Book of Common Prayer

² I do not say this to bring something against you. I have already told you that we love you very much. If we live or if we die, we will be together with you.

³ I really trust you. I am very proud of you. I have received much comfort. Even in all of our troubles I am very glad.

⁴ When we came to the country of Macedonia, we had no rest for our bodies. We had all kinds of trouble everywhere. There was fighting around us and our hearts were full of fear.

⁵ But God comforts those who are in trouble, and when Titus came, we were comforted.

⁶ You comforted him, and that comforted us. He told us that you wanted very much to see us. He told us that you were very sorry for what you had done. He told us that you want to stand with me. So now I am even more happy. 8 ,

⁷ I know that what I wrote in my letter made you sad. But I am not sorry I wrote it. Perhaps I was sorry at first, but now I am glad I sent it. I see the letter made you sad for a while.

⁸ I do not like to make you sad, but I am glad that it made you sad and made you turn from your wrong ways. You took it all as from God. So then, we did not really hurt you.

⁹ When we are sad the way God wants us to be, we turn from our wrong ways. Then we are saved and we can never be sorry about that. But the sorrow of the world brings death.

¹⁰ See what happened. When you were sad, the way God wanted you to be, then you tried to do the right thing. You wanted to free yourself from wrong. You hated what is wrong. You were afraid. You wanted very much to do what is right. You stood for the right. You punished wrong doing. In every way you showed that you did right in this matter.

¹¹ So, even though I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the man who did wrong. And it was not for the sake of the man who had the wrong done to him. But I wrote so that you would see for yourselves, in the sight of God, how much we care for you.

¹² And so we have been comforted. Besides this, we were even more happy to see how happy Titus was. All of you really made his heart glad.

¹³ I told him how proud I was of you. And really, I had nothing to be ashamed of. Everything we have said to you has been true. So also, what we told Titus about you proved true.

¹⁴ He loves you even more when he remembers how you all obeyed him. You feared and trembled.

¹⁵ I am glad that I can always trust you.

²⁰ The Pharisees asked Jesus, `When will the kingdom of God come?' He answered them, `You cannot see the kingdom of God when it comes.

²¹ People will not be able to say, "Look, here it is!" or "There it is! That is because the kingdom of God is inside you.'

²² Jesus said to his disciples, `The time will come when you will want to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you will not see it.

²³ People will say to you, "Look! Here he is!" or "Look! There he is!" But do not go out or follow them.

²⁴ When lightning comes, it lights up the whole sky. It will be like that on the day when the Son of Man comes.

²⁵ But first he will have much trouble. The people who are living now will not believe in him.

²⁶ `The way it was in the time of Noah is the way it will be in the time of the Son of Man.

²⁷ People ate and drank. They married and gave their daughters to be married. All this went on until the day when Noah went into his house built on a boat. Then there was much water and all the people outside the boat died.

²⁸ `It was the same way in the time of Lot. People ate and drank. They bought and sold. They planted and built.

²⁹ Then one day Lot went out of the city of Sodom. Then on that day fire and burning rock came down from the sky and killed all the people.

³⁰ `That is the way it will be on the day when the Son of Man is seen.

³¹ On that day a man will be at the top of his house, and his things will be below. But he must not go down to get his things. In the same way a man will be in the field, but he must not go back home.

³² Remember what happened to Lot's wife.

³³ Anyone who wants to keep his life will lose it. And anyone who gives up his life will keep it.

³⁴ `I tell you, on that night two people may be in one bed. One will be taken away and the other will be left.

³⁵ Two women will be making flour together. One woman will be taken away and the other woman will be left.

³⁶ Two men will be in a field. One man will be taken away and the other man will be left.'

³⁷ They asked him, `Where will this be, Lord?' He said, `The big birds that eat meat will go to the place where the dead body is.'