As this was my plan, where, pray, did I show any fickleness of purpose? Or do you think that my plans are formed on mere impulse, so that in the same breath I say 'Yes' and 'No'?

For he says--'At the time for acceptance I listened to thee, And on the day of deliverance I helped thee.' Now is the time for acceptance! Now is the day of deliverance!

Therefore "Come out from among the nations, and separate yourselves from them," says the Lord, "and touch nothing impure; And I will welcome you;

And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters," says the Lord, the Ruler of all.'

As Scripture says--'The man who had much had nothing over, and the man who had little did not lack!'

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.

With reference, indeed, to the Fund for your fellow-Christians, it is quite superfluous for me to say anything to you.

Otherwise, if any Macedonians were to come with me, and find you unprepared, we--to say nothing of you--should feel ashamed of our present confidence.

(As Scripture says--'He scattered broadcast, he gave to the poor; His righteousness continues for ever.'

I say this, that it may not seem as if I were trying to overawe you by my letters.

For people say "His letters are impressive and vigorous, but his personal appearance is insignificant and his speaking contemptible."

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.

I say again--Let no one think me a fool! Yet, if you do, at least welcome me as you would a fool, that I, too may indulge in a little boasting.

I admit, to my shame, that we have been weak. But whatever the subject on which others are not afraid to boast--though it is foolish to say so--I am not afraid either!

You will admit that I was not a burden to you but you say that I was "crafty" and caught you "by a trick"!

I have said it, and I say it again before I come, just as if I were with you on my second visit, though for the moment absent, I say to those who have been long sinning, as well as to all others--that if I come again, I shall spare no one.