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

(For he says, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I helped you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Therefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

And will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

Lest perhaps if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, you) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

But this I say, He who sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

I say again, Let no man think me foolish; but if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

For though I would desire to boast, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees me to be, or that he hears of me.