⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings,^(A) so also you share in our comfort.

⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed,^(B) brothers and sisters,^[a] about the troubles we experienced^(C) in the province of Asia.^(D) We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God,^(E) who raises the dead.^(F)