Now I would like you to know about the distress which befell me in Asia, brothers. I was crushed, crushed far more than I could stand, so much so that I despaired even of life;

in fact I told myself it was the sentence of death. But that was to make me rely not on myself but on the God who raises the dead;

Such was my intention. Now, have I shown myself 'fickle'? When I propose some plan, do I propose it in a worldly way, ready to mean 'no' as well as 'yes'?

By the good faith of God, my word to you was not 'yes and no';

for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by us (by myself and Silvanus and Timotheus) was not 'yes and no' ??the divine 'yes' has at last sounded in him,

I call God to witness against my soul, it was to spare you that I refrained from revisiting Corinth.

So the very reason I wrote was that I might not come only to be pained by those who ought to give me joy; I relied on you all, I felt sure that my joy would be a joy for everyone of you.

For my aim in writing was simply to test you, to see if you were absolutely obedient.

Now if the administration of death which was engraved in letters of stone, was invested with glory ??so much so, that the children of Israel could not gaze at the face of Moses on account of the dazzling glory that was fading from his face;

If there was glory in the administration that condemned, then the administration that acquits abounds far more in glory

(indeed, in view of the transcendent glory, what was glorious has thus no glory at all);

persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed ??10 wherever I go, I am being killed in the body as Jesus was, so that the life of Jesus may come out in my body:

For I got no relief from the strain of things, even when I reached Macedonia; it was trouble at every turn, wrangling all round me, fears in my own mind.

So my letter was written to you, not on account of the offender nor for the sake of the injured party, but in order to let you realize before God how seriously you do care for me.

That is what comforts me. And over and above my personal comfort, I was specially delighted at the delight of Titus. You have all set his mind at rest.

This has led me to ask Titus to complete the arrangements for the same gracious contribution among yourselves, as it was he who started it.

(You know how gracious our Lord Jesus Christ was; rich though he was, he became poor for the sake of you, that by his poverty you might be rich.)

I know how willing you are, I am proud of it, I have boasted of you to the Macedonians: "Achaia," I tell them, "was all ready last year." And your zeal has been a stimulus to the majority of them.

I am not overstepping the limit, as if you lay beyond my sphere; I was the very first to reach you with the gospel of Christ.

even when I ran short, during my stay with you, I was no encumbrance to anybody, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my wants. Thus I kept myself, as I intend to keep myself, from being a burden to you in any way.

I am quite ashamed to say I was not equal to that sort of thing! But let them vaunt as they please, I am equal to them (mind, this is the role of a fool!).

but I was lowered in a basket from a loophole in the wall, and so managed to escape his clutches.)

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. In the body or out of the body? That I do not know: God knows.

this man was caught up to paradise and heard sacred secrets which no human lips can repeat.

My wealth of visions might have puffed me up, so I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to rack me and keep me from being puffed up;

Now this is playing the fool! But you forced me to it, instead of coming forward yourselves and vouching for me. That was what I deserved; for, 'nobody' as I am, I am not one whit inferior to these precious 'apostles.'

But let that pass, you say; I was not a burden to you, no, but I was clever enough to dupe you with my tricks? Was I?

For though he was crucified in his weakness, he lives by the power of God; and though I am weak as he was weak, you will find I am alive as he is alive by the power of God.