Chapter 1
2CO 1:1 Paul,
an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and
Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is
at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout
Achaia:
2CO 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2CO 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and
God of all comfort;
2CO 1:4 who comforts us in all our
affliction so that we may be able to comfort those
who are in any affliction with the comfort with
which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2CO 1:5 For just as the sufferings of
Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort
is abundant through Christ.
2CO 1:6 But if we are afflicted, it is for
your comfort and salvation; or if we are
comforted, it is for your comfort, which is
effective in the patient enduring of the same
sufferings which we also suffer;
2CO 1:7 and our hope for you is firmly
grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our
sufferings, so also you are sharers of our
comfort.
2CO 1:8 For we do not want you to be
unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to
us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively,
beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of
life;
2CO 1:9 indeed, we had the sentence of
death within ourselves in order that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the
dead;
2CO 1:10 who delivered us from so great a
peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we
have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,
2CO 1:11 you also joining in helping us
through your prayers, that thanks may be given by
many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed
upon us through the prayers of many.
2CO 1:12 For our proud confidence is this,
the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness
and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in
the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in
the world, and especially toward you.
2CO 1:13 For we write nothing else to you
than what you read and understand, and I hope you
will understand until the end;
2CO 1:14 just as you also partially did
understand us, that we are your reason to be proud
as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord
Jesus.
2CO 1:15 And in this confidence I intended
at first to come to you, that you might twice
receive a blessing;
2CO 1:16 that is, to pass your way into
Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to
you, and by you to be helped on my journey to
Judea.
2CO 1:17 Therefore, I was not vacillating
when I intended to do this, was I? Or that which I
purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that
with me there should be yes, yes and no, no at the
same time?
2CO 1:18 But as God is faithful, our word
to you is not yes and no.
2CO 1:19 For the Son of God, Christ Jesus,
who was preached among you by us - - by me and
Silvanus and Timothy - - was not yes and no, but
is yes in Him.
2CO 1:20 For as many as may be the promises
of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him
is our Amen to the glory of God through us.
2CO 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you
in Christ and anointed us is God,
2CO 1:22 who also sealed us and gave us the
Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
2CO 1:23 But I call God as witness to my
soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth.
2CO 1:24 Not that we lord it over your
faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for
in your faith you are standing firm.
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2CO 2:1 But I
determined this for my own sake, that I would not
come to you in sorrow again.
2CO 2:2 For if I cause you sorrow, who then
makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful?
2CO 2:3 And this is the very thing I wrote
you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from
those who ought to make me rejoice; having
confidence in you all, that my joy would be the
joy of you all.
2CO 2:4 For out of much affliction and
anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears;
not that you should be made sorrowful, but that
you might know the love which I have especially
for you.
2CO 2:5 But if any has caused sorrow, he
has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree -
- in order not to say too much - - to all of you.
2CO 2:6 Sufficient for such a one is this
punishment which was inflicted by the majority,
2CO 2:7 so that on the contrary you should
rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such
a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
2CO 2:8 Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm
your love for him.
2CO 2:9 For to this end also I wrote that I
might put you to the test, whether you are
obedient in all things.
2CO 2:10 But whom you forgive anything, I
forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if
I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes
in the presence of Christ,
2CO 2:11 in order that no advantage be
taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of
his schemes.
2CO 2:12 Now when I came to Troas for the
gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me
in the Lord,
2CO 2:13 I had no rest for my spirit, not
finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of
them, I went on to Macedonia.
2CO 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always
leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests
through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him
in every place.
2CO 2:15 For we are a fragrance of Christ
to God among those who are being saved and among
those who are perishing;
2CO 2:16 to the one an aroma from death to
death, to the other an aroma from life to life.
And who is adequate for these things?
2CO 2:17 For we are not like many, peddling
the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as
from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
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2CO 3:1 Are we
beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we
need, as some, letters of commendation to you or
from you?
2CO 3:2 You are our letter, written in our
hearts, known and read by all men;
2CO 3:3 being manifested that you are a
letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not
with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God,
not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human
hearts.
2CO 3:4 And such confidence we have through
Christ toward God.
2CO 3:5 Not that we are adequate in
ourselves to consider anything as coming from
ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
2CO 3:6 who also made us adequate as
servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but
of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the
Spirit gives life.
2CO 3:7 But if the ministry of death, in
letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so
that the sons of Israel could not look intently at
the face of Moses because of the glory of his
face, fading as it was,
2CO 3:8 how shall the ministry of the
Spirit fail to be even more with glory?
2CO 3:9 For if the ministry of condemnation
has glory, much more does the ministry of
righteousness abound in glory.
2CO 3:10 For indeed what had glory, in this
case has no glory on account of the glory that
surpasses it.
2CO 3:11 For if that which fades away was
with glory, much more that which remains is in
glory.
2CO 3:12 Having therefore such a hope, we
use great boldness in our speech,
2CO 3:13 and are not as Moses, who used to
put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel
might not look intently at the end of what was
fading away.
2CO 3:14 But their minds were hardened; for
until this very day at the reading of the old
covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because
it is removed in Christ.
2CO 3:15 But to this day whenever Moses is
read, a veil lies over their heart;
2CO 3:16 but whenever a man turns to the
Lord, the veil is taken away.
2CO 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2CO 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 from the Lord, the Spirit.
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2CO 4:1
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we
received mercy, we do not lose heart,
2CO 4:2 but we have renounced the things
hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness
or adulterating the word of God, but by the
manifestation of truth commending ourselves to
every man's conscience in the sight of God.
2CO 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing,
2CO 4:4 in whose case the god of this world
has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that
they might not see the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2CO 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but
Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your
bond-servants for Jesus' sake.
2CO 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall
shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2CO 4:7 But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of
the power may be of God and not from ourselves;
2CO 4:8 we are afflicted in every way, but
not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
2CO 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed;
2CO 4:10 always carrying about in the body
the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also
may be manifested in our body.
2CO 4:11 For we who live are constantly
being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in
our mortal flesh.
2CO 4:12 So death works in us, but life in
you.
2CO 4:13 But having the same spirit of
faith, according to what is written, "I believed,
therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore
also we speak;
2CO 4:14 knowing that He who raised the
Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will
present us with you.
2CO 4:15 For all things are for your sakes,
that the grace which is spreading to more and more
people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to
the glory of God.
2CO 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart,
but though our outer man is decaying, yet our
inner man is being renewed day by day.
2CO 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is
producing for us an eternal weight of glory far
beyond all comparison,
2CO 4:18 while we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen; for the things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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2CO 5:1 For we
know that if the earthly tent which is our house
is torn down, we have a building from God, a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2CO 5:2 For indeed in this house we groan,
longing to be clothed with our dwelling from
heaven;
2CO 5:3 inasmuch as we, having put it on,
shall not be found naked.
2CO 5:4 For indeed while we are in this
tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not
want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order
that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2CO 5:5 Now He who prepared us for this
very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as
a pledge.
2CO 5:6 Therefore, being always of good
courage, and knowing that while we are at home in
the body we are absent from the Lord - -
2CO 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight
- -
2CO 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and
prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be
at home with the Lord.
2CO 5:9 Therefore also we have as our
ambition, whether at home or absent, to be
pleasing to Him.
2CO 5:10 For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be
recompensed for his deeds in the body, according
to what he has done, whether good or bad.
2CO 5:11 Therefore knowing the fear of the
Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to
God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in
your consciences.
2CO 5:12 We are not again commending
ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to
be proud of us, that you may have an answer for
those who take pride in appearance, and not in
heart.
2CO 5:13 For if we are beside ourselves, it
is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for
you.
2CO 5:14 For the love of Christ controls
us, having concluded this, that one died for all,
therefore all died;
2CO 5:15 and He died for all, that they who
live should no longer live for themselves, but for
Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
2CO 5:16 Therefore from now on we recognize
no man according to the flesh; even though we have
known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we
know Him thus no longer.
2CO 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ,
he is a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come.
2CO 5:18 Now all these things are from God,
who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
2CO 5:19 namely, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not counting
their trespasses against them, and He has
committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2CO 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God were entreating through us;
we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to
God.
2CO 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be
sin on our behalf, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.
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2CO 6:1 And
working together with Him, we also urge you not to
receive the grace of God in vain - -
2CO 6:2 for He says, "At the acceptable
time I listened to you, And on the day of
salvation I helped you"; behold, now is "the
acceptable time," behold, now is "the day of
salvation" - -
2CO 6:3 giving no cause for offense in
anything, in order that the ministry be not
discredited,
2CO 6:4 but in everything commending
ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance,
in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
2CO 6:5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger,
2CO 6:6 in purity, in knowledge, in
patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in
genuine love,
2CO 6:7 in the word of truth, in the power
of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the
right hand and the left,
2CO 6:8 by glory and dishonor, by evil
report and good report; regarded as deceivers and
yet true;
2CO 6:9 as unknown yet well-known, as dying
yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to
death,
2CO 6:10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,
as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing
yet possessing all things.
2CO 6:11 Our mouth has spoken freely to
you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide.
2CO 6:12 You are not restrained by us, but
you are restrained in your own affections.
2CO 6:13 Now in a like exchange - - I speak
as to children - - open wide to us also.
2CO 6:14 Do not be bound together with
unbelievers; for what partnership have
righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship
has light with darkness?
2CO 6:15 Or what harmony has Christ with
Belial, or what has a believer in common with an
unbeliever?
2CO 6:16 Or what agreement has the temple
of God with idols? For we are the temple of the
living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in
them and walk among them; And I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
2CO 6:17 "Therefore, come out from their
midst and be separate," says the Lord."And do not
touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.
2CO 6:18 "And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says
the Lord Almighty.
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2CO 7:1
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us
cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2CO 7:2 Make room for us in your hearts; we
wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took
advantage of no one.
2CO 7:3 I do not speak to condemn you; for
I have said before that you are in our hearts to
die together and to live together.
2CO 7:4 Great is my confidence in you,
great is my boasting on your behalf; I am filled
with comfort. I am overflowing with joy in all our
affliction.
2CO 7:5 For even when we came into
Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were
afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears
within.
2CO 7:6 But God, who comforts the
depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
2CO 7:7 and not only by his coming, but
also by the comfort with which he was comforted in
you, as he reported to us your longing, your
mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced
even more.
2CO 7:8 For though I caused you sorrow by
my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret
it - - for I see that that letter caused you
sorrow, though only for a while - -
2CO 7:9 I now rejoice, not that you were
made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful
to the point of repentance; for you were made
sorrowful according to the will of God, in order
that you might not suffer loss in anything through
us.
2CO 7:10 For the sorrow that is according
to the will of God produces a repentance without
regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of
the world produces death.
2CO 7:11 For behold what earnestness this
very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in
you: what vindication of yourselves, what
indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal,
what avenging of wrong! In everything you
demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the
matter.
2CO 7:12 So although I wrote to you it was
not for the sake of the offender, nor for the sake
of the one offended, but that your earnestness on
our behalf might be made known to you in the sight
of God.
2CO 7:13 For this reason we have been
comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced
even much more for the joy of Titus, because his
spirit has been refreshed by you all.
2CO 7:14 For if in anything I have boasted
to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as
we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our
boasting before Titus proved to be the truth.
2CO 7:15 And his affection abounds all the
more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of
you all, how you received him with fear and
trembling.
2CO 7:16 I rejoice that in everything I
have confidence in you.
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2CO 8:1 Now,
brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace
of God which has been given in the churches of
Macedonia,
2CO 8:2 that in a great ordeal of
affliction their abundance of joy and their deep
poverty overflowed in the wealth of their
liberality.
2CO 8:3 For I testify that according to
their ability, and beyond their ability they gave
of their own accord,
2CO 8:4 begging us with much entreaty for
the favor of participation in the support of the
saints,
2CO 8:5 and this, not as we had expected,
but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to
us by the will of God.
2CO 8:6 Consequently we urged Titus that as
he had previously made a beginning, so he would
also complete in you this gracious work as well.
2CO 8:7 But just as you abound in
everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge
and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired
in you, see that you abound in this gracious work
also.
2CO 8:8 I am not speaking this as a
command, but as proving through the earnestness of
others the sincerity of your love also.
2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for
your sake He became poor, that you through His
poverty might become rich.
2CO 8:10 And I give my opinion in this
matter, for this is to your advantage, who were
the first to begin a year ago not only to do this,
but also to desire to do it.
2CO 8:11 But now finish doing it also; that
just as there was the readiness to desire it, so
there may be also the completion of it by your
ability.
2CO 8:12 For if the readiness is present,
it is acceptable according to what a man has, not
according to what he does not have.
2CO 8:13 For this is not for the ease of
others and for your affliction, but by way of
equality - -
2CO 8:14 at this present time your
abundance being a supply for their want, that
their abundance also may become a supply for your
want, that there may be equality;
2CO 8:15 as it is written, "He who gathered
much did not have too much, and he who gathered
little had no lack."
2CO 8:16 But thanks be to God, who puts the
same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of
Titus.
2CO 8:17 For he not only accepted our
appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has
gone to you of his own accord.
2CO 8:18 And we have sent along with him
the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel
has spread through all the churches;
2CO 8:19 and not only this, but he has also
been appointed by the churches to travel with us
in this gracious work, which is being administered
by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to
show our readiness,
2CO 8:20 taking precaution that no one
should discredit us in our administration of this
generous gift;
2CO 8:21 for we have regard for what is
honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but
also in the sight of men.
2CO 8:22 And we have sent with them our
brother, whom we have often tested and found
diligent in many things, but now even more
diligent, because of his great confidence in you.
2CO 8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and
fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they
are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ.
2CO 8:24 Therefore openly before the
churches show them the proof of your love and of
our reason for boasting about you.
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2CO 9:1 For it
is superfluous for me to write to you about this
ministry to the saints;
2CO 9:2 for I know your readiness, of which
I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely, that
Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your
zeal has stirred up most of them.
2CO 9:3 But I have sent the brethren, that
our boasting about you may not be made empty in
this case, that, as I was saying, you may be
prepared;
2CO 9:4 lest if any Macedonians come with
me and find you unprepared, we (not to speak of
you) should be put to shame by this confidence.
2CO 9:5 So I thought it necessary to urge
the brethren that they would go on ahead to you
and arrange beforehand your previously promised
bountiful gift, that the same might be ready as a
bountiful gift, and not affected by covetousness.
2CO 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows
sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who
sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
2CO 9:7 Let each one do just as he has
purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under
compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.
2CO 9:8 And God is able to make all grace
abound to you, that always having all sufficiency
in everything, you may have an abundance for every
good deed;
2CO 9:9 as it is written, "He scattered
abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness
abides forever."
2CO 9:10 Now He who supplies seed to the
sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply
your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of
your righteousness;
2CO 9:11 you will be enriched in everything
for all liberality, which through us is producing
thanksgiving to God.
2CO 9:12 For the ministry of this service
is not only fully supplying the needs of the
saints, but is also overflowing through many
thanksgivings to God.
2CO 9:13 Because of the proof given by this
ministry they will glorify God for your obedience
to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and
for the liberality of your contribution to them
and to all,
2CO 9:14 while they also, by prayer on your
behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing
grace of God in you.
2CO 9:15 Thanks be to God for His
indescribable gift!
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2CO 10:1 Now I,
Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ - - I who am meek when face
to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!
2CO 10:2 I ask that when I am present I may
not be bold with the confidence with which I
propose to be courageous against some, who regard
us as if we walked according to the flesh.
2CO 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh,
2CO 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are
not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the
destruction of fortresses.
2CO 10:5 We are destroying speculations and
every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge
of God, and we are taking every thought captive to
the obedience of Christ,
2CO 10:6 and we are ready to punish all
disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
2CO 10:7 You are looking at things as they
are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself
that he is Christ's, let him consider this again
within himself, that just as he is Christ's, so
also are we.
2CO 10:8 For even if I should boast
somewhat further about our authority, which the
Lord gave for building you up and not for
destroying you, I shall not be put to shame,
2CO 10:9 for I do not wish to seem as if I
would terrify you by my letters.
2CO 10:10 For they say, "His letters are
weighty and strong, but his personal presence is
unimpressive, and his speech contemptible."
2CO 10:11 Let such a person consider this,
that what we are in word by letters when absent,
such persons we are also in deed when present.
2CO 10:12 For we are not bold to class or
compare ourselves with some of those who commend
themselves; but when they measure themselves by
themselves, and compare themselves with
themselves, they are without understanding.
2CO 10:13 But we will not boast beyond our
measure, but within the measure of the sphere
which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach
even as far as you.
2CO 10:14 For we are not overextending
ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we
were the first to come even as far as you in the
gospel of Christ;
2CO 10:15 not boasting beyond our measure,
that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope
that as your faith grows, we shall be, within our
sphere, enlarged even more by you,
2CO 10:16 so as to preach the gospel even
to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in
what has been accomplished in the sphere of
another.
2CO 10:17 But he who boasts, let him boast
in the Lord.
2CO 10:18 For not he who commends himself
is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
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2CO 11:1 I wish
that you would bear with me in a little
foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me.
2CO 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a
godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one
husband, that to Christ I might present you as a
pure virgin.
2CO 11:3 But I am afraid, lest as the
serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds
should be led astray from the simplicity and
purity of devotion to Christ.
2CO 11:4 For if one comes and preaches
another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you
receive a different spirit which you have not
received, or a different gospel which you have not
accepted, you bear this beautifully.
2CO 11:5 For I consider myself not in the
least inferior to the most eminent apostles.
2CO 11:6 But even if I am unskilled in
speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in
every way we have made this evident to you in all
things.
2CO 11:7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling
myself that you might be exalted, because I
preached the gospel of God to you without charge?
2CO 11:8 I robbed other churches, taking
wages from them to serve you;
2CO 11:9 and when I was present with you
and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for
when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully
supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself
from being a burden to you, and will continue to
do so.
2CO 11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me,
this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the
regions of Achaia.
2CO 11:11 Why? Because I do not love you?
God knows I do!
2CO 11:12 But what I am doing, I will
continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity
from those who desire an opportunity to be
regarded just as we are in the matter about which
they are boasting.
2CO 11:13 For such men are false apostles,
deceitful workers, disguising themselves as
apostles of Christ.
2CO 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light.
2CO 11:15 Therefore it is not surprising if
his servants also disguise themselves as servants
of righteousness; whose end shall be according to
their deeds.
2CO 11:16 Again I say, let no one think me
foolish; but if you do, receive me even as
foolish, that I also may boast a little.
2CO 11:17 That which I am speaking, I am
not speaking as the Lord would, but as in
foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.
2CO 11:18 Since many boast according to the
flesh, I will boast also.
2CO 11:19 For you, being so wise, bear with
the foolish gladly.
2CO 11:20 For you bear with anyone if he
enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes
advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits
you in the face.
2CO 11:21 To my shame I must say that we
have been weak by comparison. But in whatever
respect anyone else is bold (I speak in
foolishness), I am just as bold myself.
2CO 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are
they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of
Abraham? So am I.
2CO 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I
speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors,
in far more imprisonments, beaten times without
number, often in danger of death.
2CO 11:24 Five times I received from the
Jews thirty-nine lashes.
2CO 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 spent in the
deep.
2CO 11:26 I have been on frequent journeys,
in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,
dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the
Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the
wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among
false brethren;
2CO 11:27 I have been in labor and
hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger
and thirst, often without food, in cold and
exposure.
2CO 11:28 Apart from such external things,
there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for
all the churches.
2CO 11:29 Who is weak without my being
weak? Who is led into sin without my intense
concern?
2CO 11:30 If I have to boast, I will boast
of what pertains to my weakness.
2CO 11:31 The God and Father of the Lord
Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am
not lying.
2CO 11:32 In Damascus the ethnarch under
Aretas the king was guarding the city of the
Damascenes in order to seize me,
2CO 11:33 and I was let down in a basket
through a window in the wall, and so escaped his
hands.
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2CO 12:1
Boasting is necessary, though it is not
profitable; but I will go on to visions and
revelations of the Lord.
2CO 12:2 I know a man in Christ who
fourteen years ago - - whether in the body I do
not know, or out of the body I do not know, God
knows - - such a man was caught up to the third
heaven.
2CO 12:3 And I know how such a man - -
whether in the body or apart from the body I do
not know, God knows - -
2CO 12:4 was caught up into Paradise, and
heard inexpressible words, which a man is not
permitted to speak.
2CO 12:5 On behalf of such a man will I
boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast,
except in regard to my weaknesses.
2CO 12:6 For if I do wish to boast I shall
not be foolish, for I shall be speaking the truth;
but I refrain from this, so that no one may credit
me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.
2CO 12:7 And because of the surpassing
greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to
keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet
me - - to keep me from exalting myself!
2CO 12:8 Concerning this I entreated the
Lord three times that it might depart from me.
2CO 12:9 And He has said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for
you, for power is perfected in weakness."
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about
my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell
in me.
2CO 12:10 Therefore I am well content with
weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with
persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's
sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2CO 12:11 I have become foolish; you
yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have
been commended by you, for in no respect was I
inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though
I am a nobody.
2CO 12:12 The signs of a true apostle were
performed among you with all perseverance, by
signs and wonders and miracles.
2CO 12:13 For in what respect were you
treated as inferior to the rest of the churches,
except that I myself did not become a burden to
you? Forgive me this wrong!
2CO 12:14 Here for this third time I am
ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden
to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you;
for children are not responsible to save up for
their parents, but parents for their children.
2CO 12:15 And I will most gladly spend and
be expended for your souls. If I love you the
more, am I to be loved the less?
2CO 12:16 But be that as it may, I did not
burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow
that I am, I took you in by deceit.
2CO 12:17 Certainly I have not taken
advantage of you through any of those whom I have
sent to you, have I?
2CO 12:18 I urged Titus to go, and sent the
brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage
of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in
the same spirit and walk in the same steps?
2CO 12:19 All this time you have been
thinking that we are defending ourselves to you.
Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have
been speaking in Christ; and all for your
upbuilding, beloved.
2CO 12:20 For I am afraid that perhaps when
I come I may find you to be not what I wish and
may be found by you to be not what you wish; that
perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry
tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance,
disturbances;
2CO 12:21 I am afraid that when I come
again my God may humiliate me before you, and I
may mourn over many of those who have sinned in
the past and not repented of the impurity,
immorality and sensuality which they have
practiced.
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2CO 13:1 This
is the third time I am coming to you. Every fact
is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or
three witnesses.
2CO 13:2 I have previously said when
present the second time, and though now absent I
say in advance to those who have sinned in the
past and to all the rest as well, that if I come
again, I will not spare anyone,
2CO 13:3 since you are seeking for proof of
the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak
toward you, but mighty in you.
2CO 13:4 For indeed He was crucified
because of weakness, yet He lives because of the
power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we
shall live with Him because of the power of God
directed toward you.
2CO 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are
in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not
recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ
is in you - - unless indeed you fail the test?
2CO 13:6 But I trust that you will realize
that we ourselves do not fail the test.
2CO 13:7 Now we pray to God that you do no
wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved,
but that you may do what is right, even though we
should appear unapproved.
2CO 13:8 For we can do nothing against the
truth, but only for the truth.
2CO 13:9 For we rejoice when we ourselves
are weak but you are strong; this we also pray
for, that you be made complete.
2CO 13:10 For this reason I am writing
these things while absent, in order that when
present I may not use severity, in accordance with
the authority which the Lord gave me, for building
up and not for tearing down.
2CO 13:11 Finally, brethren, rejoice, be
made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live
in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be
with you.
2CO 13:12 Greet one another with a holy
kiss.
2CO 13:13 All the saints greet you.
2CO 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.
