May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

who comforts us in all our suffering, so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God.

I planned to leave you in order to go to Macedonia, and then come back to you from Macedonia, and let you send me on to Judea.

When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle that I can say "Yes" and "No" at the same time?

For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us by me, Silvanus, and Timothy was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes."

I call upon God as a witness on my behalf that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

After all, if I were to grieve you, who should make me happy but the person I am making sad?

This is the very reason I wrote you, so that when I did come I might not be made sad by those who should have made me happy. For I had confidence that all of you would share the joy that I have.

But if anyone has caused grief, he didn't cause me any grief. To some extent I don't want to emphasize this too much it has affected all of you.

That's why I'm urging you to assure him of your love.

so that we may not be outsmarted by Satan. After all, we are not unaware of his intentions.

When I went to Troas on behalf of the gospel of the Messiah, the Lord opened a door for me,

but my spirit could not find any relief, because I couldn't find Titus, my brother. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

We are always carrying around the death of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our bodies.

While we are alive, we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our mortal bodies.

So while we are still in this tent, we sigh under our burdens, because we do not want to put it off but to put it on, so that our dying bodies may be swallowed up by life.

For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless.

We do not put an obstacle in anyone's way. Otherwise, fault may be found with our ministry.

Do us a favor I ask you as my children and open wide your hearts.

What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters," declares the Lord Almighty.

and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing for me, your sorrow, and your eagerness to take my side, and this made me even happier.

If I made you sad with my letter, I do not regret it, although I did regret it then. I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while.

I am giving you my opinion on this matter because it will be helpful to you. Last year you were not only willing to do something, but had already started to do it.

Now finish what you began, so that your eagerness to do so may be matched by your eagerness to complete it.

At the present time, your surplus fills their need, so that their surplus may fill your need. In this way things are fair.

He welcomed my request and eagerly went to visit you by his own free will.

As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker on your behalf. Our brothers, emissaries from the churches, are bringing glory to the Messiah.

Now I have sent the brothers so that our boasting about you in this matter may not prove to be an idle boast, and so that you may stand ready, just as I said.

Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find out that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you in this undertaking.

Therefore, I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to visit you ahead of me, to make arrangements in advance for this gift you promised, and to have it ready as something given generously and not forced.

I do not want you to think that I am trying to frighten you with my letters.

We are not boasting about work done by others that cannot be evaluated. On the contrary, we cherish the hope that your faith may continue to grow and enlarge our sphere of action among you until it overflows.

I wish you would tolerate a little of my foolishness. Yes, please tolerate me!

However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pure devotion to the Messiah.

I do not think I'm inferior in any way to those "super-apostles."

Even though I may be untrained as an orator, I am not so in the field of knowledge. We have made this clear to all of you in every possible way.

As surely as the truth of the Messiah is in me, my boasting will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

But I will go on doing what I'm doing in order to deny an opportunity to those people who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in the work they are boasting about.

I will say it again: No one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, then treat me like a fool so that I can also boast a little.

I have traveled extensively and have been endangered from rivers, robbers, my own people, and gentiles. I've also been in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea, from false brothers,

Besides everything else, I have a daily burden because of my anxiety about all the churches.

Who is weak without me being weak, too? Who is caused to stumble without me becoming indignant?

In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas put guards around the city of Damascus to catch me,

I will boast about this man, but as for myself I will boast only about my weaknesses.

However, if I did want to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I am not going to do it in order to keep anyone from thinking more of me than what he sees and hears about me.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of the exceptional nature of these revelations, a thorn was given to me and placed in my body. It was Satan's messenger to keep on tormenting me so that I would not become conceited.

I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me,

but he has told me, "My grace is all you need, because my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the Messiah's power may rest on me.

I have become a fool. You forced me to be one. Really, I should have been commended by you, for I am not in any way inferior to your "super-apostles," even if I am nothing.

How were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I did not bother you for help? Forgive me for this wrong!

Now I'm ready to visit you for a third time, and I will not bother you for help. I do not want your things, but rather you yourselves. Children should not have to support their parents, but parents their children.

I will be very glad to spend my money and myself for you. Do you love me less because I love you so much?

I am afraid that I may come and somehow find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me. Perhaps there will be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly conduct.

I am afraid that when I come my God may again humble me before you and that I may have to grieve over many who formerly lived in sin and have not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity that they once practiced.

I have already warned those who sinned previously and all the rest. Although I am absent now, I am warning them as I did on my second visit: If I come back, I will not spare you,

since you want proof that the Messiah is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is making his power felt among you.

We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong not to show that we have not failed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even if we seem to have failed.

For this reason I am writing this while I am away from you: When I come I do not want to be severe in using the authority the Lord gave me to build you up and not to tear you down.

Finally, brothers, goodbye. Keep on growing to maturity. Keep listening to my appeals. Continue agreeing with each other and living in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you!