(2 Corinthians 1:1) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:
(2 Corinthians 1:2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Corinthians 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions and God of all comfort,
(2 Corinthians 1:4) who encourages us in all our affliction, that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction, through the comfort by which we ourselves are encouraged by God.
(2 Corinthians 1:5) For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our comfort also abounds through Christ.
(2 Corinthians 1:6) Now if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, being effective in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are encouraged, it is for your comfort and salvation.
(2 Corinthians 1:7) And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the comfort.
(2 Corinthians 1:8) For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened exceedingly, beyond strength, so that we despaired even of life.
(2 Corinthians 1:9) Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,
(2 Corinthians 1:10) who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we hope that He will still deliver us,
(2 Corinthians 1:11) you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given through many persons on our behalf for the gracious gift granted to us by many.
(2 Corinthians 1:12) For our rejoicing is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.
(2 Corinthians 1:13) For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. And I hope you will understand, even to the end
(2 Corinthians 1:14) (as also you have understood us in part), that we are your rejoicing as you also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.
(2 Corinthians 1:15) And in this confidence I intended to come to you before now, that you might have a second benefit;
(2 Corinthians 1:16) to journey on through you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be sent by you on towards Judea.
(2 Corinthians 1:17) Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No?
(2 Corinthians 1:18) But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.
(2 Corinthians 1:19) For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you through us; through me, Silvanus, and Timothy; was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes.
(2 Corinthians 1:20) For as many promises as are of God, in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God through us.
(2 Corinthians 1:21) Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,
(2 Corinthians 1:22) who also has sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
(2 Corinthians 1:23) Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth.
(2 Corinthians 1:24) Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers of your joy; for by faith you stand.
(2 Corinthians 2:1) But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.
(2 Corinthians 2:2) For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
(2 Corinthians 2:3) And I wrote this very thing to you, that, when I came, I should not have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.
(2 Corinthians 2:4) For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, through many tears, not that you should be sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly for you.
(2 Corinthians 2:5) But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part; that I may not be overbearing on everyone.
(2 Corinthians 2:6) This punishment from the majority is sufficient for such a man,
(2 Corinthians 2:7) so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and encourage him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
(2 Corinthians 2:8) Therefore I encourage you to confirm your love to him.
(2 Corinthians 2:9) For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.
(2 Corinthians 2:10) Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one through you in the person of Christ,
(2 Corinthians 2:11) so that Satan should not take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his purposes.
(2 Corinthians 2:12) Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord,
(2 Corinthians 2:13) I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.
(2 Corinthians 2:14) Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us manifests the aroma of His knowledge in every place.
(2 Corinthians 2:15) For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
(2 Corinthians 2:16) To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
(2 Corinthians 2:17) For we are not, as so many, peddling the Word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ, in the sight of God.
(2 Corinthians 3:1) Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, letters of commendation to you or commendation from you?
(2 Corinthians 3:2) You are our letter written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
(2 Corinthians 3:3) Clearly you are a letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but in tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
(2 Corinthians 3:4) And we have such confidence through Christ toward God.
(2 Corinthians 3:5) Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being out of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
(2 Corinthians 3:6) who also made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.
(2 Corinthians 3:7) But if the ministry of death, written and engraved in stone, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which was passing away,
(2 Corinthians 3:8) how much will not the ministry of the Spirit be more glorious.
(2 Corinthians 3:9) For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, even more the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory.
(2 Corinthians 3:10) For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the surpassing glory.
(2 Corinthians 3:11) For if what is passing away was glorious, much more what remains is glorious.
(2 Corinthians 3:12) Therefore, since we have such hope, we use much boldness;
(2 Corinthians 3:13) not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
(2 Corinthians 3:14) But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Covenant, which is being done away in Christ.
(2 Corinthians 3:15) But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
(2 Corinthians 3:16) Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
(2 Corinthians 3:17) Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(2 Corinthians 3:18) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 4:1) Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not faint.
(2 Corinthians 4:2) But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience before God.
(2 Corinthians 4:3) But also if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
(2 Corinthians 4:4) whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine on them.
(2 Corinthians 4:5) For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
(2 Corinthians 4:6) For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(2 Corinthians 4:7) But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not from us.
(2 Corinthians 4:8) We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
(2 Corinthians 4:9) persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
(2 Corinthians 4:10) always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
(2 Corinthians 4:11) For we who live are always delivered to death because of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
(2 Corinthians 4:12) So then death is working in us, but life in you.
(2 Corinthians 4:13) And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believe and therefore I speak, we also believe and therefore speak,
(2 Corinthians 4:14) knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up through Jesus, and will present us with you.
(2 Corinthians 4:15) For all things are for you, that the grace may excel through the greater numbers, and cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
(2 Corinthians 4:16) Therefore we do not faint. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
(2 Corinthians 4:17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is achieving for us a surpassing and eternal weight of glory,
(2 Corinthians 4:18) while we do not contemplate the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 5:1) For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in Heaven.
(2 Corinthians 5:2) For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our dwelling place out of Heaven,
(2 Corinthians 5:3) if indeed, being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
(2 Corinthians 5:4) For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
(2 Corinthians 5:5) Now He who has fashioned us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the earnest of the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 5:6) So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 5:7) For we walk by faith, not by sight.
(2 Corinthians 5:8) We are confident, yes, preferring rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 5:9) Therefore we strive, whether at home or away, to be well pleasing to Him.
(2 Corinthians 5:10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
(2 Corinthians 5:11) Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; and we are well known to God, and I also hope are well known in your consciences.
(2 Corinthians 5:12) For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you occasion to rejoice on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.
(2 Corinthians 5:13) For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
(2 Corinthians 5:14) For the love of Christ holds us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
(2 Corinthians 5:15) and He died for all, that those who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again.
(2 Corinthians 5:16) Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
(2 Corinthians 5:17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
(2 Corinthians 5:18) Now all things are from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
(2 Corinthians 5:19) that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the Word of reconciliation.
(2 Corinthians 5:20) Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As God is exhorting through us, we beseech you on Christ’s behalf, Be reconciled to God.
(2 Corinthians 5:21) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
(2 Corinthians 6:1) We then, as workers together with Him, also beseech you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
(2 Corinthians 6:2) For He says: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
(2 Corinthians 6:3) Giving no cause of stumbling in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.
(2 Corinthians 6:4) But in all things commending ourselves as ministers of God; in much endurance, in afflictions, in needs, in distresses,
(2 Corinthians 6:5) in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings,
(2 Corinthians 6:6) in purity, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,
(2 Corinthians 6:7) in the Word of Truth, in the power of God, through the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
(2 Corinthians 6:8) through honor and dishonor, through evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;
(2 Corinthians 6:9) as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not put to death;
(2 Corinthians 6:10) as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
(2 Corinthians 6:11) O Corinthians, our mouth is open to you, our heart is wide open.
(2 Corinthians 6:12) You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.
(2 Corinthians 6:13) Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be wide open.
(2 Corinthians 6:14) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
(2 Corinthians 6:15) And what agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
(2 Corinthians 6:16) And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
(2 Corinthians 6:17) Therefore, Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.
(2 Corinthians 6:18) And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
(2 Corinthians 7:1) Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilements of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
(2 Corinthians 7:2) Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have defrauded no one.
(2 Corinthians 7:3) I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.
(2 Corinthians 7:4) Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my rejoicing on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I overflow with joy in all our affliction.
(2 Corinthians 7:5) For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were fightings, inside were fears.
(2 Corinthians 7:6) Nevertheless God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us by the coming of Titus,
(2 Corinthians 7:7) and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was encouraged in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
(2 Corinthians 7:8) For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the letter made you sorry, even if for a while.
(2 Corinthians 7:9) Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry unto repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.
(2 Corinthians 7:10) For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
(2 Corinthians 7:11) For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vengeance! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
(2 Corinthians 7:12) Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.
(2 Corinthians 7:13) Therefore we have been encouraged in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
(2 Corinthians 7:14) For if in anything I have exulted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our exulting to Titus was found true.
(2 Corinthians 7:15) And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him.
(2 Corinthians 7:16) Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.
(2 Corinthians 8:1) Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:
(2 Corinthians 8:2) that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
(2 Corinthians 8:3) For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,
(2 Corinthians 8:4) imploring us with much entreating that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
(2 Corinthians 8:5) And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and also to us through the will of God.
(2 Corinthians 8:6) So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace among you as well.
(2 Corinthians 8:7) But as you abound in everything (in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us), see that you abound in this grace also.
(2 Corinthians 8:8) I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love through the diligence of others.
(2 Corinthians 8:9) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
(2 Corinthians 8:10) And in this I give advice: It is profitable for you not only to be doing what you began and were intending to do a year ago;
(2 Corinthians 8:11) but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was an eagerness to purpose it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have.
(2 Corinthians 8:12) For if something is presented eagerly, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
(2 Corinthians 8:13) For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened;
(2 Corinthians 8:14) but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack; that there may be equality.
(2 Corinthians 8:15) As it is written, He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.
(2 Corinthians 8:16) But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.
(2 Corinthians 8:17) For indeed he accepted the exhortation, and being more earnest, he went to you of his own accord.
(2 Corinthians 8:18) And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches,
(2 Corinthians 8:19) and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself, and your ready mind,
(2 Corinthians 8:20) avoiding this: that anyone should find fault with us in this abundance which is administered by us;
(2 Corinthians 8:21) providing honorable things, not only before the Lord, but also before men.
(2 Corinthians 8:22) And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the great confidence which we have in you.
(2 Corinthians 8:23) If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for you; or our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.
(2 Corinthians 8:24) Therefore show to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love and of our exulting on your behalf.
(2 Corinthians 9:1) Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you;
(2 Corinthians 9:2) for I know your willingness, about which I exult of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority.
(2 Corinthians 9:3) Yet I have sent the brethren, that our exulting of you should not be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready;
(2 Corinthians 9:4) lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed in this confident exulting.
(2 Corinthians 9:5) Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your bounty beforehand, which you had previously announced, that it may be ready as a blessing and not as greed.
(2 Corinthians 9:6) But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
(2 Corinthians 9:7) So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not from sorrow or out of duty; for God loves a cheerful giver.
(2 Corinthians 9:8) And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound for every good work.
(2 Corinthians 9:9) As it is written: He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.
(2 Corinthians 9:10) Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for eating, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
(2 Corinthians 9:11) while you are enriched in everything unto all sincerity, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
(2 Corinthians 9:12) For the ministry of this service not only supplies what is lacking to the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,
(2 Corinthians 9:13) through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for your professed obedience to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,
(2 Corinthians 9:14) and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.
(2 Corinthians 9:15) Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.
(2 Corinthians 10:1) Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and fairness of Christ; who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.
(2 Corinthians 10:2) But I beseech you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I figure on being bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
(2 Corinthians 10:3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
(2 Corinthians 10:4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for pulling down strongholds,
(2 Corinthians 10:5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ,
(2 Corinthians 10:6) and being ready to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
(2 Corinthians 10:7) Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s.
(2 Corinthians 10:8) For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed;
(2 Corinthians 10:9) so that I may not seem to frighten you by letters.
(2 Corinthians 10:10) For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.
(2 Corinthians 10:11) Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word through letters when we are absent, such we are also in deed when we are present.
(2 Corinthians 10:12) For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
(2 Corinthians 10:13) We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God distributed to us; a measure which reaches even unto you.
(2 Corinthians 10:14) For we are not overextending ourselves (as though not extending to you), for we also came as far as to you with the gospel of Christ;
(2 Corinthians 10:15) not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is growing, according to our rule, being greatly enlarged to overflowing,
(2 Corinthians 10:16) in order to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another’s measure of accomplishment.
(2 Corinthians 10:17) But he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 10:18) For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
(2 Corinthians 11:1) Oh, that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, and indeed bear with me.
(2 Corinthians 11:2) For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
(2 Corinthians 11:3) But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
(2 Corinthians 11:4) For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted; you may well put up with it.
(2 Corinthians 11:5) For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles.
(2 Corinthians 11:6) Even though I am unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge; but have been fully exposed to you in all things.
(2 Corinthians 11:7) Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you freely?
(2 Corinthians 11:8) I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you.
(2 Corinthians 11:9) And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself.
(2 Corinthians 11:10) As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this exulting in the regions of Achaia.
(2 Corinthians 11:11) Why? Because I do not love you? God knows.
(2 Corinthians 11:12) But what I do, I will also do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast.
(2 Corinthians 11:13) For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
(2 Corinthians 11:14) And no wonder; for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
(2 Corinthians 11:15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
(2 Corinthians 11:16) I say again, let no one think me to be foolish. Otherwise if not, at least receive me as being foolish, that I also may boast a little.
(2 Corinthians 11:17) What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.
(2 Corinthians 11:18) Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.
(2 Corinthians 11:19) For you put up with fools gladly, since you are wise.
(2 Corinthians 11:20) For you endure if someone brings you into bondage, if someone devours you, if someone takes from you, if someone exalts himself, if someone strikes you on the face.
(2 Corinthians 11:21) I speak in dishonor, as though we had been weak. But in whatever anyone is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also.
(2 Corinthians 11:22) Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
(2 Corinthians 11:23) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I excel them: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
(2 Corinthians 11:24) From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
(2 Corinthians 11:25) Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
(2 Corinthians 11:26) in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
(2 Corinthians 11:27) in hardship and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness;
(2 Corinthians 11:28) besides the other things, that come upon me daily: the care of each of the churches.
(2 Corinthians 11:29) Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
(2 Corinthians 11:30) If I must boast, I will boast of the things of my infirmity.
(2 Corinthians 11:31) The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
(2 Corinthians 11:32) In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, intending to arrest me;
(2 Corinthians 11:33) but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands.
(2 Corinthians 12:1) It is really not profitable for me to boast, for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 12:2) I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows); such a one was caught up to the third Heaven.
(2 Corinthians 12:3) And I know such a man (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows);
(2 Corinthians 12:4) how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
(2 Corinthians 12:5) Of such a one I will exult; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.
(2 Corinthians 12:6) For though I might desire to boast, I will not be foolish, for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, that no one should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
(2 Corinthians 12:7) And so that I should not be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan that he might buffet me, that I should not be made haughty.
(2 Corinthians 12:8) Concerning this thing I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
(2 Corinthians 12:9) And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather exult in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell upon me.
(2 Corinthians 12:10) Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:11) I have become foolish in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.
(2 Corinthians 12:12) Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
(2 Corinthians 12:13) For what is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.
(2 Corinthians 12:14) Now the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
(2 Corinthians 12:15) And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.
(2 Corinthians 12:16) But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you by cunning.
(2 Corinthians 12:17) Did I take advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you?
(2 Corinthians 12:18) I urged Titus, and sent our brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps?
(2 Corinthians 12:19) Again, do you think that we defend ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, beloved, for your edification.
(2 Corinthians 12:20) For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, evil speakings, whisperings, conceits, commotions;
(2 Corinthians 12:21) that it not be, when I come again, that my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, sexual perversities, and licentiousness which they have practiced.
(2 Corinthians 13:1) This will be the third time I am coming to you. By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.
(2 Corinthians 13:2) I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare;
(2 Corinthians 13:3) since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.
(2 Corinthians 13:4) For though He was crucified out of weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
(2 Corinthians 13:5) Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know, yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you; unless indeed you are ones failing the test?
(2 Corinthians 13:6) But I hope that you will know that we are not ones failing the test.
(2 Corinthians 13:7) Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear acceptable, but that you should do what is honorable, even though we may seem to be unacceptable.
(2 Corinthians 13:8) For we have no power against the truth, but on behalf of truth.
(2 Corinthians 13:9) For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.
(2 Corinthians 13:10) Therefore I write these things being absent, that when present I should not use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for building up and not for pulling down.
(2 Corinthians 13:11) Finally, brethren, rejoice. Become complete. Be encouraged, be of one mind, be at peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
(2 Corinthians 13:12) Greet one another with a holy kiss.
(2 Corinthians 13:13) All the saints greet you.
(2 Corinthians 13:14) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
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