For we wish you not to be ignorant, brothers, of our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were exceedingly oppressed beyond our power, so that we despaired even of life;

but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we might not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

For this is our rejoicing; the testimony of our conscience that in purity and godly sincerity, not with a carnal wisdom, but with a divine grace, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and most abundantly towards you.

For we do not write to you of other things, but of what you read and acknowledge; and I hope you will also acknowledge to the end,

But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no.

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

But I call God to witness on my soul, that to spare you I have not yet come to Corinth.

Not that we are lords of your faith, but co-laborers of your joy; for you stand firm by the faith.

But I determined this with myself, not to come again to you in sorrow;

And I wrote the same to you that coming I might not have sorrow for those in whom I ought to have joy, having trusted in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

For I wrote to you in much affliction and distress of mind with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have abundantly for you.

But if any one has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part, that I may not be hard upon you, [has grieved you] all,

so that on the other hand you ought to forgive and comfort him, that he may not be overwhelmed with excessive sorrow.

that we may not be circumvented by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

I had no rest in my spirit from not finding Titus my brother; but leaving them I went to Macedonia.

For we are not as many, who adulterate the word of God, [for gain]; but as of sincerity, but as of God, we speak before God in Christ.

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some, commendatory epistles to you or from you?

for you are manifestly an epistle of Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh.

not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reason out any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,

who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the writing but of the spirit; for the writing kills, but the spirit makes alive.

But if the ministry of death engraved in a writing on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses on account of the brightness of his face, which passed away,

how shall not the ministry of the spirit be glorious?

For that which was made glorious was not glorious in this respect, on account of the surpassing glory.

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 blinded. For to this day in reading the old covenant the same vail remains, not taken away because it is taken away in Christ;

Therefore, having this ministry, as we have obtained mercy we faint not,

but have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but commending ourselves by the manifestation of the truth to every conscience of men before God.

in whom the god of this life has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God, may not shine.

For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us,

being afflicted in every thing but not distressed, being perplexed but not in despair,

being persecuted but not deserted, being cast down but not destroyed,

Wherefore we faint not, but if our outward man is destroyed our inward man is renewed day by day.

while we look 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 those which are unseen are eternal.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle was destroyed, we have an edifice from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

if indeed also having put it on we may not be found naked.

For being in this tabernacle we groan, being burdened, because we do not wish to put it off, but to put on [the other], that the mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Being always confident therefore, and knowing that while we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord,??7 we walk by faith, not by sight;??8 but we are confident, and are pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

For we do not again commend ourselves to you, but give you occasion to glory on our account, that you may have something for those that glory in appearance and not in heart.

to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their offenses, and has given to us the word of reconciliation.

And being also co-laborers we exhort you not to receive the grace of God in vain,??2 for he says, In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you; behold, now is an acceptable time, behold, now is a day of salvation,??3 giving no offense in any thing, that the ministry may not be blamed,

as unknown and well-known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed,

you are not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own souls;

Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what participation has righteousness with wickedness? or what communion has light with darkness?

Go out therefore from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the impure; and I will receive you,

I say this not to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts both to die and live together.

and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted on your account, telling us of your great desire, your deep sorrow, your zeal for me, so that I rather rejoiced.

For if I even grieved you by the epistle, I do not repent, though I did repent; for because I see that the epistle grieved you but for a time,

now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you grieved to a change of mind; for you were grieved in a godly manner, to suffer injury from us in nothing.

For godly sorrow produces a change of mind to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

If therefore I wrote to you, it was not on account of him that did the wrong, nor on account of him that suffered wrong, but that our diligence in your behalf might be manifest before God.

for if I had boasted of you to him I was not ashamed, but as we said all things to you in truth, so also the boasting of you to Titus was truth.

and not as we hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God,

I do not speak by command, but on account of the diligence of others, and to prove the genuineness of your love;

For if there is a willing mind, a man is acceptable according to what he has, and not according to what he has not.

Not that others may be relieved and you burdened,

and not only so, but he has also been chosen by the churches as our travelling companion in this charity ministered by us for the glory of the same Lord and our promptitude,

for we provide things honorable not only before the Lord, but also before men.

But I sent the brothers, that our boasting of you may not be in vain in this respect, as I said you were prepared,

lest if the Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to say you, should be ashamed of this confidence.

I thought it necessary, therefore, to exhort the brothers to go to you before, and to make ready your free gift before announced, that it may be ready as a free gift and not as an exaction.

Let each one contribute as he chooses in his heart, not with regret or from necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

For the performance of this service not only supplies the need of the saints, but also abounds with the thanksgivings of many to God;

and I desire that I may not be bold when present, with that confidence which I design to use against some who speak of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

For though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh,

for the arms of our warfare are not of flesh, but mighty with God to the pulling down of strongholds,

For if I should even boast some of our authority which the Lord gave for your edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed.

[But I forbear,] that I may not seem as though I would terrify you by epistles.

For we dare not judge or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves with themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are not wise.

But we will not boast of things not measured, but according to the measure of the rule which God has given us, to come even to you.

For we do not stretch ourselves out too far, as if we had not come to you, for we came even to you with the gospel of Christ;

not boasting of things unmeasured in the labors of others, but having a hope, your faith being increased, that we shall be magnified among you according to our rule abundantly,

to preach the gospel in the parts beyond you, not to boast of things prepared by another's rule.

for not he that commends himself is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

For if he that comes preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive another spirit which you did not receive, or another gospel which you did not receive, you might well bear it;

for I judge that I am not behind the chief of the apostles.

And even if I am rude in speech, I certainly am not in knowledge, but we have been made fully manifest to you in all things.

and when I was with you and was in want, I was burdensome to no one; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied beforehand my need; and in every thing I kept myself without being burdensome to you, and will keep myself so.

As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting in respect to myself shall not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

Why? Because I love you not? God knows.

What I say, I do not say according to the Lord, but as it were in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice have I been shipwrecked, a night and a day have I spent in the deep;

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I am not displeased?

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I lie not.

It is not expedient therefore for me to boast [of these things]; for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

I know a man, in Christ above fourteen years, whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows,??uch a one caught up to the third heaven.

I know even such a man,??hether in the body or out of the body I know not, God knows,??4 that he was caught up to paradise, and heard unutterable words, which it is not lawful for man to speak.

Of such a one will I boast, but of myself I will not boast except of my infirmities.

For if I shall wish to boast I shall not be foolish, for I will tell the truth. But I forbear, lest any one should think of me beyond what he sees or hears of me.

And that I might not be elated with my extraordinary revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me, that I should not be too much exalted.

For what is there in which you were inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.

Behold, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be burdensome to you; for I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up treasure for the parents, but the parents for the children.

Be it so, I was not burdensome to you; but being crafty I caught you with deceit.

I requested Titus, and sent the brother with him; did Titus make any thing out of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit, in the same steps?

For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found such as you wish not; lest there shall be strife, envy, anger, contentions, evil speakings, whisperings, pride, dissensions;

lest when I come again my God shall humble me before you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned, and not changed their minds, in respect to impurity and fornication and lewdness which they have committed.

I have said before, and I now foretell as if present a second time, although absent, to those who have already sinned and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare;

since you seek a proof in me of Christ speaking, who is not weak to you but powerful in you;

Try yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves; or know you not yourselves that Christ is in you unless you are reprobates?

But I hope you will know that we are not reprobates.