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:

Even as you have been ready, in part, to say that we are your glory, in the same way that you are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Was it vacillating of me to want to do that? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say "Yes" and "No" in the same breath?

But [as surely as] God is faithful and means what He says, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No” [at the same time].

For God's son Jesus Christ which was preached among you by us - that is to say, by me and Silvanus and Timothy - was not "yea" and "nay": but in him it was "Yea."

For all God's promises are "Yes" in him. And so through him we can say "Amen," to the glory of God.

But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused me sorrow, but {to some degree}--{in order not to say too much}--[to] all [of] you.

Do you say that this is self-recommendation once more? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

[We say this] because we have such confidence in God through [our relationship with] Christ.

(for we walk by faith, not by sight,) we are confident, I say,

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

I am not trying to recommend myself to you again. I am giving you ground for speaking well of me, that you may have something to say to those who are constantly prating about external privileges and not concerned about the state of the heart.

For if I was out of my senses, as they say, it was between God and me; and if I am in my right mind, it is for your good.

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,

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!

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

in honour and disgrace, under infamy, and in repute: look'd upon as an impostor, while I say what is true;

and as a recompense of the same kind, (as to children I say it,) be ye enlarged -- also ye!

Therefore, "Come out from them, And separate from them, says the Lord, And touch nothing that is unclean. Then I will welcome you,

I will become a father to you, And you shall become my sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty."

not to condemn you do I say it, for I have said before that in our hearts ye are to die with and to live with;

I told him of my pride in you, and I have not been disappointed. No, just as all I have had to say to you has been true, so all I said about you to Titus, all my pride in you, has also proved true.

This say I not as commanding: but because others are so fervent, therefore prove I your love, whether it be perfect or no.

I give you my opinion in this matter: this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to take action [to help the believers in Jerusalem], but also [the first] to desire to do it.

For I say not this that others may be eased and ye distressed;

but to equalize the burden, and in the present situation to have your plenty make up for what they need, so that some day their plenty may make up for what you need, and so things may be made equal??15 as the Scripture says, "The man who got much did not have too much, and the man who got little did not have too little."

just as the Scripture says, "The man who gathered much did not have too much, and the man who gathered little did not have too little."

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:

If I must say anything about Titus, he is my intimate companion, and he shares my work for you; if it is our Brothers, they are delegates of the Churches, an honor to Christ.

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

for I know your readiness of mind, whereof I boast myself unto them of Macedonia, and say that Achaia was prepared a year ago, and your ferventness hath provoked many.

lest peradventure if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, the boast that I made in this matter should be a shame to us: I say not unto you.

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

as the Scripture says, "He scatters his gifts to the poor; His uprightness will never be forgotten."

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:

This say I, lest I should seem as though I went about to make you afraid with letters.

For they say, "His letters are impressive and telling, but his personal appearance is insignificant and as a speaker he amounts to nothing."

Such people had better understand that when I arrive and take action I will do just as I say I will in my letters when I am far away.

For we will not make comparison of ourselves with some of those who say good things about themselves: but these, measuring themselves by themselves, and making comparison of themselves with themselves, are not wise.

[Jer. 9:24 says], "But the person who boasts should boast about the Lord."

Perhaps you say that I did wrong in humbling myself that you might be exalted--I mean because I told you God's Good News without payment.

Christ knows that it is true when I say that I will not be stopped from boasting of this anywhere in Greece.

I say again, lest any man think that I am foolish: or else even now take me as a fool, that I may boast myself a little.

When I boast in this reckless way, I do not say what I am saying for the Lord, but as a fool would talk.

I am ashamed to say that I was, as it were, so weak in the matter. And yet in whatever respect anyone else is daring to boast -- I am talking like a fool -- I too will dare to boast.

Are they ministers of Christ? (I say it foolishly,) I am above them. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise for ever, is witness that the things which I say are true.

I have knowledge of a man in Christ, fourteen years back (if he was in the body, or out of the body, I am not able to say, but God only), who was taken up to the third heaven.

And I have knowledge of such a man (if he was in the body, or out of the body, I am not able to say, but God only),

How he was taken up into Paradise, and words came to his ears which may not be said, and which man is not able to say.

and yet though I would rejoice I should not be a fool, for I would say the truth. Nevertheless I spare, lest any man should think of me above that he seeth me to be, or heareth of me.

But granting that I did not burden you myself, I was clever about it, you say, and took you in by a trick.

This, I say, is the third time I am coming to you: and at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

I have said before, and I say it before, as being present, the second time, and being absent, now, do I write to those having sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare,