Greeting

1 Paul, ^aan apostle of Christ Jesus ^bby the will of God, and ^cTimothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, ^dwith all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

2 ^eGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

3 ^fBlessed be the ^gGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and ^hGod of all comfort, 4 ⁱwho comforts us in all 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 share abundantly in ^jChrist’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.¹ 6 ^kIf we are afflicted, it 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 ^lshare in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,² of ^mthe 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 ⁿrely not on ourselves ^obut on God ^pwho raises the dead. 10 ^qHe delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. ^rOn him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 ^sYou also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf ^tfor the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12 For our boast is this, ^uthe testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity³ and ^vgodly sincerity, ^wnot by earthly 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 ^xpartially understand us—that ^yon the day of our Lord Jesus ^zyou will boast of us as ^awe will boast of you.

15 Because I was sure of this, ^bI wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ^ca second ^dexperience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you ^eon 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 ^faccording to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as ^gGod is faithful, ^hour word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For ⁱthe Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, ^jSilvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but ^kin him it is always Yes. 20 For ^lall the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our ^mAmen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and ⁿhas anointed us, 22 and who has also ^oput his seal on us and ^pgiven us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.⁴

23 But ^qI call God to witness against me—it was ^rto spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we ^slord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm ^tin your faith.

1 For I made up my mind ^unot to make another painful visit to you. 2 For ^vif I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, ^wfor I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For ^xI 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 ^yif anyone has caused pain, ^zhe has caused it not to me, but ^ain some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, ^bthis punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so ^cyou should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might ^dtest you and know ^ewhether you are obedient 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 ^fwe are not ignorant of his designs.

Triumph in Christ

12 When ^gI came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though ^ha door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit ⁱwas not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But ^jthanks be to God, who in Christ always ^kleads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads ^lthe fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among ^mthose who are being saved and among ⁿthose who are perishing, 16 ^oto one a fragrance from death to death, ^oto the other a fragrance from life to life. ^pWho is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Sing to the Lord a New Song