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2 Corinthians 1-4
International Standard Version

Paul Greets the Church in Corinth

1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.

To: God’s church in Corinth, and to all the holy people[c] throughout Achaia.

2 May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[d] be yours!

The God of All Comfort

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah![e] He is our merciful Father and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our suffering, so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God. 5 For as the Messiah’s[f] sufferings overflow into us, so also our comfort overflows through the Messiah.[g] 6 If we suffer, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are suffering. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, because we know that as you share our sufferings, you also share our comfort.

How God Rescued Paul

8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about the suffering we experienced in Asia. We were so crushed beyond our ability to endure that we even despaired of living. 9 In fact, we felt that we had received a death sentence so we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has rescued us from a terrible death, and he will continue to rescue us. Yes, he is the one on whom we have set our hope, and he will rescue us again, 11 as you also help us by your prayers for us. Then many people will thank God[h] on our behalf because of the favor shown us through the prayers of many.

Paul’s Reason for Boasting

12 For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God’s grace—especially toward you. 13 For what we are writing you is nothing more than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely, 14 just as you have already understood us partially, so that on the Day of our[i] Lord Jesus we can be your reason to boast, even as you are ours.

Why Paul’s Visit Was Postponed

15 Because I was confident, I planned to come to you first so you might receive a double blessing. 16 I planned to leave you in order to go[j] to Macedonia, and then come back to you from Macedonia, and let you send me on to Judea.

17 When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle[k] that I can say “Yes” and “No”[l] at the same time? 18 As certainly as God is faithful, we haven’t talked to you with mixed messages like that.[m] 19 For God’s Son, Jesus the Messiah,[n] who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No.” But with him it is always “Yes.” 20 For all God’s promises are “Yes” in him. And so through him we can say “Amen,”[o] to the glory of God. 21 Now the one who makes us—and you as well—secure in union with the Messiah[p] and has anointed us is God, 22 who has placed his seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.

23 I call upon God as a witness on my behalf that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 It is not that we are trying to rule over your faith, but rather to work with you for your joy, because you have been standing firm in the faith.

Paul’s Painful Visit

2 Now[q] I decided not to pay you another painful visit. 2 After all, if I were to grieve you, who should make me happy but the person I am making sad? 3 This is the very reason I wrote you, so that when I did come I might not be made sad by those who should have made me happy. For I had confidence that all of you would share the joy that I have. 4 I wrote to you out of great sorrow and anguish of heart—along with many tears—not to make you sad but to let you know how much love I have for you.

Forgive the Person who Sinned

5 But if anyone has caused grief, he didn’t cause me any grief. To some extent—I don’t want to emphasize this too much—it has affected[r] all of you. 6 This punishment by the majority is severe enough for such a man. 7 So forgive and comfort him, or else he will drown in his excessive grief. 8 That’s why I’m urging you to assure him of your love. 9 I had also written to you to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in every way. 10 When you forgive someone, I do, too. Indeed, what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I did[s] in the presence of the Messiah[t] for your benefit, 11 so that we may not be outsmarted by Satan. After all, we are not unaware of his intentions.

Paul’s Anxiety and Relief

12 When I went to Troas on behalf of the gospel of the Messiah,[u] the Lord opened a door for me, 13 but my spirit could not find any relief, because I couldn’t find Titus, my brother. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah[v] and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him. 15 To God we are the aroma of the Messiah[w] among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost. 16 To some people we are a deadly fragrance,[x] while to others we are a living fragrance.[y] Who is qualified for this? 17 At least we are not commercializing God’s word like so many others. Instead, we speak with sincerity in the Messiah’s[z] name,[aa] like people who are sent from God and are accountable to God.[ab]

Ministers of the New Covenant

3 Are we beginning to recommend ourselves again? Unlike some people, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? 2 You are our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by everyone. 3 You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah’s[ac] letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4 Such is the confidence that we have in God through the Messiah.[ad] 5 By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God, 6 who has also qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, which is not written but spiritual, because the written text[ae] brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

7 Now if the ministry of death that was inscribed in letters of stone came with such glory that the people of Israel could not gaze on Moses’ face (because the glory was fading away from it), 8 will not the Spirit’s ministry have even more glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, then the ministry of justification has an overwhelming glory. 10 In fact, that which once had glory lost its glory, because the other glory surpassed it. 11 For if that which fades away came[af] through glory, how much more does that which is permanent have glory?

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we speak very boldly, 13 not like Moses, who kept covering his face with a veil to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of what was fading away. 14 However, their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah[ag] is that veil removed.[ah] 15 Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. 18 As all of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, we are becoming more like him with ever-increasing glory by the Lord’s Spirit.

Treasure in Clay Jars

4 Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown to us, we do not get discouraged. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God’s word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

3 So if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are dying.[ai] 4 In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah,[aj] who is the image of God.

5 For we do not preach ourselves, but rather Jesus the Messiah[ak] as Lord, and ourselves as merely your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[al] has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus[am] the Messiah.[an]

7 But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us. 8 In every way we’re troubled but not crushed, frustrated but not in despair, 9 persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. 10 We are always carrying around the death of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our bodies. 11 While we are alive, we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our mortal bodies. 12 And so death is at work in us, but life is at work[ao] in you.

13 Now since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with this Scripture: “I believed, and so I spoke,”[ap] we also believe and therefore speak. 14 We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to God[aq] together with you. 15 All this is for your sake so that, as his grace spreads, more and more people will give thanks and glorify God.

Life in an Earthly Tent

16 That’s why we are not discouraged. No, even if outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are being renewed each and every day. 17 This light, temporary nature of our suffering is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory, far beyond any comparison, 18 because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 1:1 The Gk. lacks From
  2. 2 Corinthians 1:1 Or Christ
  3. 2 Corinthians 1:1 Or the saints
  4. 2 Corinthians 1:2 Or Christ
  5. 2 Corinthians 1:3 Or Christ
  6. 2 Corinthians 1:5 Or Christ’s
  7. 2 Corinthians 1:5 Or Christ
  8. 2 Corinthians 1:11 The Gk. lacks God
  9. 2 Corinthians 1:14 Other mss. read the
  10. 2 Corinthians 1:16 Lit. To go through you
  11. 2 Corinthians 1:17 Lit. according to the flesh
  12. 2 Corinthians 1:17 Lit. “Yes, yes” and “No, no”
  13. 2 Corinthians 1:18 Lit. faithful, our word to you is not “Yes” and “No”
  14. 2 Corinthians 1:19 Or Christ
  15. 2 Corinthians 1:20 Lit. through him is the “Amen”
  16. 2 Corinthians 1:21 Or Christ
  17. 2 Corinthians 2:1 Other mss. read For
  18. 2 Corinthians 2:5 The Gk. lacks much—it has affected
  19. 2 Corinthians 2:10 The Gk. lacks I did
  20. 2 Corinthians 2:10 Or Christ
  21. 2 Corinthians 2:12 Or Christ
  22. 2 Corinthians 2:14 Or Christ
  23. 2 Corinthians 2:15 Or Christ
  24. 2 Corinthians 2:16 Lit. a fragrance of death to death
  25. 2 Corinthians 2:16 Lit. a fragrance of life to life
  26. 2 Corinthians 2:17 Or Christ’s
  27. 2 Corinthians 2:17 The Gk. lacks name
  28. 2 Corinthians 2:17 Lit. as from God and before God
  29. 2 Corinthians 3:3 Or Christ’s
  30. 2 Corinthians 3:4 Or Christ
  31. 2 Corinthians 3:6 Lit. what is written
  32. 2 Corinthians 3:11 The Gk. lacks came
  33. 2 Corinthians 3:14 Or Christ
  34. 2 Corinthians 3:14 Lit. is it removed
  35. 2 Corinthians 4:3 Or being destroyed
  36. 2 Corinthians 4:4 Or Christ
  37. 2 Corinthians 4:5 Or Christ
  38. 2 Corinthians 4:6 Gen 1:3
  39. 2 Corinthians 4:6 Other mss. lack Jesus
  40. 2 Corinthians 4:6 Or Christ; other mss. read of the Messiah Jesus
  41. 2 Corinthians 4:12 The Gk. lacks is at work
  42. 2 Corinthians 4:13 Ps 116:10
  43. 2 Corinthians 4:14 The Gk. lacks to God
Listen to 2 Corinthians 1-4
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2 Corinthians 1-4
New International Version

1 Paul, an apostle(A) of Christ Jesus by the will of God,(B) and Timothy(C) our brother,

To the church of God(D) in Corinth,(E) together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:(F)

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.(G)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,(H) the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us(I) in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ,(J) so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation;(K) if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings,(L) so also you share in our comfort.

8 We do not want you to be uninformed,(M) brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced(N) in the province of Asia.(O) 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,(P) who raises the dead.(Q) 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril,(R) and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope(S) that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers.(T) Then many will give thanks(U) on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience(V) testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity[b](W) and godly sincerity.(X) We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom(Y) but on God’s grace. 13 For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.(Z)

15 Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you(AA) first so that you might benefit twice.(AB) 16 I wanted to visit you on my way(AC) to Macedonia(AD) and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way(AE) to Judea.(AF) 17 Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner(AG) so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

18 But as surely as God is faithful,(AH) our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God,(AI) Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas[c](AJ) and Timothy(AK)—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always(AL) been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many promises(AM) God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen”(AN) is spoken by us to the glory of God.(AO) 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm(AP) in Christ. He anointed(AQ) us, 22 set his seal(AR) of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.(AS)

23 I call God as my witness(AT)—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you(AU) that I did not return to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over(AV) your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.(AW) 2 1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.(AX) 2 For if I grieve you,(AY) who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did,(AZ) so that when I came I would not be distressed(BA) by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence(BB) in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you(BC) out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

Forgiveness for the Offender

5 If anyone has caused grief,(BD) he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment(BE) inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him,(BF) so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Another reason I wrote you(BG) was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.(BH) 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan(BI) might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.(BJ)

Ministers of the New Covenant

12 Now when I went to Troas(BK) to preach the gospel of Christ(BL) and found that the Lord had opened a door(BM) for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind,(BN) because I did not find my brother Titus(BO) there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.(BP)

14 But thanks be to God,(BQ) who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma(BR) of the knowledge(BS) of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma(BT) of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.(BU) 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death;(BV) to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?(BW) 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.(BX) On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity,(BY) as those sent from God.(BZ)

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves(CA) again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation(CB) to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.(CC) 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,(CD) not on tablets of stone(CE) but on tablets of human hearts.(CF)

4 Such confidence(CG) we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves(CH) to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.(CI) 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant(CJ)—not of the letter(CK) but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.(CL)

The Greater Glory of the New Covenant

7 Now if the ministry that brought death,(CM) which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory,(CN) transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation(CO) was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!(CP) 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope,(CQ) we are very bold.(CR) 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face(CS) to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull,(CT) for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant(CU) is read.(CV) It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord,(CW) the veil is taken away.(CX) 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit,(CY) and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.(CZ) 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[d](DA) the Lord’s glory,(DB) are being transformed into his image(DC) with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Present Weakness and Resurrection Life

4 Therefore, since through God’s mercy(DD) we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.(DE) 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways;(DF) we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.(DG) On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience(DH) in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel(DI) is veiled,(DJ) it is veiled to those who are perishing.(DK) 4 The god(DL) of this age(DM) has blinded(DN) the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ,(DO) who is the image of God.(DP) 5 For what we preach is not ourselves,(DQ) but Jesus Christ as Lord,(DR) and ourselves as your servants(DS) for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[e](DT) made his light shine in our hearts(DU) to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.(DV)

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay(DW) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God(DX) and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side,(DY) but not crushed; perplexed,(DZ) but not in despair; 9 persecuted,(EA) but not abandoned;(EB) struck down, but not destroyed.(EC) 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,(ED) so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.(EE) 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake,(EF) so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.(EG)

13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”[f](EH) Since we have that same spirit of[g] faith,(EI) we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead(EJ) will also raise us with Jesus(EK) and present us with you to himself.(EL) 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving(EM) to overflow to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart.(EN) Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly(EO) we are being renewed(EP) day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.(EQ) 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,(ER) since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 8:1; 13:11.
  2. 2 Corinthians 1:12 Many manuscripts holiness
  3. 2 Corinthians 1:19 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas
  4. 2 Corinthians 3:18 Or reflect
  5. 2 Corinthians 4:6 Gen. 1:3
  6. 2 Corinthians 4:13 Psalm 116:10 (see Septuagint)
  7. 2 Corinthians 4:13 Or Spirit-given
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