⁸ For even if I boast a little too much of ^(A)our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.

¹⁰ For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come ^(A)I may not have to be ^(B)severe in my use of ^(C)the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

^12 (A)which is why I suffer as I do. But ^(B)I am not ashamed, for ^(C)I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until ^(D)that day ^(E)what has been entrusted to me.^[a]

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^(A)apostle—^(B)not from men nor through man, but ^(C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, ^(D)who raised him from the dead—

⁸ For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.

^2 (A)I warned ^(B)those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that ^(C)if I come again I will not spare them— ³ since you seek proof that Christ ^(D)is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but ^(E)is powerful among you.

⁶ though if I should wish to boast, ^(A)I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

²⁴ Not that we ^(A)lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm ^(B)in your faith.

¹⁴ For ^(A)whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you ^(B)was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true.