Ever since we reached Macedonia, we have had no rest in body or mind; on every side there have been troubles--conflicts without, anxieties within.

Not, however, by his presence alone, but also by the encouragement wherewith he had been encouraged over you: recounting unto us your earnest desire, your lamentation, your zeal in my behalf. So that I the more rejoiced.

For even though I did grieve you with my letter, I do not regret it [now]; though I did regret it —for I see that the letter hurt you, though only for a little while—

Now I rejoice, not that ye have been grieved, but that ye have been grieved to repentance; for ye have been grieved according to God, that in nothing ye might be injured by us.

For [godly] sorrow that is in accord with the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but worldly sorrow [the hopeless sorrow of those who do not believe] produces 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.

Consequently, even if I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong or because of the one who had been wronged, but in order that your diligence {on our behalf} might be revealed to you before God.

Therefore we have been comforted: And in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all.

Because if I boasted to him anything about you, I have not been put to shame; but as we have spoken to you all things in truth, so also our boasting to Titus has been the truth;

Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God which hath been given in the churches of Macedonia;

This led us to urge Titus that, as he had previously been the one who commenced the work, so he should now go and complete among you this act of beneficence also.

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

and not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in regard to this gracious offering which we are administering for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our eagerness [as believers to help one another].

And so that no man might be able to say anything against us in the business of this giving which has been put into our hands:

For the business has been so ordered by us as to have the approval, not only of the Lord, but of men.

And we have sent with them our brother, whose ready spirit has been made clear to us at times and in ways without number, but it is now all the more so because of the certain faith which he has in you.

for I know your readiness, of which I glory on your behalf to them of Macedonia, that Achaia hath been prepared for a year past; and your zeal hath stirred up very many of them.

Still I send the brethren in order that in this matter our boast about you may not turn out to have been an idle one; so that, as I have said, you may be ready;

For if any Macedonians come with me and learn that you are not prepared, we, not to mention you, will be ashamed for having been so over confident.

I have thought it absolutely necessary therefore to request these brethren to visit you before I myself come, and to make sure beforehand that the gift of love which you have already promised may be ready as a gift of love, and may not seem to have been something which I have extorted from you.

But God is able to make all grace abound unto you; in order that, always having all sufficiency in every thing, you may abound unto every good work: as has been written,

(according as it hath been written, 'He dispersed abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness doth remain to the age,')

and having in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled.

so that we may proclaim the good news to the regions beyond you, not boasting about what has already been done in someone else’s area of ministry.

For I have a very great care for you: because you have been married by me to one husband, and it is my desire to give you completely holy to Christ.

For if he that cometh to you preach another Jesus than him whom we preached, or if ye receive another spirit than that which ye have received, either another gospel than that ye have received; ye might right well have been content.

for I reckon that I have been nothing behind the very chiefest apostles,

But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

and being present with you, and having been in want, I was chargeable to no one, for my lack did the brethren supply -- having come from Macedonia -- and in everything burdenless to you I did keep myself, and will keep.

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 the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.

Five times I have been given one less than forty lashes, by the Jews.

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

[I have been] on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from [my own] people, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers because of false brothers,

I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

I knew a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I know not; whether out of the body, I know not, such a one having been caught up even to the third heaven.

And judging by the stupendous grandeur of the revelations--therefore lest I should be over-elated there has been sent to me, like the agony of impalement, Satan's angel dealing blow after blow, lest I should be over-elated.

but His reply has been, "My grace suffices for you, for power matures in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I boast of my infirmities rather than complain of them--in order that Christ's power may overshadow me.

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.

Indeed, the signs of an apostle have been done among you with all patient endurance, both signs and wonders and deeds of power.

For in what is it that ye have been inferior to the other assemblies, unless that I myself have not been in laziness a charge upon you? Forgive me this injury.

Now, this is the third time I have been ready to come to you, and I will not be a [financial] burden to you. For I do not want your possessions but you yourselves, because children should not [have to] save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

But let [it] be. I have not been a burden to you, but [because I] was crafty, I took you by cunning.

Ye have long been supposing that we excuse ourselves to you: we speak before God in Christ; and all things, beloved, for your building up.

and that upon re-visiting you I may be humbled by my God in your presence, and may have to mourn over many whose hearts still cling to their old sins, and who have not repented of the impurity, fornication, and gross sensuality, of which they have been guilty.

I have said it, and I say it again before I come, just as if I were with you on my second visit, though for the moment absent, I say to those who have been long sinning, as well as to all others--that if I come again, I shall spare no one.

for if indeed he has been crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power; for indeed we are weak in him, but we shall live with him by God's power towards you,)

As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man is a preacher to you of any good news other than that which has been given to you, let there be a curse on him.

For am I, even now, persuading, men, or God? Or am I seeking to please, men? If I had been still pleasing, men, Christ's servant, had I not been!

For I make known to you, brothers, the gospel that has been proclaimed by me, that it is not {of human origin}.

I advanced in the Jewish religion beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen. I have been extremely more zealous in advocating the traditions [taught] by my forefathers.

instead of going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and on my return I came back to Damascus.

Only it came to their ears that he who at one time was cruel to us is now preaching the faith which before had been attacked by him;

And I went up by revelation; and I put before them the good news which I was preaching among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were of good name, so that the work which I was or had been doing might not be without effect.

My concern was because of the false brothers [those people masquerading as Christians] who had been secretly smuggled in [to the community of believers]. They had slipped in to spy on the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us back into bondage [under the Law of Moses].

but contrariwise, when they saw that I had been intrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the gospel of the circumcision

for He who had been at work within Peter with a view to his Apostleship to the Jews had also been at work within me with a view to my Apostleship to the Gentiles--

And recognizing the grace [that God had] bestowed on me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars [of the Jerusalem church], gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we could go to the Gentiles [with their blessing] and they to the circumcised (Jews).

requesting only that we would remember the poor, which same thing I have been diligent in doing.

For until certain persons came from James he had been accustomed to eat with Gentiles; but as soon as these persons came, he withdrew and separated himself for fear of the Circumcision party.

But when I saw that they were not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas (Peter) in front of everyone, “If you, being a Jew, live [as you have been living] like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you are [now virtually] forcing the Gentiles to live like Jews [if they want to eat with you]?”

Now if in seeking to be justified in Christ we also have been found sinners, then is Christ minister of sin? Far be the thought.

For through the law I died to the law, in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ,

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

Have you endured such sufferings to no purpose--if indeed it has been to no purpose?

for as many as are of works of law are under a curse, for it hath been written, 'Cursed is every one who is not remaining in all things that have been written in the Book of the Law -- to do 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,'

Our freedom has been thus purchased in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing belonging to Abraham may come upon the nations, so that through faith we may receive the promised Spirit.

Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: Though it be but a man's covenant, yet when it hath been confirmed, no one maketh it void, or addeth thereto.

And, this, I say - a covenant previously confirmed by God, the law which, after four hundred and thirty years, hath been brought into being, doth not annul, so as to do away with the promise.

What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

But before faith came, we were kept under Law, having been shut up to the faith about to be revealed.

So that the law has been our tutor up to Christ, that we might be justified on the principle of faith.

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Whereas, now, having acknowledged God, - or rather, having been acknowledged by God, how turn ye back again unto the weak and beggarly elementary principles, unto which, over again, ye are wishing, to come into servitude?

I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.

and yet the bodily infirmity which was such a trial to you, you did not regard with contempt or loathing, but you received me as if I had been an angel of God or Christ Jesus Himself!

Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

Am I your enemy to-day, because I have been honest with you?

These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

my children, of whom I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you:

for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, and one by the free-woman,

but he who is of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who is of the free-woman, through the promise;

for it hath been written, 'Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many are the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the husband.'

But, just as, then, he that after the manner of the flesh had been born, did persecute him who had been born after the manner of the Spirit, thus, also now.

Ye have been set aside from Christ, ye who, by law, are to be declared righteous, - out of his favour, ye have fallen;

But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? then hath the stumbling-block of the cross been done away.

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

For the entire Law has been obeyed when you have kept the single precept, which says, "You are to love your fellow man equally with yourself."

For they themselves, having been circumcised, do not even keep the Law, but they desire you to be circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.

But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved.

In [fellowship with] Christ we have redemption [i.e., we have been bought back from Satan] through His blood, and have forgiveness of sins according to the abundance of God's unearned favor,

and in arranging, when the time should have fully come, that everything in heaven and on earth should be unified in Christ??11 the Christ through whom it is our lot to have been predestined by the design of him who in everything carries out the purpose of his will,

in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will;

so that we who were the first to hope in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him as our Lord and Savior] would exist to the praise of His glory.

in whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

(the eyes of your hearts having been enlightened), so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what [are] the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints,