Chapter 16

Instructions and Greetings

1 Now concerning athe collection for bthe saints, as cI directed the churches of dGalatia, so do you also.

2 On athe first day of every week each one of you is to 1put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that bno collections be made when I come.

3 When I arrive, awhomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;

4 and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

5 But I awill come to you after I go through bMacedonia, for I cam going through Macedonia;

6 and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may asend me on my way wherever I may go.

7 For I do not wish to see you now ajust in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, bif the Lord permits.

8 But I will remain in aEphesus until bPentecost;

9 for a awide door 1for effective service has opened to me, and bthere are many adversaries.

10 Now if aTimothy comes, see that he is with you without 1cause to be afraid, for he is doing bthe Lord’s work, as I also am.

11 aSo let no one despise him. But bsend him on his way cin peace, so that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brethren.

12 But concerning aApollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren; and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity.

13 aBe on the alert, bstand firm in the faith, cact like men, dbe strong.

14 Let all that you do be done ain love.

15 Now I urge you, brethren (you know the ahousehold of Stephanas, that 1they were the bfirst fruits of cAchaia, and that they have devoted themselves for dministry to ethe saints),

16 that ayou also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

17 I rejoice over the 1acoming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have 2supplied bwhat was lacking on your part.

18 For they ahave refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore backnowledge such men.

19 The churches of aAsia greet you. bAquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with cthe church that is in their house.

20 All the brethren greet you. aGreet one another with a holy kiss.

21 The greeting is in amy own hand—1Paul.

22 If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be 1aaccursed. 2bMaranatha.

23 aThe grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Second Letter of Paul to the

CORINTHIANS

Chapter 1

Introduction

1 Paul, aan apostle of bChrist Jesus cby the will of God, and dTimothy our brother,

To ethe church of God which is at fCorinth with all the 1saints who are throughout gAchaia:

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

3 aBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and bGod of all comfort,

4 who acomforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in 1any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

5 For just aas the sufferings of Christ are 1ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

6 But if we are afflicted, it is afor your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;

7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that aas you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

8 For awe do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our baffliction which came to us in 1cAsia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;

9 1indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

10 who adelivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, 1He bon whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

11 you also joining in ahelping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by bmany persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

Paul’s Integrity

12 For our 1proud confidence is this: the testimony of aour conscience, that in holiness and bgodly sincerity, cnot in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand auntil the end;

14 just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in athe day of our Lord Jesus.

15 In this confidence I intended at first to acome to you, so that you might 1twice receive a 2bblessing;

16 1that is, to apass 2your way into bMacedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be chelped on my journey to Judea.

17 Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose aaccording to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time?

18 But as aGod is faithful, bour word to you is not yes and no.

19 For athe Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and bSilvanus and cTimothy—was not yes and no, but is yes din Him.

20 For aas many as are the promises of God, bin Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is cour Amen to the glory of God through us.

21 Now He who aestablishes us with you in Christ and banointed us is God,

22 who also asealed us and bgave us the Spirit in our hearts as a 1pledge.

23 But aI call God as witness 1to my soul, that bto spare you I did not come again to cCorinth.

24 Not that we alord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are bstanding firm.

Chapter 2

Reaffirm Your Love

1 But I determined this 1for my own sake, that I awould not come to you in sorrow again.

2 For if I acause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful?

3 This is the very thing I awrote you, so that bwhen I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having cconfidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all.

4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I awrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

5 But aif any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—1in order not to say too much—to all of you.

6 Sufficient for such a one is athis punishment which was inflicted by the majority,

7 so that on the contrary you should rather aforgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

8 Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

9 For to this end also aI wrote, so that I might 1bput you to the test, whether you are cobedient in all things.

10 But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes ain the presence of Christ,

11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by aSatan, for bwe are not ignorant of his schemes.

12 Now when I came to aTroas for the bgospel of Christ and when a cdoor was opened for me in the Lord,

13 I ahad no rest for my spirit, not finding bTitus my brother; but ctaking my leave of them, I went on to dMacedonia.

14 aBut thanks be to God, who always bleads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the csweet aroma of the dknowledge of Him in every place.

15 For we are a afragrance of Christ to God among bthose who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

16 ato the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is badequate for these things?

17 For we are not like many, 1apeddling the word of God, but bas from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ cin the sight of God.

Chapter 3

Ministers of a New Covenant

1 Are we beginning to acommend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, bletters of commendation to you or from you?

2 aYou are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, 1acared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of bthe living God, not on ctablets of stone but on dtablets of 2ehuman hearts.

4 Such aconfidence we have through Christ toward God.

5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but aour adequacy is from God,

6 who also made us adequate as aservants of a bnew covenant, not of cthe letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but dthe Spirit gives life.

7 But if the aministry of death, bin letters engraved on stones, came 1with glory, cso that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

9 For if athe ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the bministry of righteousness abound in glory.

10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.

11 For if that which fades away was 1with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

12 aTherefore having such a hope, bwe use great boldness in our speech,

13 and are not like Moses, awho used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

14 But their minds were ahardened; for until this very day at the breading of cthe old covenant the same veil 1remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

16 abut whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where athe Spirit of the Lord is, bthere is liberty.

18 But we all, with unveiled face, abeholding as in a mirror the bglory of the Lord, are being ctransformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from dthe Lord, the Spirit.