The Collection for the Saints
16 hNow concerning1 ithe collection for the saints: as I directed jthe churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, kas he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, lI will send mthose whom you accredit by nletter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
Plans for Travel
5 oI will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until pPentecost, 9 for a qwide door for effective work has opened to me, and rthere are many adversaries.
10 sWhen Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the twork of the Lord, as I am. 11 So ulet no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
Final Instructions
12 Now concerning vour brother wApollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will2 to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
13 xBe watchful, ystand firm in the faith, act like men, zbe strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now aI urge you, brothers3—you know that the household4 of bStephanas were the first converts5 in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the cservice of the saints— 16 dbe subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because ethey have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. fGive recognition to such people.
Greetings
19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with gthe church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brothers send you greetings. hGreet one another with a holy kiss.
21 iI, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be jaccursed. kOur Lord, come!6 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
2 Corinthians
Greeting
1 Paul, an aapostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God of All Comfort
3 cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of dmercies and eGod of all fcomfort, 4 who gcomforts us in hall our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we ishare abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.1 6 If we are afflicted, jit is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,2 of kthe affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God lwho mraises the dead. 10 He ndelivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him owe have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 pYou also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Paul’s Change of Plans
12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our qconscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity3 and godly rsincerity, not by searthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the tday of our Lord Jesus you will uboast of us as we will vboast of you.
15 Because I was sure of this, wI wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second xexperience of grace. 16 yI wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans zaccording to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has aanointed us, 22 and who has also bput his seal on us and given us his Spirit cin our hearts as a dguarantee.4
23 But eI call God to witness against me—fit was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you gstand firm in your faith.
2 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For hif I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And iI wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for jI felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
Forgive the Sinner
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this kpunishment by the majority is enough, 7 so lyou should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So mI beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are nobedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Triumph in Christ
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a odoor was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was pnot at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always qleads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the rfragrance of the sknowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the taroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of usincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Ministers of the New Covenant
3 vAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, wletters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 xYou yourselves yare our letter of recommendation, written on our1 hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on ztablets of stone but on atablets of bhuman hearts.2
4 Such is the cconfidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a dnew covenant, enot of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but fthe Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the gministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that hthe Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very ibold, 13 not like Moses, jwho would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their kminds were lhardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one3 turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord4 is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is mfreedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, nbeholding othe glory of the Lord,5 are being ptransformed qinto the same image from one degree of glory to another.6 For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The Light of the Gospel
4 Therefore, having this ministry rby the mercy of God,1 we do not slose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. tWe refuse to practice2 cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth uwe would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even vif our gospel is veiled, it is veiled wto those who are perishing. 4 In their case the xgod of this world has yblinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the zimage of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but aJesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your bservants3 for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, c“Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts dto give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Treasure in Jars of Clay
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 eWe are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 falways carrying in the body the death of Jesus, gso that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are halways being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So ideath is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, j“I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 kknowing that lhe who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and mbring us with you into his presence. 15 For nit is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self4 is wasting away, our oinner self is being prenewed day by day. 17 For qthis light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look rnot to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
