He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us. We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again

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.

As certainly as God is to be trusted, my message to you has not been a "Yes" that might mean "No."

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—did not become “Yes and no”; on the contrary, a final “Yes” has come in Him.

For [no matter] how many promises God has made, in Christ [the answer] is "yes" [i.e., Christ has fulfilled all of God's promises to mankind]. Also, through Christ, the "amen" [Note: This word is always translated elsewhere as "May it be so"] can be said by us in order to honor God.

Now it is God who strengthens us, with you, in Christ and has anointed us.

He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts.

For if I make you sad, who is there to make me glad but the very man who has been made sad by me?

If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me but to some degree—not to exaggerate—to all of you.

Sufficient to such a one is this rebuke which has been inflicted by the many;

If you forgive the man, I forgive him, too; for whatever I have forgiven has been forgiven in the presence of Christ,

He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.

For if the administration of condemnation has glory, the administration of righteousness excels much more in glory.

For indeed what had been glorified has not been glorified in this case, on account of the glory that surpasses [it].

For if that which has been done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.

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 closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away.

Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy, we do not become discouraged.

If, however, the meaning of our Good News has been veiled, the veil has been on the hearts of those who are on the way to perdition,

In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, "I believed; therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak.

knowing that he who has raised the Lord Jesus shall raise us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you.

For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace, which has multiplied because of the thankfulness of the many, may abound for the glory of God.

For we know that if this poor tent, our earthly house, is taken down, we have in Heaven a building which God has provided, a house not built by human hands, but eternal.

Now the one who has prepared us for this very [thing] [is] God, who has given us the down payment, the Spirit.

For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.

For if we have been beside ourselves, it has been for God's glory; or if we are now in our right senses, it is in order to be of service to you.

For the love of Christ overmasters me; because I thus judge that if One has died for all, then all have died;

and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised.

For if anybody is in union with Christ, he is the work of a new creation; the old condition has passed away, a new condition has come.

And all these [things] [are] from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him.

For he says, "I have listened to you at a welcome time, And helped you on a day of deliverance!" Now the welcome time has come! This is the day of deliverance!

We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide.

Are you not become associates with infidels? but what affinity is there between virtue and vice? and what communication has light with darkness?

what concord can Christ maintain with Belial? what concern has a believer with an infidel?

and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God has said, "I will dwell with, and walk among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Therefore: "'Come out of company with them, and separate from them,' the Lord has said, 'And stop touching what is unclean; then I will welcome you,

Receive me as one who has wronged no man, who has corrupted no man, who has defrauded no man.

But God, who encourages the downcast, has encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not regret, though I did regret: for I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, though it were but for a time.

For consider how much diligence this very thing—this grieving as God wills—has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter.

So, then, even though I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the wrong-doer, or of the man who was wronged, but to make you conscious, in the sight of God, of your own earnest care for us. And it is this that has encouraged us.

For this reason we have been encouraged. And we the rather rejoiced in our encouragement more abundantly by reason of the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

For if I have made any boast to him about you, I have not been embarrassed; but as I have spoken everything to you in truth, so our boasting to Titus has also turned out to be the truth.

And he has great affection for you when he remembers how obedient all of you were [i.e., obedient to his or Paul's instructions to the church], and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling [i.e., with a respectful, submissive spirit].

Now, brothers, I wish to tell you about the grace of God which has been manifest in the churches of Macedonia.

that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their free-hearted liberality.

This has led me to urge Titus to complete the arrangements he had formerly begun among you for this gracious undertaking.

For if there be first willing mind, the gift is accepted according to what a man has, and not according to what he has not.

As it has been written:

The person who gathered much
did not have too much,
and the person who gathered little
did not have too little.

But thanks be to God who has inspired in the heart of Titus the same zeal on your behalf that I have.

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.

And we have sent at the same time with him the brother whose praise in the gospel [has become known] throughout all the churches.

More than that, he is the one chosen by the churches to accompany me on my journey, in administering this gift of yours for the Lord's glory. And this has my full consent,

And so that no man might be able to say anything against us in the business of this giving which has been put into our hands:

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

And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved to be of diligent zeal in many things, and now more diligently zealous through the great confidence he has as to you.

for I know how ready you are, and am always boasting about you to the Macedonians, telling them that Greece has been ready for a year past; and your zeal has been a spur to the majority of them.

Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go before to you, and make ready beforehand your bounty, which has been so much talked of before, that this might be ready as a bounty, and not as a gift extorted from you.

Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

But God is able to make all grace abound unto you; in order that, always having all sufficiency in every thing, you may abound unto every good work: as has been written,

As it is written:

He scattered;
He gave to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.

and you will have the advantage of their earnest prayers, for the exceeding favour God has bestowed upon them by you:

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

and I am fully prepared to punish every act of disobedience, when once your submission has been put beyond question.

Do ye look at what concerns appearance? If any one has confidence in himself that he is of Christ, let him think this again in himself, that even as he is of Christ, so also are we.

For and if I should boast even somewhat more abundantly of our authority, which the Lord has given to us for building up and not for your overthrowing, I shall not be put to shame;

For his letters, they say, have weight and are strong; but in body he is feeble, and his way of talking has little force.

I, however, will not indulge in undue boasting, but will confine it within the limits of the sphere to which God has assigned me?? sphere which reaches even to you.

so that we may proclaim the good news to the regions beyond you, not boasting about what has already been done in someone else’s area of ministry.

But whoever has a desire for glory, let his glory be in the Lord.

if my language is inelegant, my knowledge is not contemptible; but has been fully display'd among you on all occasions.

Are they ministers of Christ? So am I. I am talking like a man that has gone crazy -- as such I am superior! -- serving Him with labors greater by far, with far more imprisonments, with floggings vastly worse, and often at the point of death.

I have to keep on boasting. There is no good to be gotten from it, but I will go on to visions and revelations which the Lord has given me.

was actually caught up into paradise, and heard things that must not be told, which no man has a right even to mention.

For if I had a desire to take credit to myself, it would not be foolish, for I would be saying what is true: but I will not, for fear that I might seem to any man more than he sees me to be, or has word from me that I am.

And judging by the stupendous grandeur of the revelations--therefore lest I should be over-elated there has been sent to me, like the agony of impalement, Satan's angel dealing blow after blow, lest I should be over-elated.

but he has answered me. "My grace is sufficient for you; it is in weakness that my power is perfected."

I called for Titus, and sent with a brother. Has Titus taken advantage of you? walked we not in the same spirit? not in the same steps??

since you demand a proof of my mission from Christ, who with regard to you has shown no want of power among you.

for if indeed he has been crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power; for indeed we are weak in him, but we shall live with him by God's power towards you,)

Because of this, I am writing these [things] [although I] am absent, in order that [when I] am present I may not have to act severely according to the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.