To the Church of God which is in Corinth, and to all the saints throughout Greece. from Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ, and from brother Timothy.

He delivered me from such a death, and will deliver me. On him I have set my hopes that he will continue to deliver me,

For I am writing to you nothing different from what you read aloud and very well recognize, and I hope will continue to recognize to the very end,

as some indeed did recognize in part at last, that I am your cause of boasting, just as you will be mine on the Day of Jesus our Lord.

For if that which was fading came in glory, far more will that which ever abides be glorious.

For I know that He who raised from the dead the Lord Jesus, will raise me also with Jesus, and set me at your side in his presence.

And what compact has God's temple with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, as he has said: I will dwell among them, and walk about among them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

then I will receive you and will be to you a Father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

For I can testify that according to their ability, and even beyond their ability, of their own free will, too, they have given help.

And this not as I had expected, but in accordance with the will of God, they first gave themselves to God and to me.

And I will give you my opinion in this matter; for this offering is fitting in your case, considering that you made a beginning before others, not only in the willingness to do something but also in actually doing something a year ago.

So now complete the doing of it also, in order that just as there was the readiness to will, so there may be the accomplishment according to your means.

Mark this; he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

He who ever supplies seed to the sower, and bread for the food of man, will supply and make plentous your seed, and increase the harvest springing up from your almsgiving.

You yourselves will be enriched with all good things, that you may give ungrudgingly; and your gifts, of which I am the agent, will make men give thanks to God.

Moreover, in their prayers for you they will be longing after you, because of the exceeding grace of God that is resting upon you.

Let such a man assure himself that my actions, when I am present, will be just like my words in my letters when I am absent.

I, however, will not indulge in undue boasting, but will confine it within the limits of the sphere to which God has assigned me?? sphere which reaches even to you.

Even when I lacked the actual necessities of life while I was with you, I was a burden to no one; for whatever I lacked, the brothers from Macedonia supplied, when they came. So I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

I am doing and will continue to do this in order to cut away the ground from under those who wish some cause for slander; and that the ground of their boasting may appear as does mine.

It is no great marvel, then, if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.

I am forced to boast, though it is unprofitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

Of such a one I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast except in my weaknesses.

Most gladly therefore will I boast rather of my weakness, that over me like a tent may be pitched the power of Christ. That is why I rejoice in weakness, in ill-treatment, in troubles, in persecutions and calamities for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.

And now for the third time I am preparing to visit you. I will not be a burden to you, for I am not seeking yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

For my part, I will most gladly spend, yea, and will myself be spent, for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I to be loved the less?

This will be my third visit to you. Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be confirmed.

I have said formerly, and I now forewarn you as when I was present the second time, so now when I am absent the second time, so now when I am absent, saying to those who had sinned before, and to all the rest, "If I come again, I will not spare,"

But I hope you will find that I abide the proof.