2 Corinthians 1
1 To the church of God in Corinth, and to all Christ’s people throughout Greece, from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and from Timothy, who is also a follower.
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God--and our brother Timothy: To the Church of God in Corinth, with all God's people throughout Greece.
2 May God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.
May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed is the God and Father of Jesus Christ our Lord, the all-merciful Father, the God ever ready to console,
Heartfelt thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ--the Father who is full of compassion and the God who gives all comfort.
4 who consoles us in all our troubles, so that we may be able to console those who are in any trouble with the consolation that we ourselves receive from him.
He comforts us in our every affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction by means of the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 It is true that we have our full share of the sufferings of the Christ, but through the Christ we have also our full share of consolation.
For just as we have more than our share of suffering for the Christ, so also through the Christ we have more than our share of comfort.
6 If we meet with trouble, it is for the sake of your consolation and salvation; and, if we find consolation, it is for the sake of the consolation that you will experience when you are called to endure the sufferings that we ourselves are enduring;
But if, on the one hand, we are enduring affliction, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if, on the other hand, we are receiving comfort, it is for your comfort which is produced within you through your patient fortitude under the same sufferings as those which we also are enduring.
7 and our hope for you remains unshaken. We know that, as you are sharing our sufferings, you will also share our consolation.
And our hope for you is stedfast; for we know that as you are partners with us in the sufferings, so you are also partners in the comfort.
8 We want you, friends, to know that, in the troubles which befell us in Roman Asia, we were burdened altogether beyond our strength, so much so that we even despaired of life.
For as for our troubles which came upon us in the province of Asia, we would have you know, brethren, that we were exceedingly weighed down, and felt overwhelmed, so that we renounced all hope even of life.
9 Indeed, we had the presentiment that we must die, so that we might rely, not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.
Nay, we had, as we still have, the sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life.
10 And from so imminent a death God delivered us, and will deliver us again; for in him we have placed our hopes of future deliverance, while you, also, help us by your prayers.
He it is who rescued us from so imminent a death, and will do so again; and we have a firm hope in Him that He will also rescue us in all the future,
11 And then many lips will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.
while you on your part lend us your aid in entreaty for us, so that from many lips thanksgivings may rise on our behalf for the boon granted to us at the intercession of many.
12 Indeed, our main ground for satisfaction is this – Our conscience tells us that our conduct in the world, and still more in our relations with you, was marked by a purity of motive and a sincerity that were inspired by God, and was based, not on worldly policy, but on the help of God.
For the reason for our boasting is this--the testimony of our own conscience that it was in holiness and with pure motives before God, and in reliance not on worldly wisdom but on the gracious help of God, that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and above all in our relations with you.
13 We never write anything to you other than what you will acknowledge to the very end –
For we are writing to you nothing different from what we have written before, or from what indeed you already recognize as truth and will, I trust, recognize as such to the very end;
14 And, indeed, you have already partly acknowledged it about us – that you have a right to be proud of us, as we will be proud of you, on the day of our Lord Jesus.
just as some few of you have recognized us as your reason for boasting, even as you will be ours, on the day of Jesus our Lord.
15 With this conviction in my mind, I planned to come to see you first, so that your pleasure might be doubled –
It was because I entertained this confidence that I intended to visit you before going elsewhere--so that you might receive a twofold proof of God's favour--
16 To visit you both on my way to Macedonia, and to come to you again on my return from Macedonia, and then to get you to send me on my way into Judea.
and to pass by way of Corinth into Macedonia. Then my plan was to return from Macedonia to you, and be helped forward by you to Judaea.
17 As this was my plan, where, pray, did I show any fickleness of purpose? Or do you think that my plans are formed on mere impulse, so that in the same breath I say ‘Yes’ and ‘No’?
Did I display any vacillation or caprice in this? Or the purposes which I form--do I form them on worldly principles, now crying "Yes, yes," and now "No, no"?
18 As God is true, the message that we brought you does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’!
As certainly as God is faithful, our language to you is not now "Yes" and now "No."
19 The Son of God, Christ Jesus, whom we – Silas, Timothy, and I – proclaimed among you, never wavered between ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ With him it has always been ‘Yes.’
For Jesus Christ the Son of God--He who was proclaimed among you by us, that is by Silas and Timothy and myself--did not show Himself a waverer between "Yes" and "No." But it was and always is "Yes" with Him.
20 For, many as were the promises of God, in Christ is the ‘Yes’ that fulfills them. Therefore, through Christ again, let the ‘Amen’ rise, through us, to the glory of God.
For all the promises of God, whatever their number, have their confirmation in Him; and for this reason through Him also our "Amen" acknowledges their truth and promotes the glory of God through our faith.
21 God who brings us, with you, into close union with Christ, and who consecrated us,
But He who is making us as well as you stedfast through union with the Anointed One, and has anointed us, is God,
22 also set his seal on us, and gave us his Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of future blessings.
and He has also set His seal upon us, and has put His Spirit into our hearts as a pledge and foretaste of future blessing.
23 But, as my life will answer for it, I call God to witness that it was to spare you that I deferred my visit to Corinth.
But as for me, as my soul shall answer for it, I appeal to God as my witness, that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth.
24 I do not mean that we are to dictate to you with regard to your faith; on the contrary, we work with you for your true happiness; indeed, it is through your faith that you are standing firm.
Not that we want to lord it over you in respect of your faith--we do, however, desire to help your joy--for in the matter of your faith you are standing firm.
