Paul’s Hardships

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path,(A) so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments(B) and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;(C) in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit(D) and in sincere love;(E) in truthful speech(F) and in the power of God;(G) with weapons of righteousness(H) in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor,(I) bad report(J) and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;(K) known, yet regarded as unknown; dying,(L) and yet we live on;(M) beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;(N) poor, yet making many rich;(O) having nothing,(P) and yet possessing everything.(Q)

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We are God’s Servants

We do not put an obstacle in anyone’s way. Otherwise, fault may be found with our ministry. Instead, in every way we demonstrate that we are God’s servants by tremendous endurance in the midst of difficulties, hardships, and calamities; in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger; with purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; with the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and divine power; through the weapons of righteousness in the right and left hands; through honor and dishonor; through ill repute and good repute; perceived[a] as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well-known, as dying and yet—as you see—very much alive, as punished and yet not killed, 10 as sorrowful and yet always rejoicing, as poor and yet enriching many, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 6:8 The Gk. lacks perceived

Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:

But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

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