2 Corinthians
Chapter 1
1 Paul, a messenger of Jesus Christ chosen by God, and Timothy our brother, to God’s church in Corinth and all God’s holy people throughout Achaia:
2 May you have kindness and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ.
3 Praise God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the giver of mercy, and the source of all comfort.
4 God comforts us in all our troubles so we can comfort others in trouble with the same comfort we receive from God.
5 Just as we have many sufferings like Christ, we also have much comfort through Christ.
6 When we face troubles, it’s to help and save you. This help works when you patiently go through the same pains we also have. And when we are comforted, it’s to help and save you too.
7 We are sure of our hope for you, knowing that just as you share in the sufferings, you will also share in the comfort.
8 We don’t want you, friends, to be unaware of the hardships we faced in Asia. We were under great pressure, beyond our ability to endure, so much that we lost hope of living.
9 We felt like we were sentenced to die, so that we wouldn’t rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
10 God saved us from a terrible death, continues to save us, and we trust will keep on saving us.
11 You also help us by praying together, so many can give thanks for the gift given to us through many people.
12 We are happy because we know in our hearts that we have lived in the world with simplicity and sincere faith in God, not with human wisdom but by God’s grace, and especially so in our behavior towards you.
13 We write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand fully to the end.
14 You have recognized that we are your reason to be proud, just as you are ours when Jesus returns.
15 I planned to visit you first so you could be blessed twice.
16 I plan to go through your area to Macedonia, then return from Macedonia to you, and then have you help me on my journey to Judea.
17 So when I decided this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make plans in a worldly way, so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
18 But as God is truthful, our message to you wasn’t yes and no.
19 God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who we told you about—me, Silvanus, and Timotheus—wasn’t sometimes yes and sometimes no; in him, it was always yes.
20 All of God’s promises in him are yes, and in him, so be it, to show the greatness of God through us.
21 God makes us strong with you in Christ and has chosen us.
22 God has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a promise in our hearts.
23 I tell you before God, I did not come to Corinth yet to avoid being hard on you.
24 We don’t control your faith, but help bring you joy: you stand strong because of faith.