For in this tent I am groaning, earnestly longing to be under the cover of my heavenly habitation; if so be that being so covered,

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

For I who am still in my tent sigh with anxiety, because I do not want to be stripped of it, but to put on the other over it, so that what is only mortal may be absorbed in life.

I am prepared for this change by God, who has given me the Spirit as its pledge and instalment.

Come what may, then, I am confident; I know that while I reside in the body I am away from the Lord

(for I have to guide my steps by faith, not by what is seen)??8 yet I am confident, and I prefer to leave my home in the body and make my home with the Lord.

So I have good courage, and am well pleased rather, to be in banishment from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Wherefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him.

If I 'appeal to the interests of men,' then, it is with the fear of the Lord before my mind. What I am is plain to God without disguise, plain also, I trust, to your own conscience.

We are not again commending ourselves to your favour, but are furnishing you with a ground of boasting on our behalf, so that you may have a reply ready for those with whom superficial appearances are everything and sincerity of heart counts for nothing.

'I am beside myself,' am I? Well, that is between myself and God. I am 'sane,' am I? Well, that is in your interests;

for I am controlled by the love of Christ, convinced that as One has died for all, then all have died,

But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him],

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.

I am giving no one a cause of stumbling in order that my ministry may not be discredited;

but in every way I am striving to commend myself as God's minister by stedfast endurance, by afflictions, by troubles, by distresses,

in honor or dishonor, in praise or blame; considered an imposter, when I am true,

'unknown' but well-known, dying but here I am alive, chastened but not killed,

pained, when I am always glad, poor, when I make many others rich, penniless, when really I own everything.

O Corinthians, I am keeping nothing back from you; my heart is wide open for you.

It is not that I am cramping you, it is your own affections.

Now the same [way] [in] exchange (I am speaking as to children), you open wide [your hearts] also.

With these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that pollutes either body or spirit, and, in deepest reverence for God, aim at perfect holiness.

Make room for us in your hearts. There is not one of you whom we have wronged, not one to whom we have done harm, not one over whom we have gained any selfish advantage.

Unto condemnation, I am not saying this , for I have before said - In our hearts, are ye, to the end we may die together and live together.

Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

And it is not only by his arrival that we are encouraged, but also by the encouragement which he received from you; for he tells us of your strong affection, your penitence, and your zeal on my behalf--so that I am happier still.

Because even though I grieved you in the letter, I am not remorseful (even though I was remorseful), for I perceive that that letter grieved you, even though for an hour.

yet I am glad now, not because you were hurt and made sorry, but because your sorrow led to repentance [and you turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that you might not suffer loss in anything on our account.

So though I sent you a letter, it was not only because of the man who did the wrong, or because of him to whom the wrong was done, but so that your true care for us might be made clear in the eyes of God.

That is why I am so comforted. With all my own comfort, I was still more overjoyed at the gladness of Titus, for his mind has been set at rest by you all.

For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth.

I rejoice that in everything I am of good courage concerning you.

Now I am going to tell you, brothers, of God's spiritual blessing which was given in the churches of Macedonia,

I am not saying [this] as a command, but proving the genuineness of your love by means of the diligence of others.

And I am giving an opinion in this [matter], because this is profitable for you who not only began previously, a year ago, to do [something], but also to want [to do it].

And I am not saying this so that others may get off free, while the weight comes on you:

As has been written, He to whom much, was not in excess; and he to whom little, was not diminished.

Along with him I am sending that brother whose services to the gospel are praised by all the churches;

What is more, he has been appointed by the churches to travel with me in the interests of this generous undertaking, which I am superintending to honor the Lord and to show our readiness to help.

because I am on my guard in this, that no one should blame me, in respect to this bounty which I am administering.

For we have regard for what is honorable [and above suspicion], not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you.

As for Titus, remember that he is a partner with me, and is my comrade in my labours for you. And as for our brethren, remember that they are delegates from the Churches, and are men in whom Christ is glorified.

for I know your eagerness [to promote this cause], and I have [proudly] boasted to the people of Macedonia about it, telling them that Achaia has been prepared since last year [for this contribution], and your enthusiasm has inspired the majority of them [to respond].

Still, I am sending the brothers [on to you], so that our pride in you may not be an empty boast in this case, and so that you may be prepared, just as I told them you would be;

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;

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.

Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

For though I do live an earthly life, I am not carrying on an earthly war,

For I am demolishing arguments and every barrier that is raised against the genuine knowledge of God, taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,

I am prepared to court-martial anyone who remains insubordinate, once your submission is complete.

Look these facts in the face. If any man is fully persuaded as regards himself that he belongs to Christ, let him consider again with himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also am I.

For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed.

I don’t want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters.

Let him understand that I will act when I arrive, as forcibly as I express myself by letter when I am absent.

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.

I am not "boasting beyond measure in the labors of others," but it is my hope that, as your faith goes on increasing among yourselves, by the enlargement of my appointed limits,

For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

Put up with me if I am a little foolish: but, truly, you do put up with me.

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of [your sincere and] pure devotion to Christ.

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

But though I be rude in speech, yet am I not in knowledge; nay, in every way have we made this manifest unto you in all things.

Am I chargeable with a fault (humbling myself that you might be exalted), that I preached to you the gospel of God freely?

And when I was with you and my resources failed, there was no one to whom I became a burden--for the brethren when they came from Macedonia fully supplied my wants--and I kept myself from being in the least a burden to you, and will do so still.

As surely as I know anything of the Truth of Christ, this boast, as far as I am concerned, shall not be stopped in any part of Greece.

Why [am I doing this]? Is it because I do not love you? God knows [I do].

But what I am doing I will keep doing, [for I am determined to keep this independence] in order to cut off the claim of those who want an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things they brag about.

Again I say, do not let anyone think I am foolish. But indeed, if [you do], accept me even as foolish, in order that I also may boast a little.

What I am saying in this project of boasting, I am not saying as the Lord [would say], but as in foolishness.

I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

And beside the things which outwardly happen unto me, I am cumbered daily and do care for all congregations.

Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that reveal my weakness [the things by which I am made weak in the eyes of my opponents].

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed {forever}, knows that I am not lying.

It is necessary to boast, though nothing is gained by it; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

I know a Christian man who fourteen years ago-- whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows--was caught up (this man of whom I am speaking)

And I have knowledge of such a man (if he was in the body, or out of the body, I am not able to say, but God only),

Of an experience like that I am prepared to boast, but not of myself personally ??not except as regards my weaknesses.

For if I want to boast, I will not be foolish, because I will be telling the truth, but I am refraining, so that no one can credit to me more than what he sees [in] me or hears anything from me,

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.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

And I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?

Now granted, I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!

Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?

For a long time you were thinking that I am apologizing to you. We speak before God in Christ; but all things, beloved, are for your edification.

For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you not to be as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder;

I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality and decadence which they formerly practiced.

This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

I have already warned those who have sinned in the past and all the rest as well, and I warn them now even though I am absent [from you] as I did when I was with you the second time, that if I come back I will not spare anyone,

That will prove to you that I am indeed a spokesman of Christ. It is no weak Christ you have to do with, but a Christ of power.

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.

But I trust you will find I am no failure,