according as it hath been written, 'He who did gather much, had nothing over; and he who did gather little, had no lack.'

For he received in deed the exhortation, but being more diligent, of his own ready mind he went unto you.

We did this as a precaution so that no one should blame us in regard to this generous gift we are administering.

for I have known your readiness of mind, which in your behalf I boast of to Macedonians, that Achaia hath been prepared a year ago, and the zeal of you did stir up the more part,

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

and we in regard to the unmeasured things will not boast ourselves, but after the measure of the line that the God of measure did appoint to us -- to reach even unto you;

for not as not reaching to you do we stretch ourselves overmuch, for even unto you did we come in the good news of the Christ,

for I am zealous for you with zeal of God, for I did betroth you to one husband, a pure virgin, to present to Christ,

and I fear, lest, as the serpent did beguile Eve in his subtilty, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in the Christ;

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him .

And though I am rude in speech, yet I am not in knowledge; but this did we in every respect manifest to you in all things.

Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for nought?

other assemblies I did rob, having taken wages, for your ministration;

And being present with you and lacking, I did not lazily burden any one, (for the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied what I lacked,) and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will keep myself.

Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light?

from Jews five times forty stripes save one I did receive;

However, if I did want to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I am not going to do it in order to keep anyone from thinking more of me than what he sees and hears about me.

Concerning this thing thrice the Lord did I call upon, that it might depart from me,

Therefore I delight in infirmities, in insults, in difficulties, in persecutions, and in tight places, for Christ's sake: for when I am without strength, then I am dynamite.

I have become a fool -- boasting; ye -- ye did compel me; for I ought by you to have been commended, for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles -- even if I am nothing.

For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except [for the fact] that I did not burden you [with my financial support]? Forgive me [for doing you] this injustice!

See, I am now for the third time prepared to visit you, but I will not be a dead weight to you. I desire not your money, but yourselves; for children ought not to put by for their parents, but parents for their children.

But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

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

I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?

lest again having come, my God may humble me in regard to you, and I may bewail many of those having sinned before, and not having reformed concerning the uncleanness, and whoredom, and lasciviousness, that they did practise.

This will be my third visit to you. [Deut. 19:15 says], "Every matter should be settled by the testimony of two or three witnesses."

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,

because of this, these things -- being absent -- I write, that being present, I may not treat any sharply, according to the authority that the Lord did give me for building up, and not for casting down.

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

who raised him from the dead) And all the brethren who are with me,

who did give himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of God even our Father,

I wonder that ye are so quickly removed from Him who did call you in the grace of Christ to another good news;

but even if we or a messenger out of heaven may proclaim good news to you different from what we did proclaim to you -- anathema let him be!

as we have said before, and now say again, If any one to you may proclaim good news different from what ye did receive -- anathema let him be!

for now men do I persuade, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if yet men I did please -- Christ's servant I should not be.

For I would like to clarify for you, brothers, the situation regarding the Gospel that I have preached: It did not originate from man.

For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.

for ye did hear of my behaviour once in Judaism, that exceedingly I was persecuting the assembly of God, and wasting it,

to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles [as the good news—the way of salvation], I did not immediately consult with anyone [for guidance regarding God’s call and His revelation to me].

nor did I go up to Jerusalem unto those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia, and again returned to Damascus,

Then three years later I did go up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas (Peter), and I stayed with him fifteen days.

and other of the apostles I did not see, except James, the brother of the Lord.

But the churches of the Messiah that are in Judea did not yet know me personally.

who had only heard, that I, who formerly persecuted them, did now preach the gospel of faith, which I once endeavoured to suppress:

and I went up by revelation, and did submit to them the good news that I preach among the nations, and privately to those esteemed, lest in vain I might run or did run;

But although my companion Titus was a Greek they did not insist upon even his being circumcised.

and that because of the false brethren brought in unawares, who did come in privily to spy out our liberty that we have in Christ Jesus, that us they might bring under bondage,

But we did not yield to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would continue to remain with you [in its purity].

And from those who were esteemed to be something -- whatever they were then, it maketh no difference to me -- the face of man God accepteth not, for -- to me those esteemed did add nothing,

for He who did work with Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, did work also in me in regard to the nations,

and having known the grace that was given to me, James, and Cephas, and John, who were esteemed to be pillars, a right hand of fellowship they did give to me, and to Barnabas, that we to the nations, and they to the circumcision may go,

For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

and dissemble with him also did the other Jews, so that also Barnabas was carried away by their dissimulation.

But, when I saw that they did not act in harmony with [the principles of] the truth of the Gospel [message], I said to Cephas in front of everyone, "If you, being a Jew, act like a Gentile [by showing such discrimination], how do you expect to persuade Gentiles to live like Jews [i.e., like Christian Jews who are taught to love all people]?"

having known also that a man is not declared righteous by works of law, if not through the faith of Jesus Christ, also we in Christ Jesus did believe, that we might be declared righteous by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law, wherefore declared righteous by works of law shall be no flesh.'

God forbid. And if I build again the same things which I demolished, I shew myself a transgressor: for I through the law am dead to the law,

For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

with Christ I have been crucified, and live no more do I, and Christ doth live in me; and that which I now live in the flesh -- in the faith I live of the Son of God, who did love me and did give himself for me;

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?

this only do I wish to learn from you -- by works of law the Spirit did ye receive, or by the hearing of faith?

Are you such fools? Did you begin with the spirit only to end now with the flesh?

Did ye suffer so many things in vain? if it be indeed in vain.

He then who was supplying unto you the Spirit, and energising mighty works among you, by works of law, or by a believed report did he it ?

according as Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;

and the Writing having foreseen that by faith God doth declare righteous the nations did proclaim before the good news to Abraham --

so that it is they who believe, who are blessed with Abraham, who did believe.

For all who seek to be right with God by trying to meet all the requirements of the law of Moses are under a curse [from God], because it is written [Deut. 27:26], "Every person is cursed [i.e., cut off from God] who does not continue to obey all of the requirements written in the law of Moses."

and the law is not by faith, but -- 'The man who did them shall live in them.'

Christ did redeem us from the curse of the law, having become for us a curse, for it hath been written, 'Cursed is every one who is hanging on a tree,'

And this he did that the blessing given to Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through their union with Jesus Christ; that so, through our faith, we also might receive the promised gift of the Spirit.

(Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say 'and to seeds,' as if speaking of many, but 'and to your seed,' since He spoke of only one--and this is Christ.)

This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified.

for if by law be the inheritance, it is no more by promise, but to Abraham through promise did God grant it.

but the Writing did shut up the whole under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be given to those believing.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.

but he is under [the authority of] guardians and household administrators or managers until the date set by his father [when he is of legal age].

and when the fulness of time did come, God sent forth His Son, come of a woman, come under law,

and because ye are sons, God did send forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!'

So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir because of what God did.

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

I am afraid of you, lest in vain I did labour toward you.

I beseech you, brethren, become as I am , for I also am become as ye are . Ye did me no wrong:

and ye have known that through infirmity of the flesh I did proclaim good news to you at the first,

and my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye did not slight nor reject with contempt; but ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

Why then did you account yourselves so happy? (For I bear you witness that if you could you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me.)

So then did I become your enemy speaking to you the truth?

They are ardently attached to you, but not honorably; in deed, they desire to exclude us, that you may be ardently attached to them.

for it is written, Rejoice, barren woman, that did not bear, break forth and cry, woman that had no pain, for the children of the desolate are more numerous than those of her who had a husband.

but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now;

So, brothers, we are the children of no slave woman, but of free woman. For freedom did not Christ set us free;

For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

This persuasion did not come from the One who called you.

envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

and those who are Christ's, the flesh did crucify with the affections, and the desires;

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who did bless us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

according as He did choose us in him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love,