And last of all, as by one whose birth was out of the right time, he was seen by me.

For I am the least of the Apostles, having no right to be named an Apostle, because of my cruel attacks on the church of God.

But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was given to me has not been for nothing; for I did more work than all of them; though not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Yes, and we are seen to be false witnesses of God; because we gave witness of God that by his power Christ came again from the dead: which is not true if there is no coming back from the dead.

For as by man came death, so by man there is a coming back from the dead.

And when all things have been put under him, then will the Son himself be under him who put all things under him, so that God may be all in all.

Yes, truly, by your pride in me, my brothers in Christ Jesus our Lord, my life is one long death.

Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour.

Be awake to righteousness and keep yourselves from sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I say this to put you to shame.

And when you put it into the earth, you do not put in the body which it will be, but only the seed, of grain or some other sort of plant;

See, I am giving you the revelation of a secret: we will not all come to the sleep of death, but we will all be changed.

In a second, in the shutting of an eye, at the sound of the last horn: for at that sound the dead will come again, free for ever from the power of death, and we will be changed.

For this body which comes to destruction will be made free from the power of death, and the man who is under the power of death will put on eternal life.

But when this has taken place, then that which was said in the Writings will come true, Death is overcome by life.

But praise be to God who gives us strength to overcome through our Lord Jesus Christ.

For this cause, my dear brothers, be strong in purpose and unmoved, ever giving yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you are certain that your work is not without effect in the Lord.

On the first day of the week, let every one of you put by him in store, in measure as he has done well in business, so that it may not be necessary to get money together when I come.

But I may be with you for a time, or even for the winter, so that you may see me on my way, wherever I go.

For it is not my desire to see you now, on my way; because it is my hope to be with you for some time, if that is the Lord's pleasure.

But I will be at Ephesus till Pentecost;

Be on the watch, unmoved in the faith, and be strong like men.

Let all you do be done in love.

If any man has not love for the Lord, let him be cursed. Maran atha (our Lord comes).

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. So be it.

Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the purpose of God, and Timothy the brother, to the church of God which is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort;

Who gives us comfort in all our troubles, so that we may be able to give comfort to others who are in trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For it is our desire that you may not be without knowledge of our trouble which came on us in Asia, that the weight of it was very great, more than our power, so that it seemed that we had no hope even of life:

Yes, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead:

You at the same time helping together by your prayer for us; so that for what has been given to us through a number of persons, praise may go up to God for us from all of them.

And by way of Corinth to go into Macedonia, and from there to come back again to you, so that you might send me on my way to Judaea.

If then I had such a purpose, did I seem to be changing suddenly? or am I guided in my purposes by the flesh, saying, Yes, today, and, No, tomorrow?

For he is the Yes to all the undertakings of God: and by him all the words of God are made certain and put into effect, to the glory of God through us.

For if I give you sorrow, who then will make me glad, but he who is made sad by me?

But if anyone has been a cause of sorrow, he has been so, not to me only, but in some measure to all of you (I say this that I may not be over-hard on you).

Let it be enough for such a man to have undergone the punishment which the church put on him;

So that now, on the other hand, it is right for him to have forgiveness and comfort from you, for fear that his sorrow may be over-great.

For which cause my desire is that you will make your love to him clear by your acts.

And for the same reason I sent you a letter so that I might be certain of your desire to do my orders in all things.

But praise be to God who makes us strong to overcome in Christ, and makes clear through us in every place the value of the knowledge of him.

Do we seem to be again attempting to put ourselves in the right? or have we need, as some have, of letters of approval to you or from you?

Not as if we were able by ourselves to do anything for which we might take the credit; but our power comes from God;

Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life.

For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time:

For if the operation of the law, producing punishment, had its glory, how much greater will be the operation of the Spirit causing righteousness?

For the glory of the first no longer seems to be glory, because of the greater glory of that which comes after.

But when it is turned to the Lord, the veil will be taken away.

And we have given up the secret things of shame, not walking in false ways, and not making use of the word of God with deceit; but by the revelation of what is true, as before God, we have the approval of every man's sense of right and wrong.

Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them.

Seeing that it is God who said, Let light be shining out of the dark, who has put in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this wealth in vessels of earth, so that it may be seen that the power comes not from us but from God;

In our bodies there is ever the mark of the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our bodies.

For, while living, we are still being given up to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our flesh, though it is under the power of death.

For which cause we do not give way to weariness; but though our outer man is getting feebler, our inner man is made new day by day.

For in this we are crying in weariness, greatly desiring to be clothed with our house from heaven:

So that our spirits may not be unclothed.

For truly, we who are in this tent do give out cries of weariness, for the weight of care which is on us; not because we are desiring to be free from the body, but so that we may have our new body, and death may be overcome by life.

(For we are walking by faith, not by seeing,)

We are without fear, desiring to be free from the body, and to be with the Lord.

For this reason we make it our purpose, in the body or away from it, to be well-pleasing to him.

For we all have to come before Christ to be judged; so that every one of us may get his reward for the things done in the body, good or bad.

We are not again requesting your approval, but we are giving you the chance of taking pride in us, so that you may be able to give an answer to those whose glory is in seeming, and not in the heart.

And that he underwent death for all, so that the living might no longer be living to themselves, but to him who underwent death for them and came back from the dead.

So we are the representatives of Christ, as if God was making a request to you through us: we make our request to you, in the name of Christ, be at peace with God.

For him who had no knowledge of sin God made to be sin for us; so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Giving no cause for trouble in anything, so that no one may be able to say anything against our work;

By glory and by shame, by an evil name and a good name; as untrue, and still true;

Now to give me back payment of the same sort (I am talking as to my children), let your hearts be wide open to me.

And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

For which cause, Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and let no unclean thing come near you; and I will take you for myself,

And will be a Father to you; and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord, the Ruler of all.

Let your hearts be open to us: we have done no man wrong, no man has been damaged by us, we have made no profit out of any man,

But God who gives comfort to the poor in spirit gave us comfort by the coming of Titus;

And not by his coming only, but by the comfort which he had in you, while he gave us word of your desire, your sorrow, your care for me; so that I was still more glad.

Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything.

For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.

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.

So we have been comforted: and we had the greater joy in our comfort because of the joy of Titus, for his spirit had been made glad by you all.

For I was not put to shame in anything in which I may have made clear to him my pride in you; but as we said nothing to you but what was true, so the good things which I said to Titus about you were seen by him to be true.

And his love to you is the more increased by his memory of you all, how you gave way to his authority, and how you took him to your hearts with fear and honour.

And that as you are full of every good thing, of faith, of the word, of knowledge, of a ready mind, and of love to us, so you may be full of this grace in the same way.

But so that things may be equal; that from those things of which you have more than enough at the present time their need may be helped, and that if you are in any need they may be a help to you in the same way, making things equal.

But praise be to God, who puts the same care for you into the heart of Titus.

And not only so, but he was marked out by the churches to go with us in the grace of this giving which we have undertaken to the glory of the Lord and to make clear that our mind was ready:

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.

For I have before made clear to those of Macedonia my pride in your ready mind, saying to them that Achaia has been ready for a year back; and a great number have been moved to do the same by your example.

But I have sent the brothers, so that the good things we said about you may be seen to be true, and that, as I said, you may be ready:

For fear that, if any from Macedonia come with me, and you are not ready, we (not to say, you) might be put to shame in this thing.

So it seemed to me wise for the brothers to go before, and see that the amount which you had undertaken to give was ready, so that it might be a cause for praise, and not as if we were making profit out of you.

Let every man do after the purpose of his heart; not giving with grief, or by force: for God takes pleasure in a ready giver.

And God is able to give you all grace in full measure; so that ever having enough of all things, you may be full of every good work:

Praise be to God for what he has given, which words have no power to say.

Now I, Paul, myself make request to you by the quiet and gentle behaviour of Christ, I who am poor in spirit when with you, but who say what is in my mind to you without fear when I am away from you:

Yes, I make my request to you, so that when I am with you I may not have to make use of the authority which may be needed against some to whom we seem to be walking after the flesh.

For though we may be living in the flesh, we are not fighting after the way of the flesh

Give attention to the things which are before you. If any man seems to himself to be Christ's, let him keep in mind that we are as much Christ's as he is.

For though I might take pride in our authority (which the Lord gave for building you up, and not for your destruction), it will not be a cause of shame to me:

That I may not seem to have the desire of causing you fear by my letters.