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, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and brother Timothy, to the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

2 May God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed is the God and Father of Jesus Christ our Lord, the all-merciful Father, the God ever ready to console,

All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement,

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.

who encourages us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in whatever affliction, by means of the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged 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.

Because just as the sufferings of the Christ flow over into us, so also our encouraging overflows, through Christ.

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;

Now then, if we are afflicted, it is for the sake of your encouragement and deliverance, that are effective for enduring the same sufferings that we also are suffering

7 and our hope for you remains unshaken. We know that, as you are sharing our sufferings, you will also share our consolation.

(yes, our hope concerning you is steadfast); if we are encouraged, it also is for the sake of your encouragement and deliverance, since we know that you will share in the encouragement just as you do in the sufferings.

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.

And so, brothers, we do not want you to be in ignorance concerning the affliction that came upon us in Asia: we were under extreme pressure, beyond our strength, so that we despaired 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.

Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we not place confidence in ourselves, but in the God who raises the dead;

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 did deliver us from that deadly peril, and still delivers; in whom we trust that He will keep on delivering,

11 And then many lips will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.

you also adding your cooperation in prayer, on our behalf; that thanks may be given by many persons for the gift bestowed on us by means of many, on your behalf.

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.

Now this is our boast: the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world with openness and godly sincerity, not by fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and especially toward you.

13 We never write anything to you other than what you will acknowledge to the very end –

For we do not write you any other things than what you can read and understand; and I do hope that you will keep on understanding to the 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.

(as indeed some of you have acknowledged) that we are your boast, just as you are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

15 With this conviction in my mind, I planned to come to see you first, so that your pleasure might be doubled –

It was in this confidence that I was planning to come by you first,

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 by you to proceed into Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia (that you might benefit twice), and then to be sent by you on my way to Judea.

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’?

Now then, when I was deciding this, I was not acting frivolously, was I? Or the things I decide, do I decide according to the flesh, so that with me there would be both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

18 As God is true, the message that we brought you does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’!

As God is faithful, our word to you was not “Yes” and “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.’

because the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No”. In fact, with Him it has always been “Yes”,

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.

because all the promises of God in Him are “Yes”; indeed, in Him they are “Amen”, that there be glory to God through us.

21 God who brings us, with you, into close union with Christ, and who consecrated us,

Now He who establishes us together with you into Christ, and who 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.

who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.

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.

For my part, I call on God as witness, upon my soul, that it was to spare you that I have not yet returned 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 have control over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for it is by faith that you stand firm.)