a year back; and a great number have been moved to do the same by your example.

For fear that, if any from Macedonia come with me, and you are not ready, we (not to say, you) might be put to shame in this thing.

So it seemed to me wise for the brothers to go before, and see that the amount which you had undertaken to give was ready, so that it might be a cause for praise, and not as if we were making profit out of you.

Let every man do after the purpose of his heart; not giving with grief, or by force: for God takes pleasure in a ready giver.

As it is said in the Writings, He has sent out far and wide, he has given to the poor; his righteousness is for ever.

And he who gives seed for putting into the field and bread for food, will take care of the growth of your seed, at the same time increasing the fruits of your righteousness;

For this work of giving not only takes care of the needs of the saints, but is the cause of much praise to God;

For when, through this work of giving, they see what you are, they give glory to God for the way in which you have given yourselves to the good news of Christ, and for the wealth of your giving to them and to all;

While their hearts go out to you in love and in prayer for you, because of the great grace of God which is in you.

Praise be to God for what he has given, which words have no power to say.

Now I, Paul, myself make request to you by the quiet and gentle behaviour of Christ, I who am poor in spirit when with you, but who say what is in my mind to you without fear when I am away from you:

For though we may be living in the flesh, we are not fighting after the way of the flesh

(For the arms with which we are fighting are not those of the flesh, but are strong before God for the destruction of high places);