who comforts me in all my distress, so that I am able to comfort people who are in any distress by the comfort with which I myself am comforted by God.

For as the sufferings of Christ are abundant in my case, so my comfort is also abundant through Christ.

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;

he rescued me from so terrible a death, he rescues still, and I rely upon him for the hope that he will continue to rescue me.

Let me have your cooperation in prayer, so that many a soul may render thanks to him on my behalf for the boon which many have been the means of him bestowing on myself.

I intended to take you on my way to Macedonia, and to visit you again on my way back from Macedonia, so as to be sped by you on my journey to Judaea.

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.

If a certain individual has been causing pain, he has been causing pain not so much to me as to all of you ??at anyrate (for I am not going to overstate the case) to a section of you.

so that instead of censuring you should now forgive him and comfort him, in case the man is overwhelmed by excessive remorse.

So I beg you to reinstate him in your love.

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

my spirit could not rest, because I did not find Titus my brother there; so I said goodbye and went off to Macedonia.

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;

But we all mirror the glory of the Lord with face unveiled, and so we are being transformed into the same likeness as himself, passing from one glory to another ??for this comes of the Lord the Spirit.

Hence, as I hold this ministry by God's mercy to me, I never lose heart in it;

I disown those practices which very shame conceals from view; I do not go about it craftily; I do not falsify the word of God; I state the truth openly and so commend myself to every man's conscience before God.

For God who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," has shone within my heart to illuminate men with the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Christ.

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:

every day of my life I am being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may come out within my mortal flesh.

But since our spirit of faith is the same, therefore ??as it is written I believed and so I spoke ??I too believe and so I speak,

It is all in your interests, so that the more grace abounds, the more thanksgiving may rise and redound to the glory of God.

It makes me sigh indeed, this yearning to be under the cover of my heavenly habitation,

since I am sure that once so covered I shall not be 'naked' at the hour of death.

I do sigh within this tent of mine with heavy anxiety ??not that I want to be stripped, no, but to be under the cover of the other, to have my mortal element absorbed by life.

For in Christ God reconciled the world to himself instead of counting men's trespasses against them; and he entrusted me with the message of his reconciliation.

So I am an envoy for Christ, God appealing by me, as it were ??be reconciled to God, I entreat you on behalf of Christ.

For our sakes He made him to be sin who himself knew nothing of sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I put no obstacle in the path of any, so that my ministry may not be discredited;

A fair exchange now, as the children say! Open your hearts wide to me.

What compact can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God ??as God has said, I will dwell and move among them, I will be their God and they shall be my people.

but I am glad now ??not glad that you were pained but glad that your pain induced you to repent. For you were pained as God meant you to be pained, and so you got no harm from what I did;

the pain God is allowed to guide ends in a saving repentance never to be regretted, whereas the world's pain ends in death.

See what this pain divine has done for you, how serious it has made you, how keen to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how eager for me, how determined, how relentless! You have shown in every way that you were honest in the business.

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.

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.

They have done more than I expected; they gave themselves to the Lord, to begin with, and then (for so God willed it) they put themselves at my disposal.

Now, carry it through, so that your readiness to take it up may be equalled by the way you carry it through ??so far as your means allow.

he has indeed responded to my request, but he is off to you by his own choice, so keen is his interest in you.

So let them have proof of how you can love, and of my reasons for being proud of you; it will be a proof read by the churches.

in case any Macedonians accompany me and find you are not ready ??which would make me (not to speak of yourselves) ashamed of having been so sure.

God is able to bless you with ample means, so that you may always have quite enough for any emergency of your own and ample besides for any kind act to others;

He who furnishes the sower with seed and with bread to eat will supply seed for you and multiply it; he will increase the crop of your charities ??11 you will be enriched on all hands, so that you can be generous on all occasions, and your generosity, of which I am the agent, will make men give thanks to God;

Look at this obvious fact. So-and-so is perfectly sure he 'belongs to Christ'? Well then, let him understand, on second thoughts, that I 'belong to Christ' as much as he does.

But I am not going to seem as if I were 'overawing you with a letter,' so to speak.

My opponent says, 'Paul's letters are weighty and telling, but his personality is weak and his delivery is beneath contempt.'

and so my boasting never goes beyond the limit ??it is determined by the limits of the sphere marked out for me by God. That sphere stretches to include yourselves;

and preach the gospel in the lands that lie beyond you, instead of boasting within another's province over work that is already done.

I made a levy on other churches, I took pay from them so as to minister to you;

So it is no surprise if his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their doom will answer to their deeds.

I repeat, no one is to think me a fool; but even so, pray bear with me, fool as I am, that I may have my little boast as well as others!

(What I am now going to say is not inspired by the Lord: I am in the role of a 'fool,' now, on this business of boasting.

You put up with fools so readily, you who know so much!

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!).

Are they Hebrews? so am I. Israelites? so am I. Descended from Abraham? so am I.

three times I have been beaten by the Romans, once pelted with stones, three times shipwrecked, adrift at sea for a whole night and day;

I have been often on my travels, I have been in danger from rivers and robbers, in danger from Jews and Gentiles, through dangers of town and of desert, through dangers on the sea, through dangers among false brothers ??27 through labour and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger and thirst, starving many a time, cold and ill-clad, and all the rest of it.

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

(If I did care to boast of other things, I would be no 'fool,' for I would have a true tale to tell; however, I abstain from that ??I want no one to take me for more than he can see in me or make out from me.)

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;

but he told me, "It is enough for you to have my grace: it is in weakness that [my] power is fully felt." So I am proud to boast of all my weakness, and thus to have the power of Christ resting on my life.

It makes me satisfied, for Christ's sake, with weakness, insults, trouble, persecution, and calamity; for I am strong just when I am weak.

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?

Put yourselves to the proof, not me; test yourselves, to see if you are in the faith. Do you not understand that Christ Jesus is within you? Otherwise you must be failures.

I am writing thus to you in absence, so that when I do come I may not have to deal sharply with you; I have the Lord's authority for that, but he gave it to me for building you up, not for demolishing you.